evworld , 2010-9-28 16:14:14

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Electrically-assisted bicycles are great: they¡¯re green, emission-free, almost silent, and offer a super-low cost-per-mile. You can, in fact, go literally dozens of miles on pennies. For the average bicyclist, an E-Bike means expanding your ¡°comfort-zone¡± from a radius of around three miles to no-sweat 6 miles -- no matter whether your terrain is hilly or flat.

They¡¯re fun-to-drive, too. It only take a few yards to discover the pleasure of what one could call the ¡°built-in tail-wind¡±. Anybody who's experienced the incredible lightness of movement a good E-Bike provides, will agree with the industry's mantra of "once driven, always smitten".

But in their present state, electrically-assisted bicycles are also, plainly, horrible: they¡¯re ugly beasts, seen mostly in shades of drab grey or silver-grey and heavy, and look strictly like senior-citizen transport. Also, they suffer from the ¡°why do they cost five times more than in China?¡± - syndrome: at a price of often over €2,000, they are perceived as being expensive. Too expensive, in fact, for many people who have a car and a bicycle, and can¡¯t put their mind around the idea of spending money on yet a third mode of getting around.

E-Bike industry guys will tell you that business is booming in places like China and the Netherlands, and that other countries are sure to follow. They¡¯ve been saying this for the past five years. Any chance that the perpetual forecast will transform into reality? How likely, indeed, that E-Bikes will evolve from a senior-citizen¡¯s toy to a desirable, fashionable, affordable must-have?

To find out, I visited Eurobike 2010, the world¡¯s biggest bicycle trade show, in lovely Friedrichshafen, Germany. (Friedrichshafen, ironically, is the home of another century-old technology that for decades has been forecast to have its golden years yet coming: the Zeppelin. You can insert a Hindenburg joke here, but rest assured I didn¡¯t when I interviewed E-Bike enthusiasts).

Bosch: We are Here to Conquer the World
At the moment, E-Bikes are often a garage business. Somebody takes a bike, gets a motor in China, procures some batteries from who knows where, adds somebody¡¯s controller technology, and sells the package to enthusiasts. Branding is a semi-entity and minor details such as guarantees are left to the individual dealer who may or may not be happy to see you when your $1,000 batteries pack up and die after a year. To become ubiquitous, E-Bikes need the power of major brands.

Panasonic is a E-Bike technology brand that has done good, but the buzz at Friedrichshafen was about the world-premiere of Bosch¡¯s E-Bike package.

Bosch is the world¡¯s largest auto parts supplier, and their technology is pretty nifty. Cheaper E-Bikes have motors in the front or rear wheel hubs, and batteries located some which way, often (ungainly) on the rear luggage rack. In contrast, the Bosch package connects the motor to the pedal axle, which is an excellent location, being low and central. (High and peripheral make for an unstable driving experience). Bosch¡¯s battery pack is located relatively low, too, on the bike¡¯s frame. It¡¯s not exactly light-weight stuff (battery: 2.3KG; motor: 4.25KG) but packs a strong punch: 250 Watts (500 peak) and 50 Nm torque.

The techno-German package has a lot of interesting details, such as a ¡°HMI¡± (human-machine interface) controller offering twelve ¡°speeds¡± tailored to terrain and the bicyclist¡¯s individual ability. Bosch¡¯s system uses not the usual one, but three sensors: to measure speed, torque and cycling cadence, apparently to provide a smooth and seamless drive. It¡¯s quick-charging, too: the (removable) Li-Ion battery pack can be fully juiced in 2.5 hours.