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BTW- reason for purchasing this specific model.
After Mint.com (awesome site for budgeting and managing finances) told me that my 1998 4-cylinder Toyota Corolla was costing me $1500 a year on gasoline alone, and then $1000-2000 a year on maintenance and repairs, I wanted something CHEAP for getting to/from work. "Cheap" meaning, preferably, a one-time cost of $2000 or less and minimal (as close as possible to zero) recurring costs - so that I can get a ROI very quickly (within 1-2 years).
This bike was perfect. It's fully electric, and does not require insurance/registration/tags. The "slowness" of its 20mph top speed puts it legally in the "bicycle" category in my state of Georgia. I expect to be riding it 50% out of the year, when sunny (days of up to 20% chance of rain), to/from work - which is 10.5 miles away. It's quite slow, but OK for a short distance (I definitely wouldn't ride it farther than 10.5 miles).
I've already measured that it takes me 35 minutes each way on this bike using local roads; if I drive, it's usually 20 minutes, and longer during rush hour (and even worse when there's an accident on the highway).
I almost looked at a moped (30mph or less) with about 100mpg - which would give me lower gas costs than a car, but higher than electric - but that would still add a few hundred $ per year for gas, plus higher maintenance costs than electric.
I am guessing that this bike does about 500mpg - or more. I've seen that the XB-600 (previous "heavier" model due to SLA batteries) does about 500mpg, so I'm assuming that it should do better.
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