Micah Toll is no stranger to entrepreneurship.

With only five months left until graduation in April, Toll, 22, has spent his days at the University of Pittsburgh like every other student: Going to classes, becoming involved in clubs, hanging out with friends and, oh yeah, starting his own electric bike company called Pulse Motors.

Pulse Motors is a Pittsburgh start up business designed to provide two-wheeled electric vehicles to the students and the public.

“Americans are fed up with the inconveniences of this conventional transportation being expensive, dirty and unreliable,” said Toll. “Now we are simply giving them an alternative in the form of cheap, affordable and fun transportation. It’s a no-brainer.”

Toll grew up in a household surrounded by science. His mother being a nurse and his father a biological oceanographer, science has always played a big part in his life. But while he didn’t evolve a love for biology like his parents, Toll instead took the engineering route and started building things.

“I knew that mechanical engineering was going to be my major since I was 5,” he said. “I loved to build new stuff and figure out how things work. Cars were always my favorite.”

The idea to start a company based around manufacturing two-wheeled electric vehicles came to Toll about two years ago. Toll knew that he could develop something that was sustainable yet affordable for students to use around campus as an alternative to cars.

With the idea of Pulse Motors stirring in his head for almost a year, Toll brought his thoughts to friends and classmates in late 2010. He soon had his team: Thorin Tobiassen, 22, an electric vehicle expert and Max Pless, 22, a bicycle mastermind.

With three employees, Pulse Motors began research and development to ensure that they had the technology and resources to make a two-wheeled electric vehicle. It wasn’t until mid-2011 that they started developing the first vehicle for Pulse Motors, the PEV0.

The PEV0 is a hybrid human-electric vehicle. With fully functional pedals, you can ride it like a bicycle, or twist the throttle and feel the electric power accelerate.

There are a number of features that make PEV0 the perfect cross between a scooter and a bike: 100% electric powered, Lithium battery technology, speeds up to 20 mph, front and rear brakes and an onboard charger. The PEV0 also fully charges in 3 hours and runs about 15-30 miles per charge.

And of course, it has pedals.

“The beauty of the PEV0 is that it has functional pedals like a bike does so if you run out of battery you can just pedal back,” said Toll. “Or you can even pedal while using the throttle so you can save your mileage.”

Toll lives about two miles from the Pittsburgh campus and says that he used the PEV0 to get to class every day last fall. Because it is still classified as a bicycle by to the federal government, all riders can reap the benefits of a bike, including parking.

In late October, Toll and his Pulse Motors team started beta-testing PEV0, allowing Pitt students to take the bike for a certain amount of time to see if they enjoyed using it. Hundreds of students have applied to be part of the beta-testing from both Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said Toll, who added that the response thus far has been encouraging. One of the testers replaced his 12-mile bus commute with a PEV0 and was blown away by how much more convenient it was. This particular student offered to buy the vehicle outright from Pulse Motors.

“So far the beta-testing has provided us with great feedback on what people love about the PEV0, but also on areas they’d like to see changed or features they would like to see added,” said Toll.

In response to requests by early testers, the team has been working on adding more vehicle lighting, onboard lock storage and other features. The feedback is helping Pulse Motors focus their design on the next generation vehicle designed for mass production.

Since the beta-testing program has been so successful, Pulse Motors has decided to extend the program through the spring 2012 to give more people the opportunity to replace their current mode of transportation with a PEV0 for free.

Toll, who graduates in April, is excited to go from part-time student, part-time Pulse CEO to working full time for Pulse Motors. His two partners, Tobiassen and Pless, graduated in December and are planning to work together full time.

“I’m not seeking conventional employment, but rather I’m investing all my time into Pulse Motors and I’m taking the risk of putting all of my chips on us succeeding,” said Toll. “I think we just might make it.”

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