When I meet See its Cybertruck-style electric scooter in 2023 with Infinite Machine, outside the beachfront small library in Brooklyn Red Hook, a suitable space for a clumsy, young startup. But in a recent visit, the team made a serious upgrade: a renovated and spacious warehouse in Long Island City, Queens, with high ceilings, a fresh layer of paint, more staff, the right machines and a showroom that allows Passersby to start shipping P1 scooters this month.
P1 will always be a niche product. The United States has no scooter culture found in many other countries, and potential riders of the original $10,000 VESPA-style vehicles require a motorcycle license. This limits your growth as an emerging company. This is where Olto comes from. Designed in over a year, the OLTO is a mass-market e-bike that doesn’t look like any ebike before. It can carry two passengers, reverse, and has a pedal that can be transformed into pedals – all designed to ride on the bike path.
Start from scratch
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
eBikes look a lot like a bike. This also means that, like a regular bike, you may need to drag it indoors in a safe storage place, or risk locking it outside with a bike lock. Infinite Machine decided to come up with a new design from scratch, placing the OLTO between the seated scooter and the ebike.
The mix of steel and aluminum leads to boiling lines and curved edges, and the company hopes that in this political atmosphere will not attract so many Cyber-power similarities. It’s silver or black, weatherproof and could have parked it on the side of the road. You can pop the battery from under the seat – there is a button to turn on the battery on the handlebar have Store indoors with UL certified batteries. Just charge the juice when you need it (the included charger takes about 5.5 hours, or 3 hours with a fast charger). Otherwise, you can leave it in it.
What about the bicycle thief? The company has a set of tools to prevent theft based on the term “unlimited security”. All OLTO EBIKES come with GPS and the Internet, so you can track your EBIKES via Companion App (iOS and Android will be available on startup). As a redundant measure, there is a safe location to install airtag for peace of mind. If someone tries to tamper with the bike, an alarm will sound and you will be notified on your phone. The steering and motor locked, so moving the 178-pound ebike takes a lot of effort. Most of this is powered by a secondary battery, which will continue to run for 30 days if you remove the primary battery from the OLTO. If you are still on your guard, there is a place where you can attach a U-lock to the bracket.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
Speaking of accessories, Infinite machines have a range of first-party accessories, from phone installation to back racks and children’s carriers, which you can use with an OLTO configuration when placing an order. If you want to add third-party accessories, such as the mount of the bottle cage under the seat, there are also some mounting points.
Pedal or throttle
You can use the power button, NFC tag to turn on OLTO, or use the app. Like some modern electric cars, it can be lock-free or automatically locked based on the distance you are from the device (if you want). There is an internal pocket with a USB-C port on the stem that charges the phone, while the taller top is a rectangular display that shows battery life, the mode where the OLTO is located, and the battery meter.
On the right handlebar is the twisted throttle, a reversible R-button, and also the boost throttle, which can get a little vibration from the motor if needed. On the left is a button for turning signals, a button that opens the seat to access the battery, which is also large. You can also switch headlight settings between high and low beams. OLTOs come with rearview mirrors, but they are optionally mounted and have hydraulic disc brakes that have internal wiring to clean the exterior.
The seats are comfortable and can accommodate two people. There are passenger pulling tripods and driver’s footstools. If you want to put some work on the ride instead of relying on the throttle (maybe extending the range to an estimated 40 miles), you can convert these latter tripods to pedals. Converting from footstool to pedals can be confusing, but once you put it down, it takes a few seconds.
