hands on Infinite Machine, a New York-based electric vehicle startup, began with a stolen Vespa.
Eddie Cohen, president and co-founder of the company, explained that he and his brother joseph were living together during the COVID outbreak when the idea first sparked.
“His Vespa had gotten stolen and we just kinda had this crazy idea … if we were to design one for the future that was all-electric, had the best technology, what would it look like? What would it feel like?” Cohen recounted.
The answer,as it turns out,is the P1,a $10,000 electric seated scooter,and the Olto,a $3,495 bike-lane legal class 2 e-bike. Infinite Machine began shipping the P1 to customers in October, with the Olto slated for delivery in early 2026.
“We just started dabbling and we came up with P1, you know, just a sketch,” said Cohen, who previously worked in product design. “And then, over the subsequent two or three years, we just continued to noodle on it. Nights and weekends,we both had other jobs.”
in January 2024, the project became their full-time focus. The brothers assembled a team and transitioned from initial sketches to a tangible product.
“So P1 is a plated, M-class vehicle,” Cohen clarified, meaning drivers generally need a motorcycle license unless operating in Mode 1, which limits speed to 30 mph. “It goes 65 miles an hour, 60-mile range. The battery is in the floor. It fits two people. It has a full touchscreen – 8.5″ display – that has what we call Phone Connect. So it connects to your iPhone,you get Maps. Music, etc. It has whisper-quiet acceleration. It’s kind of like riding a Tesla for the first time, but it’s even more surreal because it’s silent.”
The P1 was designed entirely in-house. “All of the componentry is custom-toolled and developed. That’s not a trivial thing,” Cohen emphasized.
He pointed to the fender as an exmaple. “We designed it,” he said. “We made the tooling.We made the molds, and made it so that the engineering works just because we actually care about the details.”
The design is striking,drawing comparisons to the tesla cybertruck with its angular aesthetic. However, the DMC DeLorean feels like an equally fitting reference point, especially considering the inherent challenges of launching a new vehicle company.
“We were inspired by the Cybertruck,” Cohen admitted, “but we didn’t set out to design the Cybertruck of scooters. We used it as one reference point in a lineage of vehicles, like Related
