When I met with Infinite Machine to see its Cybertruck-esque electric scooter in 2023, it was outside a small garage by the waterfront in Red Hook, Brooklyn—the right kind of space for a scrappy, young startup. But on a recent visit, the team got a serious upgrade: a renovated and roomy warehouse in Long Island City, Queens, with high ceilings, a fresh coat of paint, more employees, proper machinery, and a showroom for passersby to ogle the P1 scooter—which the company finally began shipping this month.
The P1 was always going to be a niche product. America doesn’t have the scooter culture found in many other countries, and potential riders of the original $10,000 Vespa-inspired vehicle need a motorcycle license. That puts a limit on your growth as a burgeoning company. That’s where the Olto comes in. Designed in a little over a year, the Olto is meant to be a mass-market electric bike that doesn’t look like any ebike that came before. It can carry two passengers, can reverse, and has a footrest that can transform into pedals—all designed to ride on the bike lane.
Start From Scratch
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Ebikes tend to look a lot like bikes. That also means that, like a normal bike, you’ll probably need to haul it indoors somewhere secure for storage, or risk locking it up outside with a bike lock. Infinite Machine decided to come up with a fresh design from the ground up that puts the Olto somewhere between a sit-down scooter and an ebike.
The mix of steel and aluminum results in an ebike with clean lines and curvy edges, something the company hopes will not draw so many Cybertruck parallels in this political climate. It comes in silver or black, is weatherproof, and is meant to be parked outside on the curb. You can pop out the battery from under the seat—there’s a button to open it on the handlebar—but you don’t have to store the UL-certified battery indoors. Just bring it in to charge when it needs the juice (it takes about 5.5 hours with the included charger or 3 hours with a fast charger). Otherwise, you can leave it in.
What about bike thieves? The company has a suite of tools for theft prevention under the term Infinite Security. All Olto ebikes come with GPS and internet, so you can track yours via the companion app (iOS and Android will be available at launch). As a redundant measure, there’s a secure spot to install an AirTag for peace of mind. If someone tries to tamper with the bike, an alarm will ring and you’ll get a notification on your phone. The steering and motor also lock up, so it’d take considerable effort to move the 178-pound ebike. Much of this is powered by the secondary battery, which will keep running for 30 days if you’ve removed the primary battery from the Olto. If you’re still wary, there’s a spot to attach a U-lock on the kickstand.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Speaking of accessories, Infinite Machine has an array of first-party accessories, from a phone mount to a rear rack and kid carrier, that you can configure with the Olto when placing your order. There are also some mounting points if you want to add third-party accessories, like the mounts for a bottle cage under the seat.
Pedal or Throttle
You can turn on the Olto with the power button, an NFC tag, or use the app. Like some modern electric cars, it can auto-unlock or auto-lock based on your proximity to the device (if you want). There’s a little internal pocket on the stem with a USB-C port to charge a phone, and higher up top is a rectangular display that shows battery life, the mode the Olto is in, and the battery meter.
On the right handlebar is the twist throttle, an R button to reverse, and a Boost throttle to get a little oomph from the motor if you need it. On the left is a button for turn signals, a button to open the seat to access the battery, and a very loud horn. You can also toggle the headlight settings here between high and low beams. The Olto comes with rear-view mirrors, but they’re an optional install, and there are hydraulic disc brakes with internal wiring for a clean look.
The seat is pretty comfy and can fit two people. There are pull-out footrests for the passenger and footrests for the driver. These latter footrests can be converted into pedals if you want to put some work into your ride rather than relying on the throttle (and maybe extend the range closer to the estimated 40 miles). Converting from footrest to pedals is somewhat confusing, but once you have it down pat, it takes seconds.