A space on the northern edge of downtown Winston-Salem has been transformed into a local hub for developing light electric vehicles and e-bikes; it’s a multigenerational effort.
Behind the purple door of what was once a downtown tobacco warehouse is a workshop crammed with rows and rows of bikes.
They look different from typical two-wheelers. Many are custom-designed and built using parts of other vehicles. Some are tricycles. A lot of them are surrounded by roll bars or long rods for safer riding. Others have colorful aerodynamic shells.
“This is what’s called a Skunk Works,” says Don Gerhardt, who runs his company Gerhardt Cycles in this space. “A Skunk Works was developed during World War II, to develop secret vehicles and aircraft. So a lot of what we do in this warehouse is to advance research on future vehicles.”
Since retiring as an executive at…
