The first, and really the only Vectrix model, the VX-1 was always nickel metal hydride battery-powered. Their 2 newer, lower cost models were lead acid but they never made it to market.
What happened to Vectrix is the same thing that happens to a lot of new companies. They crawled out a little far on a branch and the economy sawed it off. They had an aggressive expansion plan which seemed to be going decently but then the markets tanked and consumers got scared and the price of gas plummeted. They had a lot of overhead and sales practically dried up. I'm not sure how much they spent developing the new models with the lead acid batteries but in my opinion that whole backwards-looking battery tech shift was a huge mistake. They range on the regular Vectrix was barely adequate and even if the VX-1e was $1,500 cheaper, it wasn't good enough. If anything, they should have developed the sport bike that everyone agreed was amazingly beautiful using lithium, though the recession might still have bitten them.
The silver lining for people who like the VX-1 is that there are some nice scooters kicking around on eBay for a much more palatable price. I think I saw one for $3,000.
