As traffic levels in our cities increase and the cost of running petroleum-fueled vehicles makes using them every day ever more prohibitive an electric/pedal hybrid bicycle starts to look like a good idea. Enter the Electrobike Pi.
The Electrobike Pi supplements your pedalling efforts with 500 Watts of battery power increasing your average speed and potential pedalling range while making a minimal dent on the environment. Alternatively the motor will power the Pi up to 20 mph without any input from the rider.
This technical functionality is married to a very distinctive arch frame in two designs. The batteries are nickel hydride and the motor is rated at 36V/750 Watts brushless DC equivalent to about 1 horsepower.
The Pi also features a NuVinci planetary gearbox, a kind of continuously variable transition which allows the rider to select any gear ratio between the gearbox’s upper and lower limits. This apparently makes climbing steep inclines much easier.
Now, you’d think that if Electrobike care about the environment enough to produce a bike like this they would price it so that everyone can go out a buy one. Well, they haven’t. The Pi will set you back a wallet-emptying $7,500 which makes this bicycle more expensive than most second-hand cars!
There is a solar charger available but that will cost an extra $1,800!
This would be a great design and a great idea if it were used in large numbers. It’s a pity we’re only going to see rich hippies riding these things — and how many of those are there?
The Pi is available from Design Within Reach (yes, they’re really called that!).
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