Worsham detailed the painstaking process he went through to set up the local supply chain and manual assembly process for Janus’ bikes. He emphasized that part of the appeal of their final product was their relatively light weight; a Halcyon 450 tips the scales at just 345 pounds. He explained that the standard American-made motorcycle engine didn’t seem like a good fit for his pared-down bike, so he sought something more suitable to propel Janus’ bikes down the road. 

“The typical engine when you think of a motorcycle made in the United States is a big old honkin, V Twin made by either Harley Davidson or Indian or s&s cycle,” he said, “And believe me, we’ve looked at doing that or chopping S&S in half and making a kind of a beautiful single, but really it didn’t fit with what we’re trying to do.” 

Worsham further explained that he wanted to provide his buyers with a simple, reliable, easy-to-service engine. Eventually, Janus settled on a 229cc motor designed by Honda in the 1970s. “Part of having a reliable engine is having one that with parts availability, like these engines, they’ve been making parts for this thing for three decades, four decades,” he explained. “So that was a big part of it.”

Nissan stated that a crucial feature of this concept EV is its Vehicle to Home (V2H) function. As the name suggests, the vehicle can store extra power and transfer it to the owner’s home, presumably via Tesla’s NACS standard. Nissan believes this would result in reduced strain on the power grid and also have noticeable savings in energy costs. Nissan also noted that the Hyper Urban could send power to the grid for the community and earn the owner money back for doing so. Its Intelligent Charging Management System also features AI, which can divert and manage power efficiently.

The Japan-based manufacturer wants Hyper Urban to retain its value even after it’s driven off the lot, something the Nissan Leaf struggles to accomplish. To do this, the company said it would provide hardware and software updates for many years. It would also allow customers to upgrade their instrument panels and graphic UI in the interior to stay current. But as for now, the interior is likely futuristic enough for most people with its kaleidoscopic triangle design. Nissan also wants the vehicle to feel like a living room with its foldable backseat and ample leg space to relax. While lying down, the driver and passenger can extend a middle screen in the center console to watch media. 

There are three more of these digital character-based concept cars being announced. The release dates for them are October 10, 17, and 19.