Planet CNET: Life in the fast lane Video

Planet CNET: Life in the fast lane Video Transcript

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>> Welcome to Planet CNET. I'm Kara Suboy, reporting from San Francisco. Put on your seatbelt, strap on a helmet, and get ready for a fun ride. We start off here in the US with a look at a new electric bicycle soon to hit the market. I took it out for a spin in front of the CNET offices, and I'm pretty convinced I found my new commuting method of choice. Oh and by the way, my birthday is later this week if anyone is still shopping for a gift. [ music ]

>> That's really fun.

>> Isn't it wild?

>> So we can do twenty miles like this.

>> Yep.

>> At first glance, these may look like traditional bicycles.

>> It's a very upright, easy, easy ride.

>> Tricked out with an electric engine, this A to B bike can cruise along at a top speed of twenty miles an hour, with absolutely no effort.

>> It's built for getting around town, getting around with the commute so that you can show up to work and not have to sweat.

>> To charge the lithium ion battery, just plug it in.

>> It takes about three to four hours to get about 90% charged, and then about an hour more just to kind of get that last 10% in.

>> Depending on your weight, the terrain, or how much you pedal, expect twenty miles per charge.

>> If you literally want to rely 100% on the motor, then your mileage will be probably a little less. If you want to augment the motor's work, you can then extend your range pretty dramatically.

>> Now this little bike's having a bit of an identity crisis. It's environmentally friendly like a bicycle, but it's got all the zip of a moped.

>> I think it looks tougher if we park it here though.

>> This kind of mobility comes with a price, to the speed of twenty six hundred dollars.

>> Would you guys pay twenty six hundred bucks for this?

>> I don't know if my wife would let me, but I mean it'd be something, definitely be something cool for the city, for cruising around in the city.

>> To make for a cleaner environment, yeah. And especially with the price of oil and gas. With all the controversy over that.

>> Let's compare the stats. How much does your bike weigh?

>> It's about five pounds.

>> Mine's seventy.

>> Yeah.

>> How much did your bike cost?

>> It was around six hundred dollars.

>> Mine's twenty six hundred dollars.

>> What's really cool about these bikes is that here in the US you don't need any special license or permit to ride them, and even helmets are optional, depending on the city where you live. Oh and by the way, I'll take the black one. We turn now to CNET's John Chan, Singapore, where the cruising speed at a new racetrack is a little bit faster than twenty miles per hour.

>> Hi, I'm John Chan for CNET Asia. Behind me right is the [inaudible] and pedal complex for Formula One's first ever night race. This one happens to be [inaudible] first F1 Street Race. Before we take you onto the actual circuit, let's have a dry run first on the simulator. ^M00:02:38 [ music ] ^M00:02:48 This car you see here is one of two custom made simulators that is specially brought in by local operator Cintel, as part of its [inaudible] activities to the September twenty eighth race. The Singapore Grand Prix circuit has been loaded into the software, and this placed a track on three adjacent LCD screens. The simulator is mounted on a motion enabled platform. This allows the user to experience every hairpin turn, heart pounding skid, brake, and crash while burning rubber on the track. And of course, mach eight. That wasn't too bad, my timing for a single lap was about four minutes, just slightly slower than a professional F1 driver, if he was going two laps. Now that we're off to a great start, let's go on to the actual circuit. Because the track goes against the flow of traffic, we'll be going through the circuit in the opposite direction. Along the way you'll get to see the lighting system, places where drivers will most likely be overtaking each other, and naturally, scenic sights of Singapore. Here's our ride. [ music ] It may not be an F1 car, but at least the top comes down. Let's hit the road. There are three pure street circuits in this year's F1 race calendar. These are the famed tracks in Monaco, Valencia, and of course right here in downtown Singapore. The Indi car west circuit measures about five kilometers, or three miles, and the drivers are required to make about sixty one laps in total for the race. According to the organizers, there are three overtaking opportunities in the entire circuit. The first one is right after the starting grid. We just passed the second one, at turn number seven, Ruffles Boulevard. These pylons you see here are critical to the night race. They hold the light projectors. There are about two hundred and thirty of these pylons, and one thousand five hundred light projectors in total. When lighted, luminosity reaches up to three thousand watts, that's up to four times brighter than lights at sport stadiums. As we come to the end of the circuit, racers have to turn toward the floating platform, and drive parallel to it before emerging from beneath the seating gallery. This is our final stop, as parts of the track behind the Singapore [inaudible] and near the pit building are not accessible to the public for now. And there you have it, Formula One's first night race. I'm John Chan signing off from Singapore.

>> Looks very cool John, thank you. But I am sort of confused. If those stadium lights can illuminate the track to be as bright as daylight, why not just have the race during the daytime? Regardless, I'm sure the country will have no problem selling out of its eighty thousand tickets. That is all for this episode of Planet CNET, thank you for watching. I'm Kara Suboy reporting from CNET San Francisco, we'll see you next time. ^M00:05:26 [ music ]