Electric Harley Plugs In to NextFest

As we mentioned before, "TreeHugger" isn't the first thing that pops to mind when talking about Harley Davidson. Carl Vogel is aiming to change all that with his battery-powered hog (we covered his work before), and he took his prototype on the road last week, and made a splash with it at Wired's NextFest (see our coverage of the event here). AutoblogGreen reports that though he was "one of the smaller exhibits in size...he certainly got a lot of attention. At one point in the afternoon, attendees were 5 rows deep trying to get a look at the electric blue cruiser and sidecar." Rather than the traditional engine, the bike holds 560 pounds of lead-acid batteries that'll take the bike about 60 miles at a time. Add the sidecar that houses the battery-recharging biodiesel generator, and it's a formidable green machine. Though Vogel didn't fire up the bike at the show, he says it sounds similar to a golf cart, and " he enjoys being able to cruise just hearing the wind and ground beneath your feet." ::Vogelbilt via ::AutoblogGreen