Harley-Davidson has unveiled a new electric-powered motorcycle called the Lectra. Unlike its gasoline-powered cousins, the vehicle can reach a top speed of only 45 mph, sounds much like a golf cart, and can travel all of 30 miles before its battery needs to be recharged for several hours. The Associated Press reports that motorcycle enthusiasts invited for the unveiling weren't that impressed. 66-year-old Helen Weakely of Yakima, Washington, called them "sissy bikes." Tim Ritson, a 44-year-old tattooed and pony-tailed mechanic from West Corvina, California, wondered, "What the hell would I want with an electric bike? You need something that makes noise and vibrates."

California mandates that auto manufacturers bring electric vehicles to market by 2003, regardless of consumer demand. The state offers a $5,000 subsidy for those few consumers who buy electric cars, which, coupled with a ten percent federal tax credit, still makes the vehicles frightfully expensive. What's more, a report by the University of California Institute of Transportation Studies estimates that even if all vehicles in the United States were electric, emissions would be reduced by only 20 percent due to shifting of pollution from tailpipes to electric power plants. "The same improvement could be achieved at far lower cost just by improving the efficiency of gas-burning cars," the report says.

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