Mygreenwheels

Yet another electric vehicle love child, but I'm not sure who's going to love this 2-seat contraption from the unlikely partnership of GM and Segway. For a start it's so uncool it's even got stabilisers! How the dickens are they expecting to woo hard-bitten U.S. drivers to move over to something as nerdy as this??? They claim it'll change the way that we move around in cities - that's because we'll be trying to hide in side streets in the hope that no one sees us in this turkey.

GM and Segway have managed to create something called the P.U.M.A. - Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project. It's a self-balancing (hence the front and back stabilisers) 2-wheeled electric vehicle that can reach 35 mph for 35 miles. That's a fair bit faster than the 12 mph free-standing 2-wheeled Segway favoured by self-regarding celebrity geeks (monkchips, you know who you are).

The PUMA will debut at this week's New York Auto Show and is expected to be priced around 1/4 of the price of a traditional car - but who'd pay that for what is clearly a lot less than 25% of what you expect of a traditional car? Even if it can, as claimed, communicate with vehicles around it to reduce accidents and regulate traffic flow, most spouses do that on default setting, so it's hardly the silver bullet for sales conversion to electric cars.

"The vehicle also enables design creativity, fashion, fun and social networking" says the PR spin. No, it doesn't! It makes people think you shouldn't be allowed out without your carer.

"There's an emotional connection you get when using Segway products" says Jim Norrod, CEO of Segway Inc. and I'm sure there usually is, but this time it's the wrong emotion for me - total embarrassment. Comments on Autoblog's post include 'Wheelchair' and 'phonebooth on wheels'. Point made I think. And woolly jumpered, spec-wearing beardie-boy in the driving seat doesn't help the image either.