A combination of rugged and road-worthy, this self-balancing electric scooter boasts quick-start functionality and speeds of up to 25 mile per hour, perfect for scooting through (and around) traffic in congested cities for hours on a single charge. For those already into Bird, Lime or other private scooter share programs (but frustrated with hunting for them in the wild), this device represents a potential leap up in durability, maneuverability, customizability, acceleration and speed.

Developed by California-based product designer Nathan Allen, the Stator has oversized wheels connected to a single-tube frame and a single, wraparound handlebar with an electronic control unit (turned on by a wireless RFID tag or standard key.

Modularity is part of the design’s charm, which is made up of components that can be swapped out and customized, including the seat, headlights, brake lights, phone chargers and holders, custom racks and rack bags.

It’s powered by a 1000W geared motor and a 20-Ah, 48-volt, lithium-ion battery pack tuckedi not the baseboard. Different power settings can be used to achieve better performance or balance energy usage.

At 90 pounds, it won’t be easy to lug around, but if you’re cruising urban streets that shouldn’t be an issue, and the extra weight helps provide extra features, like: regenerative brakes paired with front-wheel hydraulic disk braking. For now, it’s still a prototype, but its creator hopes to roll out models for sale in the near future.

The Vespampère is slim, light and stylish, recalling a vintage classic from 1948 with an electric motor and other contemporary technological tweaks to bring it in tune with the modern era. Among other neat twists, a mobile phone becomes an integrated component, effectively serving as the vehicle’s dashboard.

Italian designer Giulio Iacchetti’s fresh model draws inspiration from the film-famous silhouette of historical scooters, returning to the lighter look of original models (a plus for urban maneuverability).

The minimalist design is an intentional rejection of heavier new vehicles on the road today, and taps into mobile tech by tying controls and displays (including speedometer, fuel gauge and lights) to a connected smartphone. This gadget, in turn, is housed in a clear compartment, front and center.

The phone can charge off the vehicle’s on-board electrical system, slim rear-view mirrors feature turn signals, and the cantilevered seat links back to the very first Vespa launched by the company over a half-century ago.

Developed by Wattway and deployed on the streets of Tourouvre-au-Perche, a 1,000-meter-long solar-paneled roadway in France is the first stretch of a 1,000-kilometer endeavor.

The technology along this initial pathway is designed to generate enough energy to light up the streets of a 3,400-person town, and it is just the first step in a five-year plan.

France ultimately aims to pave 1,000 kilometers of solar roads over the next half-decade, supplying renewable energy to 5 million people (close to 10% of the population).

The flat and smooth surfaces of existing streets are perfect places to serve a double function and harvest clean energy as long as the issue of durability is taken into account.

The solar brick-like sheets are covered in multiple layers of silicon resign designed to allow light to pass through while protecting the panels from damage. The panels are engineered to withstand the weight of six-axle trucks and to stick directly onto existing road surfaces.

The goal for this first phase is to produce 280 megwatt hours of power per year and to test the durability of the tech under real-world experimental conditions. Under controlled conditions, the panels survive a “cycle of one million vehicles, or 20 years of normal traffic a road, and the surface does not move.”

“We are still on an experimental phase,” says the company. “Building a trial site of this scale is a real opportunity for our innovation. This trial site has enabled us to improve our photovoltaic panel installing process as well as their manufacturing, in order to keep on optimizing our innovation.”

A series of roads and public buses in Israel are being retrofitted to test an electromagnetic induction system designed to recharge vehicles on the go, eliminating the cost, time, emissions and waste associated with conventional fuel and refueling stops.

Electroad, an Israeli startup, boasts a relatively straightforward and fast-deploying system compared to competitors. Their copper and rubber chargers can be rolled out at a rate of a close to a half a mile per day into shallow trenches just a few inches deep. The ease of retrofitting is one of the striking advantages of the system — more involved variants can require ripping up substantial sections of pavement, taking longer and costing more to implement.

Their technology has already been tested in controlled settings (small sections of test track outside Electroad’s lab) but will now be demonstrated at scale under real-world conditions along public transit routes. Like other induction technologies, no connection is needed between the vehicle and the road — a radiation-shielded coil simply picks up energy from the lines below, tied into the grid at intervals along the way.

To deploy the system, an asphalt scraper digs a trench while a second vehicle unrolls the the rubber-and-plastic strips. Electric buses following the revamped route will be able to store a charge for any jumps off the invisible grid. That may not sound like much, but the reduced storage capacity means the bus can travel lighter, using less energy and requiring a cheaper battery. Ultimately, the cost and power saved upfront will help pay back for the system installation more rapidly.

Initial plans to develop a lane-spanning bus in China were met with great enthusiasm but some skepticism, the latter of which is now being addressed via a real-life, full-sized prototype.

The idea is simple: a bus that arches over traffic is neither hinders nor is hindered by other vehicles on the road. Its mass and reduced need to start and stop also make the bus more sustainable than most transit options in terms of energy efficiency as well.

The mega-vehicle is spacious and vast, 72 feet long, 25 feet wide and 16 feet tall. With seven feet of clearance, leaves plenty of room below for ordinary road vehicles.

The bus runs on specialized tracks on either side of two-lane traffic roadways and can carry up to 300 passengers at top speeds of up to 60 miles per hour.

Since the concept has been demonstrated, countries including Brazil, France, India and Indonesia have expressed interest in the TEB-1 system, hoping to deploy it on their own congested urban roadways.