You know those times when you’re running an errand that’s so close you feel bad driving but it’s just not practical to ride your bike? Like, say, picking up a keg or an ice cream cake? A Hood River-based company has the solution. Not quite car, yet better than a bike, the Hauler is a zero-emissions grocery getter. Aaron Blake, chief technology officer for Senkai Motor Works, explains his company’s invention.

rediviva: What exactly is the Hauler, and for what is it used?

AB: We designed the Hauler from the ground up to represent a new class of transportation option to bridge the gap between bicycle and automobile; we call these types of vehicles “Human Utility Vehicles” (HUVs). As an HUV, the Hauler is designed to meet most of your in-town transportation needs, so you can leave your car parked unless you need to go more than 20 miles away from your house or carry a lot of people at once. Our beta customers use Haulers for getting groceries, taking their children to school or daycare, commuting to work, going to the gym, taking their dog to the vet and pretty much anything else you can think of.

rediviva: What inspired you to create this thing?

AB: We got the idea to develop the Hauler after doing a lot of research into demographic and ecological trends in China and India and coming to the realization that the billions of new consumers who will be purchasing transportation options in the next 50 years could result in an ecological catastrophe of massive proportions. Even if these consumers all buy 100-percent plug-in electric vehicles, a staggering amount of coal will be burned to fuel them. Based on this observation, we set ourselves the task of designing a true zero-emissions vehicle that could thrive in the harsh conditions of the developing world, and the Hauler was the result.

rediviva: Are we all going to have a Hauler in the garage someday, or is this meant for a specific demographic?

AB: I envision a future where a family can use Hauler-like vehicles to do most of their around-town errands and just own one car that they use infrequently for longer trips. Given that the total cost of ownership and operation for a sedan in America is slightly over $0.50 per mile and the total cost of ownership and operation for a Hauler is slightly less than $0.005 per mile, families could save a lot of money by using a Human Utility Vehicle to offset their auto use. These numbers work out to a savings of $49.50 per 100 miles driven on a Hauler instead of a car. That said, the Hauler represents the first option in what we hope will grow into a diverse Human Utility Vehicle market, so I think there is a long way to go before we see massive market acceptance of this new approach to personal mobility.

rediviva: How much do they cost, and how many have you sold so far?

AB: Retail price for a Hauler will be about $2,600 without the optional solar panel and about $3,100 when packaged with a solar option. Additionally, The Hauler has been designed to be a “trans-portation platform;” we will offer a diverse accessory space to allow users to customize their vehicles, and because you can add or subtract battery packs, you can customize your Hauler to make it more of a bicycle or more of a light-electric vehicle. We have sold a small number of Haulers to early adopters scattered around the country: Some are at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York; one crossed the country last fall and is in New Hampshire; and some are being used in and around Hood River. At this time we are focusing all of our efforts on assimilating user feedback into the final production design and raising sufficient start-up capital to begin large-scale production.

rediviva: How fast does it go?

AB: Most states limit electric bicycles to a top speed of 20 mph, so we have geared the Hauler accordingly. However, owners can use off-the-shelf bicycle parts to change their gearing up or down. We have run prototypes that allow a rider to maintain 30 mph, and that seemed like a good place to stop.

rediviva: What’s the craziest thing you’ve done with a Hauler?

AB: Early in the Hauler development process we decided to fly two proof-of-concept prototypes to Japan for a one-month evaluation trip, which we intended to spend riding between volcanoes that we would climb and ski. It was a committing exercise, as the prototypes contained significant design elements we had never tested, so we would be relying on our engineering skills for a month in a country were we didn’t speak the language or have any facilities. Not surprisingly, the airfreight deadline for the trip snuck up on us, and we wound up doing final fabrication, assembly and painting in a vacant lot behind the Narita Airport after the partially assembled prototypes arrived in Japan! The trip was a huge success, and we spent a month riding around the snowy north island of Hokkaido skiing and climbing, fueling our bodies with cake and our Haulers with sunshine between snow showers. The Hauler’s two-wheel drive system was amazing in the snow, and the solar and electrical system exceeded our expectations in the winter conditions. You can read stories from our trip at senkaimotors.com.

rediviva: Are you working on anything else?

AB: Always! We view Senkai Motor Works as a sustainable solutions company that has chosen to launch with a transportation product. We are developing new products in the transportation space, as well as products for creating off-grid and grid-tie power systems, and home sustainability products as well. At this point, we are definitely a company that is limited by capital, not by creativity.