http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/09/smart-wheel-flykly_n_4247102.html
We already have motorized unicycles.
I didn’t bother to read the whole article. It just caught my eye. Thought somebody here might find it interesting.
It looks pretty streamlined.
Seems like it compromises too much for the streamlined package. Batteries inside the hub seem like a bad idea, either too few for it to work or too much weight.
As far as efficient travel goes, it would take some getting used to. you would have to continuously pedal until stopping and get pretty good at judging how long to coast to maximise regen. Any time you stop pedaling it will slow down fairly quick.
It can go 30 miles on a single charge. That’s not very far. Also, given the nature of electricity, it would go slower and slower before then. If you were making frequent stops you’d go even less distance. So it’s really impractical without a bigger battery. Also, I’ve seen stuff like this before, this has just been repackaged and advertised.
The wheel recharges when going downhill, so i’d assume the 30 mile range is for flat riding. If you had any hills in your area, I’d think you could extend that a bit.
Hills would only make the range worse unless you are going one way downhill (In which case there’s no reason to have the thing). If you go down you have to put energy into going up and it is impossible to get more energy going down then you put into it going up.