Electric Bike TV Show Interbike 2009

[berniehills]

Limit the electric bicycle speed with a governor, and use the additional wattage to extend range and time between charge.

[jbl4315]

15mph just won't fly in North America

[OghamTheBold]

(Sounded like he got the name wrong again at the end)

250 W maybe OK if the bike ain't an overweight Chinese Iron Horse

[rossasaurus]

Hi Carlton...

I can't speak for all Americans, but the 250 Watt Euro standard is vastly underpowered for use here in Northern California, where our terrain can be far from Amsterdam flat.

I am 100 Kilos, without groceries; not fat, just a tall Danish-American.

For me, I need at least 500 Watts, preferably in a geared hub-motor or mid-drive package to climb the hills I encounter on a daily basis.

Please don't assume your needs are everyone's needs.

PS- I don't much care about speed.

cheers

[carltonreid]

Thanks for your comment. But isn't a higher-powered e-bike nearly a moped...so buy a moped?

250 watts tops, pedal-assist and limited to 24kph does just great in EU and Japan. Why do American consumers seem to want something that's a motorbike? Won't that conflict with bicycles?

[NWforager]

@carltonreid I think it really depends on where and how the e-bike commutes . In the NW US , most non assisted riders are going faster than 15mph(24kph) . I've actually heard complaints from cyclist saying that many clunky e-bikers are holding them up on the bike trails. The US bionx e-kit goes about 22mph(never hold up bike traffic) .Now ,its not a moped but its a far cry from a Canadian,Japan and EU 15mph max. Check out the 'Super Hybrid Cup' to see a growing demographic of e-bike users .

[jjj2www]

@carltonreid Considering the US law is 20mph and 750w but there are still hardly any e-bikes on the road if they lowered the wattage to 250w I can almost guarantee e-bikes will never ever become popular here.

[semillion1]

nice video really informative.

But you guys better get a product out there,, it doesnt need to be a hybrid,, the people want a mountain bike style bike(throttle) which sits between and peddle bike and a motor bike,, too compete with the moped,, ok you need to register the bike for the road,, but the power is what the people really want.