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For about 10 minutes last week, I felt like I was Judge Dredd, riding the burly Lawmaster motorcycle from the 1995 film. People on the cobbled streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, stared at me as I rode by on a futuristic-looking vehicle, and I fought the urge to yell, “I am the law!”
I was riding Infinite Machine’s P1, an electric Vespa-like scooter from a brand-new company started up by two brothers in Brooklyn, Eddie and Joseph Cohen. Eddie studied product design and did a stint in marketing at Apple. He founded a company called Walden, which designs products for meditation. Joseph Cohen is the founder and CEO of Universe, an app that lets anyone design a website.
The point is, neither has experience building vehicles of any kind. But after Joseph’s Vespa broke down, they decided to start building an electric vehicle. The two met Zach Cooper, who enjoys working on motorcycles, and enlisted him to help design the P1. Other folks on the team hail from the now-defunct Boosted Board.
“We see this moment in personal EVs like the moment in personal computers in the ’70s, where there’s this proliferation of products, and everyone’s doing it in a different way,” says Joseph Cohen. “But, ultimately, if you look at what Apple did, they didn’t invent any one component, they put it together in one compelling package. That’s how we see what we’re doing.”
Of course, everyone wants to compare themselves to Apple. The thing is, there’s more than a whiff of Elon Musk about the P1. It doesn’t look anything like a Vespa—it has much more in common with Tesla’s Cybertruck (I mean, have you looked at it?). This, apparently, is intentional.
The duo say they want to do to micromobility what Tesla did to electric vehicles. The P1 is designed to be an urban commuter, so you can zip around town without having to worry about parking or range. The brothers see it as an antidote to car-filled cities like New York.
The P1 has a top speed of 55 miles per hour, though to hit this you have to push a red Turbo button. You can cycle between three speed modes via a switch on the handlebars. The company says anyone can drive it in a restricted mode that limits the speed to 35 miles per hour, but only those with a Class M motorcycle license can unlock the max speed.
The frame is a mix of aluminum and steel, and it has two 72-volt 30-aH batteries, a 6-kilowatt hub motor, and the ability to reverse. The company is stating an estimated range of 60 miles.
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While I have tested standing kick scooters that can vault you to 50 miles per hour, the P1 was the first time I rode a moped-like sit-down scooter. Acceleration was nimble, smooth, and wonderfully responsive (and it’s shockingly fast). I was able to precisely dial the speed I wanted with the throttle.
I did find the seat a little too wide, and the vehicle made a disconcerting sound as I rode over the cobbled road, but I was driving a prototype—some of these kinks are being ironed out, and the company says the final version of the P1 will be a bit narrower.
You can store it outside with the battery in, or remove it and bring it indoors to recharge. Even with the battery removed, there’s a backup battery in the P1 to power its sentry mode, which will alert you if someone tries to steal or tamper with the vehicle. This involves triggering an alarm and locking the motor. If someone does manage to steal it, there’s embedded GPS, so you should be able to track its location.
The P1 also supports Apple’s CarPlay, displayed on a screen in the center of the handlebars. (Android Auto apparently doesn’t yet support two-wheeled vehicles.) There will be an app that automatically unlocks and starts the vehicle as you approach it and locks it when you walk away. Firmware updates over the air could add more features too.
The prototype I tried had the batteries stored in the deck, but these may eventually move into a water-tight compartment under the seat. The battery’s life expectancy is roughly five to seven years, and the company says the P1 is “not suited for intense rain, snow, or off-road conditions.”
You’ll still get some space to store things under the seat and inside the deck, and Infinite Machine wants to create modules you can attach to the sides of the seat to expand functionality. I watched as the team attached a speaker module that pumped out tunes (I would have preferred an MP3 with Sylvester Stallone shouting, “I am the law!” on a loop), but since this mounting system will be open-sourced, anyone will be able to design and 3D-print their own modules. The company expects to create modules for cargo, extra batteries to extend the range, and more.
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Joseph Cohen says the company has partnered with a manufacturer in Taizhou, China, that has more than 30 years of experience building scooters and is crafting the P1 with standard scooter parts, allowing any scooter repair mechanic to fix the vehicle if issues arise. Infinite Machine is also looking to partner with distributors and service mechanics in the markets it launches in to provide repair services.
The P1 will initially be sold in the continental US, and once the team has established a production line, it may enter other markets around the world. Indeed, Infinite Machine will be touring the P1 all over the globe to get the word out.
These are all lofty goals for a new electric vehicle brand, especially as it’s largely a self-funded startup, one that will rely on interest from consumers. Eddie Cohen tells me that the brothers raised a round of funding from family and friends, and a few small checks from angel investors, but there is no major venture capitalist backing their project at this time.
Want one? You’ll need to put down a $1,000 deposit (refundable for 90 days, and shipments start next year). But the P1 costs $10,000, making it slightly more expensive than the $7,500 electric Vespa. So should you go with the tried, tested, and highly unlikely-to-go-bust Vespa or the Mega-City One mobility marvel funded by two brothers and their folks? I know which Joseph would choose (Dredd, not Cohen).
Correction October 16, 2023: We've noted that some small angel investors are backing Infinite Machine—it's not strictly family-funded.
