Is This Solar-Powered Half-Electric Bicycle With A Roof The Future Of Transportation? [FastCompany]

The Elf, which just finished a massive run on Kickstarter, combines the best elements of an electric car, a motorcycle, and a bicycle, and it’s manufactured right here in the U.S. There’s something for everyone to love.

It’s part bike, part car, part solar power, part human power. And--thanks in part to a massively successful Kickstarter drive that ended this week--it’s headed to a street near you.

The Elf is what’s called a velomobile, a pedal-powered mini-car, typically in the design of a recumbent tricycle with a shell over it to protect you from the elements. While they’re fairly popular for commuting and biking with cargo in bike-obsessed parts of the world like Northern Europe, if you haven’t heard of them yet, don’t sweat it.

“The U.S. market is really unaware of this type of vehicle--of velomobiles--and we are kind of bringing it to the masses,” explains Alix Bowman, director of communications atOrganic Transit, the startup behind The Elf. The novelty--combined with the high price of gas, and need for more diverse solutions to environmentally friendly commuting--made the Elf a hit with the Kickstarter community who threw $225,789 at the product, more than twice its goal of $100,000...

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