Posted on 09 March 2010
Bike Portland’s website comments on the Eneloop bike about to go on sale in Portland.
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a new hybrid electric bike from Sanyo stole the show. The Eneloop model made lots of headlines (Treehugger called it a “game-changer” and it even made it’s way into the Business section of the New York Times), leading reasonable people to wonder — could 2010 be the year of the e-bike in America?
Given that bike product trends often start here (dutch city and cargo bikes and Electra’s Ticino to name a few), it will be interesting to see if Portland becomes the first U.S. city to embrace e-bikes.
Read the complete article at:
Is Portland (and America) ready for e-bikes?
Posted on 06 March 2010
The Wall Street Journal had an article on the problems that China is having with its ebike boom (riders don’t need a driver’s license or insurance, and ride like they own the road).
China’s experiment with electric bicycles is worth looking at because it represents the first-ever widespread adoption of an electric vehicle for commercial use. Their explosive development has posed all sorts of challenges, both in terms of regulation and pollution.
It’s a big technological jump to cars from the smaller electric bikes, scooters and tricycles on China’s streets today. But some of China’s e-bike makers are already looking at how to take part in that transition, including Luyuan Group by leveraging their experience in battery technology and electric motors.
Read the complete article at:
China’s E-Bikes: Safer, Cleaner Than the Alternative
Posted on 04 March 2010
The bike that can be seen in the thumbnail on the front page of ElectricBikee is the minifarthing, or Yike Bike – a bike with only one wheel.
Also available as a concept are the Copenhagen wheel, developed at MIT, and the concept of underground bike storage.
The underground bike storage idea comes from Japan, where:
the Eco Cycle is an underground storage facility with a capacity of 144 bikes (18 bikes per level and 8 levels of storage). The automated system can retrieve any bike within 10 seconds, making it quick and convenient. A one month pass for the Eco Cycle garage costs about $30/month (2600 yen).
Read the complete article here:
Three Cool Concepts For Urban Biking
Posted on 04 March 2010
The Wall Street Journal reported in mid-January that “”Those electric bikes just don’t listen! The problem is they go too fast. They can’t stop like bikes. I saw an accident just over there the other day where someone on an e-bike rushed through the intersection and plowed over someone on a regular bike,” Mr. Zhao, a traffic officer, said as he tried to keep China’s newest road hazard in check.
Powerful battery-powered bicycles are crowding out their push-pedal brethren, delivering a jolt to the Bicycle Kingdom.
By some estimates there are 120 million e-bikes on China’s roads—up from just 50,000 a decade ago, making it the fastest growing form of transportation in China. Cities at first embraced them as a quieter and cleaner alternative to gasoline-powered scooters.
Officials were caught off guard when that environmentally appealing solution turned out to be deadly on the streets. In 2007, there were 2,469 deaths from electric-bicycle accidents nationwide, up from just 34 in 2001, according to government statistics.”
Read the complete article here:
E-Yikes! Electric Bikes Terrorize the Streets of China
Posted on 24 February 2010
WASHINGTON, US – China’s Science and Technology Minister, Wan Gang presented two e-Bikes as a state present to US President Barack Obama and his Minister Steven Chu of the US Department of Energy. As a symbol of their competitive products, China has decided to present a lithium battery-powered e-Bike as state present to Barack Obama when he paid a visit to China, holding the Sino-American Clean Energy Technology Co-operation Committee.
“Being selected as part of the “State Present” is not only an honour for us, but also a recognition for the whole lithium-ion battery industry. It will surely give more momentum to the development of Phylion as well as the lithium-ion battery industry.”
Read the complete article at:
Obama Receives e-Bikes from China
Posted on 18 February 2010
New Delhi: Emmel Vheelers, an e-bike manufacturing company. with headquarters in Maharashtra, are one of the key players in Auto Expo 2010 in Electronic bikes & Scooters. Founded in 2008, Emmel Vheelers intends to triple their sales from mid 2010, and increase the number of their dealers dealers around the country.
“The market for electric two-wheelers is picking up. In the last month, around 3,500 units were sold. Last year, around 40,000 electric vehicles were sold against a market expectation of one lakh. This was because of recession. But now the market is picking up,” Manoj Laxmeshwar, President of Emmel Vheelers, said.
Emmel Vheelers has come out with new products which includes Hybrid Three Wheeler, E-Motorcycle, Vee Way Personal Transporter, Fast Battery chargers, High power e-motor cycle, high power scooter such as Vee Elite, Vee Sharp and Vee Dhoom.
Read the complete article at:
Emmel Vheelers plans to triple its sales from mid-2010
Posted on 15 February 2010
SRAM’s initial attempt to introduce an electric system back in 2002 – the 16v SPARC – was sophisticated and light but widely criticised for being underpowered.
(Who are SRAM? A privately held bicycle component manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1987. SRAM is an acronym comprising the names of its founders, Scott, Ray, and Sam, (where Ray is the middle name of company head Stan Day.
In 2008, the company received a strategic investment from Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking, the private equity arm of Lehman Brothers.)
2009 saw a joint venture between SRAM, auto parts manufacturers Magna (via their e-bike spin-off BionX) and bike company Trek which produced a new hub motor with integrated three-speed gearing. The BionX IGH3 premiered at Eurobike.
Read the complete article at:
SRAM to develop new electric bike system
Posted on 15 February 2010
Panasonic has finally secured a majority stake in Sanyo Electric following a long negotiation. Both of these Japanese firms manufacture lithium ion cells – could this merger see prices decline?
The $4.6 billion investment is part of Panasonic’s ambition to become the leading provider for batteries of fuel efficient cars and offshoot business, such as the production of lithium ion batteries suited to electric bikes.
Read the complete article at: PanasonIc/Sanyo merger to result in cheaper e-bike batteries?
Posted on 12 February 2010
The rising sales of high-speed petrol bikes have forced the players in the electric two-wheeler industry to introduce comparatively high-powered and performance-oriented machines in the segment.
Most players like Electrotherm, Hero, BSA have already introduced such bikes or are in the process of coming up with electric bikes with a higher speed and mileage.
Electrotherm India Ltd, which markets its two-wheeler under the brand, YoBykes, has said it will have one-third of the bikes with ‘high-speed’ (around 55 km/hour) this year.
Read the complete article at:
Electric bike makers to introduce ‘high-speed’ machines
Posted on 09 February 2010
Beijing, China — According to a report in Reuters, China backed down from a plan to reclassify large electric bicycles as motorbikes in December (it had been scheduled to go into effect in January), a move that threatened to derail the phenomenal growth in the e-bike market and a major driver for lead consumption. [Can you tell the source of this article is from a paper dedicated to minerals?]
The proposed legislation had stirred widespread fears that more than 2,000 e-bike factories would close and millions of users would need to get licenses and insurance for motorbikes — which they could not afford. China’s Standardisation Administration said it was rethinking the idea of re-classifying e-bikes that weighed over 80 lbs or that can go faster than 12 miles per hour as electric motorbikes. Top of the range e-bikes in China are designed to go as fast as 20 mph and usually carry 4 lead batteries, which weigh 35-60 lbs.
Read the complete article at E-Bike Ruling Withdrawn, Production Likely to Surge After Chinese Holidays
