At the June 2015 Forward with Ford conference, the company announced a new line of three new electric bikes. The most interesting one is called MoDe:Flex; a model meant to be versatile enough for commuting, mountain biking, and road riding.

The bike features a smartphone holster on the handlebars; just snap your phone in and link it to the bike with a special app. An Apple Watch app joins the party and sync with both your phone and the bike, but each electronic device has its own function.

The phone app updates you on weather conditions, public transit information, and troublesome traffic ahead. The Apple Watch app keeps track of your heart rate and, if you have enabled “no sweat” mode, automatically kicks on the electric pedal assist to keep you from arriving at work drenched in sweat.

Some of the bike’s other features are even more compelling. Ford doesn’t explain how, but the bike can sense potholes ahead of you while you’re riding and alert you via beeps from your watch. The MoDe:Flex also features “eyes free navigation,” which causes one handlebar to vibrate when you need to turn in that direction (if you’ve programmed your route into your phone). When a car approaches you from behind, both handlebars vibrate so you can be on high alert.

The MoDe:Flex, like the other ebikes in Ford’s new lineup, folds in half to easily stow in your trunk or carry with you onto public transport. Ford hasn’t released much technical information about the bikes or even when they might be available. But the fact that a car company is supporting clean commuting technology is still pretty cool, even if it is still just a dream at this point.

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In urban transportation, electric is quickly becoming king, and the Johanson3 line of electric trikes are riding right into the competition. The Johanson3 scooters sport quite a few features that make them different from just about everything else that’s out there at the moment.

The scooters’ designation as “cargo bikes” indicates the first difference. These aren’t made to simply tool around town on; they can actually function as useful vehicles that will let you get your books, groceries, or even a passenger from one point to another. And if you are using the trike as your “last mile” transpo, it detaches into two parts and folds up for easy stashing in a car or train.

The back seat allows a passenger to sit comfortably while holding onto conveniently placed handles. In the front, the driver has an adjustable seat that can be used for sitting or for standing/leaning. The Johanson3 folks say that this feature is designed to make it more comfortable to ride the scooters while riding a skirt, kimono, sari, or other garment that might make riding a traditional sit-down scooter difficult.

If you don’t have any stuff or people to haul around, the rear seat can also be used as a cargo space. There are several different models from the company, each with a different weight capacity: the Rhino is the workhorse of the bunch with a payload capacity of 660 pounds (or two rear passengers), and the Urban 2+ can carry up to 485 pounds.

It’s hard to gauge just how energy efficient the scooters will be since they haven’t yet been released and speed requirements differ from one country to the next. Twin hub-mounted motors in the back propel the trike along with zero emissions; if you’re riding hard and keeping it around the top speed of approximately 28 MPH, you’ll get between 35 and 40 miles from each full charge. Pre-orders are being taken now with prices ranging from $2,260 for the kids’ version to $3900 for the X-Plorer Cargo Bike.

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Real flying cars are actually zooming into the realm of reality, but that’s not stopping dreamers from coming up with some pretty outrageous and far less possible designs. The Skylys Project from Mix Aerospace is an electric vehicle that combines the best attributes of an electric car, a helicopter, and an airplane.

Skylys is a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) vehicle, capable of taking off from a stationary position just like a helicopter. It’s hard to tell from the scant information on the company’s website, but in the concept renderings the Skylys seems to have two versions: a vehicle with permanent multi-directional propellers and one that features separate car and wing modules.

The second version of the car allows you to drive around on four wheels in a vehicle small enough to navigate tight city streets. Then, when you need to travel a long distance or just want to circumvent ground traffic, you back the car up into the wing assembly which attaches securely, turning your car into a flying machine.

Mix Aerospace believes that the first viable uses for the Skylys will be emergency responders like ambulances and police officers. But the ultimate goal would be to get the cars into the driveways of regular people at some point. Right now Mix is still trying to get funding to get their company off of the ground and take the Skylys from a concept to a working prototype, which they believe could happen around 2018.

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BMW rolled the electric car movement further into the mainstream in 2014 by introducing two new electric cars: the i3 and the i8. The former is a three-door hatchback coupe, while the i8 is a sporty two-door boasting 357 horsepower. To further cement their commitment to creating eco-friendly transportation, BMW also developed a charger for their new e-cars that uses completely off-grid power.

The i Solar Carport is made of sustainable, fast-growing bamboo and topped with efficient glass solar panels. The panels collect solar energy and send it directly to the EVs via BMW’s i Wallbox Pro, a charging module mounted directly to the carport. The readout on the Wallbox indicates just how much energy is being generated. After your car is charged, any excess solar energy can be directed to your home, actually saving money on your home electricity costs.

Pricing information isn’t readily available; the BMW website directs consumers to speak with dealers about purchasing their own i Solar Carport. Given its high quality materials and the high-end BMW brand, we expect it won’t be cheap. But if you’re going to throw down $41,000 (the i3) to $135,000 (the i8) on an electric BMW, you might as well go a little further to get a personal charging station that can power your home as well as your car.

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Bike sharing programs have started popping up in cities all over the world, and now similar car sharing plans are making commuting easier for urban travelers. Given their relative size and complexity, however, loaner cars are understandably more difficult to manage than bikes. Toyota is hoping to overcome that hurdle with a car sharing program that will employ electric cars to simplify that “last mile” journey from the public transit station to work or school.

The scheme, called Ha:Mo (harmonious mobility), offers up two types of cars that can be rented in 15 minute increments. The i-Road is a funky three-wheeled car that seats just one, and the COMS features four wheels and seating for two. You can reserve a car and have it waiting for you when you get to your station. Rental rates for the cars vary from around €3 ($3.89 US) for 15 minutes to €5 ($6.50 US) for 30 minutes. The plan is being tried out in Grenoble, France, where 27 charging stations will be set up around the city. When a user is done with a loaner car, they just drive to a charging station and plug it in to end their trip.

Ha:Mo is an experiment in convincing commuters to use eco-friendly public transportation for most of their commute and electric cars for the last leg of the journey, negating the need to drive their own (probably gas-powered) vehicles the entire way. The Toyotas are tiny and nimble, making them ideal for Grenoble’s notoriously narrow streets. Hopefully that will be even more motivation for people to use them rather than their own cars to navigate the city.

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