You are here: Home » Archive Index » Electric Bikes

From the category archives:

Electric Bikes

Three New Electric Bikes For 2010

March 10, 2010
Thumbnail image for Three New Electric Bikes For 2010

Now that the e-bike market is maturing in the U.S., I think we’ll be seeing some sophisticated electric bikes released this year. Here are three intriguing e-bikes that have become available so far:

Read the full article →

New On Optimal Ride: GoCycle: An Innovative Folding Electric Bike

April 11, 2009

Optimal Ride has been on a bit of a hiatus during the winter, but now it’s spring and our first feature is the GoCycle — an innovative folding electric bike from the U.K. See also this post on the Zero S electric motorcycle.

Read the full article →

An Inexpensive Electric Bike Conversion Kit

August 20, 2008

Sales of electric bikes have spun into high gear this year — some merchants like Amazon are reporting a 6000% increase this summer from last year. This is good news, because, for short trips, the efficiency and convenience of electric bikes is hard to beat.
Here are some statistics that still amaze me: 40% of all [...]

Read the full article →

New Zero-Emissions Commuter Bike: The A2B

August 12, 2008

A company called Ultra Motor has released a new electric bike called the A2B. This bike looks great – I like the functional, minimalist style. The A2B is designed for urban or suburban commutes. According to Ultra Motors, the A2B offers unassisted power on demand for up to 20 miles at a cruising speed of 20mph. [...]

Read the full article →

The Street Enlightened Electric Bicycle From IZip

June 9, 2008

The Street Enlightened electric bike from IZip is a good example of a “stealth” electric bike –the batteries are concealed inside the bike’s frame (in the down tube), and the DC motor is integrated into the rear wheel. You don’t have to mention this fact to your fellow cyclists! The bike has a three hour [...]

Read the full article →

The Best Electric Scooters Of 2009: A Review

June 2, 2008

Today, electric scooters or electric mopeds are just as powerful as their gasoline-powered counterparts, with the added advantage of being virtually silent, clean machines that can plug into a standard electrical socket to recharge. Typically, a charge will give you enough juice to travel 20-60 miles, depending on the scooter and battery system. Most scooter [...]

Read the full article →

Zapino: A 100% Electric Scooter by ZAP

May 24, 2008

The Zapino scooter, made by ZAP, in a company better known for their electric cars, has been getting rave reviews. Many Zapino owners report that this scooter performs really well and is quite reliable (see here and here). It’s also relatively inexpensive, being sold for just under $3000. It has a powerful 3000-watt brushless DC [...]

Read the full article →

The Vectrix 100% Electric Scooter

May 19, 2008

The Vectrix is a 100% electric scooter that is available for sale in the U.S. This bike goes 62 mph, has a claimed range of 68 miles, and it accelerates faster than most cars at the stoplight. The Vectrix is powered by a low-mounted, 3.7 kilowatt NiMH battery pack that re-charges to 80 or 90 [...]

Read the full article →

OHM Electric Bikes From Canada

May 18, 2008

Based in British Columbia, OHM Cycles make high-end electric bicycles that feature 38V lithium-ion batteries, regenerative braking and powerful BionX motors. The company offers two styles of electric bike: one built for the urban rider, and one suited to rugged terrain.

Read the full article →

Notes From The MetaEfficient Labs

April 20, 2008

I’ve been doing a lot of work in the MetaEfficient lab. I thought I would post an update on my experiments and research:

Read the full article →

Zero X Motorcycle: 100% Lithium-Ion Electric, 40 Mile Range, Weighs Only 140 Pounds

March 28, 2008

The Zero X Motorcycle was designed from the ground up to be a 100% electric bike. What makes this new bike truly different is that it contains 168 individual high-power lithium ion cells and is expected to endure six years of hard riding. Zero Motorcycle’s power grid technology has the highest power density (power storage [...]

Read the full article →

eZee Electric Bikes: Great Performance and Affordability

January 10, 2008

eZee’s Torq II electric bike.
A to B Magazine is a comprehensive electric bike review magazine published in the U.K. Here’s their electric bike review page, where bikes are rated on a five star scale. Unfortunately, all of their 5 star bikes are only available in Europe. One brand that got a 4 star rating is [...]

Read the full article →

Schwinn Electric Bikes Now Available

January 6, 2008

Schwinn’s new range of electric bikes are finally available. These innovative bikes have electric motors and batteries integrated seamlessly into their design. Schwinn claims that the four pound Protanium® lithium polymer battery included with these bikes is the lightest and most durable on the market. One charge will last 40-60 miles. The battery also charges [...]

Read the full article →

Electric Mountain Bikes

January 6, 2008

There are only a few electric mountain bikes on the market, but electric motors can certainly assist with  off-road riding. You can also build you own electric mountain bike by installing an electric motor kit onto an existing mountain bike. There’s also the Biontague, which is a mountain bike that has a electric kit [...]

Read the full article →

Extreme Folding: MIT’s Bike Folds To Become Suitcase-Sized

November 29, 2007

A group at MIT has unveiled a scooter that folds in half, and collapses to the size of a suitcase. The low-cost bike could be carried on a bus or stored under your desk at work. A prototype of the new design was recently unveiled at the Milan Auto Show. According to William J. Mitchell [...]

Read the full article →

Throttle-Free Electric Bike To Be Introduced In 2008

November 28, 2007

Scheduled for release in early 2008, the iZip Express is an electric bike that will operate without a throttle. Instead, the bike has a special torque sensor that applies power as the rider requires it. Basically, the harder you pedal, the more the motor assists you. Test drivers have said that this automatic drive system [...]

Read the full article →

The Matra MS1 Electric Bike

September 30, 2007

This could be a great commuting machine — it’s an electric-powered bike designed by the French company Matra. The bike was recently introduced at the Paris Motorshow. It has a range of 60 miles, in addition to the mileage you add by using pedal power. It has a top speed of 30 miles per hour, [...]

Read the full article →

Powerful Combination: Montague Folding Bike + Bionx Electric Conversion

August 20, 2007

This customized bike, the Biontague, is a powerful combination of a folding bike and a lithium-ion powered electric motor. It was created by Electric Cyclery in Laguna Beach, California. They built the Biontague by taking a Montague Swiss Bike LX folding mountain bike (we featured this bike previously here) and fitting it with a [...]

Read the full article →

Sun and Wind Powered Bike Trailer

August 16, 2007

The Navitas is a bike trailer that generates its own power using the sun and wind. Designed by Paul Smith, a student at University of Derby in England, the trailer has a rear wheel that splits three ways to become a vertical axis turbine. There is also a compact solar panel to help to provide [...]

Read the full article →

Yamaha’s $2000 Electric Bike

August 13, 2007

This compact electric bike, the EC-02 from Yamaha, costs just under $2000. First introduced in Japan two years ago, the EC-02 is similar to the Enertia motorcycle I wrote about recently in TreeHugger. But this scooter has more modest specs: a top speed of 18 MPH and a range of 40 miles. So it’s more [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries