Can you settle for two wheels?
The strange, peculiar bike-looking thing you see above, will outsell by three times even the most optimistic sales projections of cars in China this year. It in fact accounts for a third of all electric vehicle sales. Yes, the electric bike has rapidly become one of the most popular modes of transportation in China in the past few years.
The reason for this is ease of use, low sale price and high savings. For the most part, people in sprawling cities do not need to travel very far, so this has been a boon to Chinese urbanites. They have been on the rise from selling 7.5 million units last year to a projected over 10 million this year. A former R&D leader for GM says that this is "the dawn of a new era in electric bicycles," according to Peter Fairley writing in Spectrum.
Still, is America ready to lose a couple wheels? While they can be a lot of fun making speeds of 20 kph or more, Ed Benjamin, vice president of the Light Transport Division at electric-propulsion-technology firm WaveCrest Laboratories LLC, in Dulles, Va., says we don't know yet what we're going to do with them. Read the article at the read link.
[Source: Peter Fairley / Spectrum; Thanks for the tip, Kert!]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TX CHL Instructor 3:47PM (5/30/2007)
I would not consider using a 2-wheeled vehicle as long as there are ANY vehicles larger than that sharing the road with me.
IOW, no.
In an encounter between a four (or more)-wheeled vehicle and a 2-wheeled vehicle, the larger one always 'wins'.
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Jenny 4:56PM (5/30/2007)
This one looks similar to a scooter. A good economical two wheeler mainly for ladies.
Jenny
http://www.spaml.com
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ME 5:09PM (5/30/2007)
20kph = 12.4mph
Anything that can only go 12mph really isn't 'transportion' IMO. I would rather walk or bicycle than ride something like that.
My 125cc scooter on the other hand goes 55mph, can haul some stuff, takes up very little space, gets 75 + mpg, and is fun transportion.
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Don 5:20PM (5/30/2007)
12.5 mph.
I can jog faster than that.
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Der Alte 7:19PM (5/30/2007)
In countries where good cycling infrastructure has been built and where communities are fairly compact, going with two wheels is definitely the way to go. Unforunately in North America, most communities were designed around the autombile and with the belief cheap oil was an inherent right. There are little to no cycling facilities and sprawl is rampant, so something like this will never be anything more than a toy. There may be an impact in some densely populated urban areas with some cycling infrastructure, but those places are the exception.
The fact that China is embracing this form of transport is encouraging. The challenge will be whether the ever growing cities of China will be able to grow in sustainable ways centred around walking, cycling and public transport.
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Sheniferous 1:19AM (5/31/2007)
I'm currently living abroad in Shanghai, China and for the past 3 weeks have been commuting via electric bike. I live 6km away from where I work and it takes me about 30 minutes to ride to work. It takes me at least 45 minutes by cab.
Speed is no problem with this thing as you're only able to go as fast as the flow of traffic (which during the morning and evening rush stands at around 15-20kph). It's like when I see Italian exotics on the 405 back home... a lot of good 600hp and a top speed of 210mph is doing them when the flow of traffic is >10mph.
I love this little electric bike and plan on getting one when I get back to LA. Sure, it might not be fast or cool but it can go about 40km on a single charge and costs pennies to charge.
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Krolls 2:41AM (5/31/2007)
I used to work for a shop that sold eletric bikes as well as Segways. The ones we sold went about 20-25ish MPH. I am a big guy (230lbs) and I was able to ride short distances in traffic without a problem.
Since scooters use so little gas there is not much of an advantage to using batteries. Although if a company would produce a bike that went 50miles and could achieve good speed- I dont see why it would not gain some market share.
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George Krpan 4:34PM (5/31/2007)
I've only seen one truly good electric bike on the market. It is the Stokemonkey.
Where it succeeds and the others fail is that it powers the cranks not the wheels and it doesn't reinvent the bicycle. It converts almost any bike to electric power.
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