A new electric bike — the Koben, from Karmic Bikes — promises to fix what ails the electric bicycle industry. We spoke to its designer to find out what those problems are, and how he thinks he’s solved them. (...)
Batteries You Can’t Replace Or Rebuild
The batteries in any electric vehicle (be it a Tesla Model S or a forklift) are composed of many individual cells, all clumped together to form a pack. Traditionally, if one of those cells fails, you have no option but to replace all of them. And, if new technology improves battery capacity, there’s no way an existing electric vehicle owner can take advantage of it without buying a whole new battery pack or a whole new vehicle. That’s bad.
“The big bugaboo with all these batteries is their packing,” starts Neal. Tesla is a great example. The cells inside the battery pack they sell, those only account for 40 percent of the price of the pack. It’s hard to get it waterproof, it’s hard to get it vibration proof and to do that in a package that doesn’t cost a million dollars.”
Electric vehicle batteries also need to be hugely crash proof, with strengths far, far greater than that required of gas tanks.
“You can’t replace the cells inside those packs,” continues Neal. “With our technology, you just pop off the cover and replace an individual cell. Those are a fraction of the price of an individual cell, so you’re able to replace them if they break and upgrade them as they improve. You can upgrade our batteries forever. You’re going to have a whole bunch of Teslas out there where you have to buy a whole ‘nother battery to replace or upgrade it.”
Motors That Wear Out
“Hub motor bikes are great for the first year; maybe two. They have a really limited lifespan. An electric motor is a bunch of little magnets that are glued on, with little wires connecting everything together. A motor in the wheel just gets beaten to death, it’s too brutal an environment.”
Locating a motor in a wheel hub subjects it to every last iota of movement and every shock the wheels encounter as they roll. Know how sitting in the middle of a plane is far less bumpy than sitting way forward, near the cockpit or way in the back, near the bathrooms? It’s the same thing on a bicycle, just hopefully with less poo-stench and many more impacts and vibrations.
Batteries You Can’t Replace Or Rebuild
The batteries in any electric vehicle (be it a Tesla Model S or a forklift) are composed of many individual cells, all clumped together to form a pack. Traditionally, if one of those cells fails, you have no option but to replace all of them. And, if new technology improves battery capacity, there’s no way an existing electric vehicle owner can take advantage of it without buying a whole new battery pack or a whole new vehicle. That’s bad.“The big bugaboo with all these batteries is their packing,” starts Neal. Tesla is a great example. The cells inside the battery pack they sell, those only account for 40 percent of the price of the pack. It’s hard to get it waterproof, it’s hard to get it vibration proof and to do that in a package that doesn’t cost a million dollars.”
Electric vehicle batteries also need to be hugely crash proof, with strengths far, far greater than that required of gas tanks.
“You can’t replace the cells inside those packs,” continues Neal. “With our technology, you just pop off the cover and replace an individual cell. Those are a fraction of the price of an individual cell, so you’re able to replace them if they break and upgrade them as they improve. You can upgrade our batteries forever. You’re going to have a whole bunch of Teslas out there where you have to buy a whole ‘nother battery to replace or upgrade it.”
Motors That Wear Out
“Hub motor bikes are great for the first year; maybe two. They have a really limited lifespan. An electric motor is a bunch of little magnets that are glued on, with little wires connecting everything together. A motor in the wheel just gets beaten to death, it’s too brutal an environment.”
Locating a motor in a wheel hub subjects it to every last iota of movement and every shock the wheels encounter as they roll. Know how sitting in the middle of a plane is far less bumpy than sitting way forward, near the cockpit or way in the back, near the bathrooms? It’s the same thing on a bicycle, just hopefully with less poo-stench and many more impacts and vibrations.
by Wes Siler, Gizmodo | Read more:
Image: Karmic Bikes
