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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Bikes are certainly the most popular kind of people-powered vehicle to get around urban environments, but scooters have their place as well – and this very cool hybrid combines them both. The bike/scooter combo is called Pibal, which means “baby eel.”

Famed designer Philippe Starck worked with car manufacturer Peugeot to come up with a bike for the city of Bordeaux’s public bike scheme. The Pibal can be ridden just like a normal bike, but when you need a change of pace or have to get through a pedestrian area, you can just stand up on the platform with one foot and push along with the other.

The Pibal allows riders to carry a load of groceries on the front or back. Your child can even stand on the platform while you push the bike along, making the end of a shopping trip fun and simple rather than stressful and tiring.

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Fold-up scooters are becoming more popular than ever, but none of them are as good-looking as the MOVEO. Developed by the Hungarian environmental non-profit Antro Group, MOVEO is an electric scooter with a motor in each wheel and a seat built right into its chassis.

The MOVEO doesn’t require a parking space; rather, it folds up and can be wheeled along behind you using the built-in handle. It takes about two minutes to go from the driving configuration to its folded-up state. When folded up, the scooter is fully enclosed, meaning that all of the street-dirty parts are covered up so you don’t come into contact with them.

Antro Group says that the MOVEO weighs just 25 kg (55 pounds) and a top speed of 45 km/h (28 mph). It can go up to 35 kilometers (21.75 miles) on a single charge. Charging the battery from empty to full only takes an hour – pretty impressive for an electric scooter.

The sleek, ultra-portable scooter has been in development since 2008. The first models will cost between $3,100 and $4,600 (US), depending on whether the Antro Group gets enough funding for a large production run.

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African Grey parrots are super-smart, lovely, and great companions – and they’re also big squawking pains in the butt. Andrew Gray, an engineering student at the University of Florida, was annoyed with his parrot Pepper’s incessant screeching. At first he tried squirting Pepper with a stream of water, but the bird actually started liking the water and began screaming just to get sprayed.

After that fail, Andrew had to work a bit harder to solve his feathered problem. He decided to build Pepper an interactive toy that would keep the bird’s mind and beak occupied. The BirdBuggy is Pepper’s new beak-driven scooter that allows him to be in the same room with his humans, something that seems to keep him happy enough to shut up for a while.

Infrared sensors on the buggy keep it from running into obstacles, but otherwise Pepper is able to “drive” the machine by manipulating a small joystick with his beak. When Pepper decides he’s done living in the fast lane, the buggy can just drive itself back to its docking station using integrated cameras and a homing device.

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This sweet little vehicle looks a bit like a motorcycle that still has a lot of growing up to do, but it’s actually a three-wheeled electric urban transporter. Named Qugo, it was created by Dutch company Urban Mobility Europe as an easy and eco-friendly way for city dwellers to scoot around city streets.

The Qugo seems somewhat similar to the Segway – in concept, anyway – but its three wheels make it far more stable. The frame is aluminum, making it a super lightweight 55 pounds without the battery. For easy storage, the handlebars fold down, making the Qugo even tinier. According to the makers of the Qugo, the stand-up transporter is kind of like skiing on the road. It certainly looks like a fun ride, and its unique construction makes it possible to zoom around at up to 15.5 MPH while remaining stable.

It’s worth mentioning that the Qugo is genuinely adorable. Could it finally do what the Segway never could and make people want to ride around on single-rider electric scooters? That remains to be seen, as it is currently being offered at a small number of outlets around the world.

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