As he explains, power-assisted bikes are either great electric bikes or great pedal bikes, but rarely both.

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The combination of pedal power and electric power gives the Turbo a top assisted speed of 27.9 mph.

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Coasting: As soon as the driver releases the accelerator pedal, the engine and electric motors are decoupled from the drivetrain and the engine is shut off, provided that the battery is sufficiently charged.

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But Garbus has a stunning sense for assembling that noise, those limited resources, to spectacular effect. (On stage, she's only a microphone, some drums, a ukulele and a loop pedal, accompanied by an electric bassist.) Those miraculous vocal layers.

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Mash the pedal in Auto EV mode and, after the electric motor pulls you off the line, there's a brief delay before the gasoline engine comes to life and the CVT raises the RPMs to maximize efficiency.

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Electric boost is also available when a kick-down switch in the throttle pedal is activated by the driver during acceleration.

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Bass player Chris Chew rounds out the group, who've just released their sixth CD: Electric Blue Watermelon, which includes a duet with singer Lucinda Williams and contributions from pedal-steel phenom Robert Randolph.

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In the all-electric EV Now mode, the accelerator only responds to the first one-third of pedal travel.

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Battery regeneration: Whenever the driver releases the accelerator pedal or applies the brakes, and the battery is insufficiently charged, the two electric motors act as generators and feed energy recovered from the brakes into the lithium-ion battery.

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