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Made in Italy, the first electric Vespa

More than 70 years after Italy’s iconic scooter was born, the Vespa is getting its most radical update yet.

Made in Italy, the first electric Vespa
The Vespa Elettrica will be available to order from 2018. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP.

Piaggio, the Pisa-based maker of Italy’s most famous two-wheeler, has unveiled an electric Vespa that will go on sale in spring 2018 – with an as yet unknown price tag.

The battery-powered Vespa Elettrica is accompanied by a hybrid model, the Elettrica X, that combines a gas-powered generator for extra range.

Both models will be entirely made in Italy at Piaggio’s headquarters in Pontedera.

The manufacturer first announced plans for an electric Vespa in 2016, though it wasn’t until the Milan Motorcycle Show last week that it unveiled its final version.


Photo: Piaggio

With a range of 100 kilometres, the Vespa Elettrica’s lithium-ion battery can be recharged by simply plugging in to any ordinary electrical outlet. A full charge takes about four hour, Piaggio said.

The scooter features a colour display screen that not only shows the remaining charge and range but, when connected to drivers’ phone via an app, can also alert them to incoming messages and phone calls.

As for the look, the Vespa Elettrica will retain the distinctive “wasp-like” shape that earned the scooter its name. Only one colour – silver – will be available at first, though buyers can choose from seven different trims.

The new-generation Vespa will lose one thing from the original, though: the vroom. According to Piaggio, its electric motor is entirely silent.


Photo: Piaggio

“It’s a gem of all-Italian technology, all made at home – that’s why it’s beautiful, works well and is innovative,” said proud Piaggio president Roberto Colannino at the launch in Milan. “It contains the future of our planet, our future.”

Reducing emissions has become a concern across Italy as smog becomes an increasingly persistent feature of life in cities here. Though most air pollution comes from industry, several Italian cities have restricted the use of cars and scooters in a bid to cut road fumes.

Unlike several of its European neighbour, however, Italy has not announced plans to phase heavily polluting diesel vehicles.  

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Paris considers ban on electric scooters after pedestrian’s death

Paris has threatened to ban e-scooters if their operators don't enforce speed limits and other rules after a pedestrian was knocked down and killed by two riders who fled the scene.

Paris considers ban on electric scooters after pedestrian's death
Photo: Ludovic MARIN / AFP.

Some 15,000 devices are available for rental across the city, where they are supposed to travel no faster than 20 km/h with one rider only, and only on streets or bike paths.

Critics say those rules are hardly enforced, and abandoned scooters are often seen scattered on sidewalks and squares.

“Either the situation improves significantly and scooters find their place in public areas without causing problems, in particular for pedestrians, or we are studying getting rid of them completely,” deputy mayor David Belliard, in charge of transportation, told AFP late on Tuesday.

“Other cities have done it,” he said, citing the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux as well as New York and Barcelona.

On Saturday, police charged a nurse with aggravated manslaughter over a fatal collision earlier this month with a 32-year-old Italian woman living in Paris, who was standing on the banks of the Seine talking with friends when she was hit.

The rider and a passenger on the same scooter fled the scene and were found after a 10-day search.

The woman’s death, which brings to at least three the number of people fatally hit by e-scooters in Paris since 2019, revived the debate over allowing the devices on the city’s streets.

Belliard said he had summoned executives from the three e-scooter operators, Lime, Dott and Tier, telling them he had received “lots of negative feedback about scooters on sidewalks, the sense of insecurity, and scooters abandoned in the streets.”

Their contracts, which add nearly €1 million a year to the city’s coffers, run through October 2022, when they risk not being renewed, Belliard said.

He added that starting on Wednesday, operators must ensure that scooter speeds do not exceed 10 km/h in several “slow zones” in central Paris, including the popular Republique and Bastille squares, where the city has recently added large pedestrian zones.

Operators are able to install speed brakes that come on automatically if the scooter enters slow zones, which are programmed into the GPS units.

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