Electrically
assisted bicycles (e-Bikes) represent an emerging sustainable mode of transport
for future smart cities. Several design issues impact policy in several
countries such as the UK, Europe and the USA. As Electrically assisted bicycle
e-bike usage continues to grow, so too will the need for further research, in
order to provide the necessary data to inform industrialists what cycling
features matter for a wider, diverse, and sustainable adoption of this mode of
transport. This investigation discusses results from a survey on end-user
preferences for future electrically assisted bicycles e-Bikes that will be
developed in the coming years. User preferences related to safety and convenience
were defined using market reviews and responses gathered from 638 potential
users mainly from Europe and North America. Data were analyzed to rank the
importance of desired functionality to improve the uptake of cycling within
urban environments. In general, the results indicate that safety and
convenience features were equally valued across the whole sample size.
‘Gradient Climb Assist’ and ‘Break Lights & Indicators’ were respectively
the most preferred convenience and safety features. This survey showed how
respondents expressed a desire for more intelligent, secure, and adaptive
electrically assisted bicycles e-Bikes.
Benefits of Electrically
assisted bicycles (E-bikes)
- Electrically
assisted bicycles (E-bikes) charring station sign
Riding an
e-bike is a lot like riding a regular bike with the added boost of an electric
motor. And having this motor with pedal assist has some advantages. Let's take
a look at a few.
- Improved
physical health
Some people
may think because the bike is electric and takes less effort to ride that it's
not really exercised. A study conducted out of Brigham Young University and
published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that people who
ride electric bikes experience nearly as much exercise as those who ride
mountain bikes without feeling as if they've had a difficult workout. The truth
is that even with pedal assist, riders still have to pedal which results in
burning calories. It's a great cardiovascular exercise that can help build
endurance and muscle.
- Easier to
ride
Pedal-assist
gives riders a boost. It helps with hills, inclines, and rough terrain,
allowing for a smoother ride thus reducing stress on joints. You can also ride
with greater power and precision than a regular bike. And it gets people
cycling who may not otherwise ride a traditional bike because of physical aches
and pains. Additionally, you can take longer rides without physical exhaustion.
- Better
mental health
E-bikes make
cycling more accessible and people are more likely to do it because it's
easier, getting about the same workout with less effort. For those who may be
living an otherwise sedentary life, riding an e-bike gets them moving and in
nature. This exercise, change in scenery, and fresh air helps improve mood,
reduce stress, provide for a more restful sleep, and increases productivity.
- A great
alternative to cars
E-bikes are
great for commuting to work a few miles away and for running quick errands.
Because it's classified as a bike, in many cities, you can ride on sidewalks
and in bike lanes, and cut across parks. With alternative ways to travel to
your destination, your commute can be faster than a car stuck in traffic. When
people ride their e-bikes instead of driving, they cut down on gas and
pollution, helping to improve air quality and the environment.
- Faster and
safe
Most cyclists
travel 10 to 12mph, but an e-bike can average 20mph. E-bikes allow you to get
to your destination faster than a regular bike. E-bikes are not more dangerous
than regular bikes. They just have different risks. E-bikes tend to be safer
than regular bikes because you can accelerate to get out of the way faster and
travel at higher speeds, keeping up with traffic.
Now that
you've learned the benefits of e-bikes, you'll want to consider protecting your
e-bike with insurance. Your e-bike is an investment and you want to make sure
you have adequate coverage for theft or damage. It's a risky move for your
e-bike to be uninsured. Fortunately, there's bicycle insurance specifically for
e-bikes. Electric bike insurance provides coverage between auto, home, and
renters insurances where there are gaps and fine print exclusions.
Markel
Specialty can offer a stand-alone electric bike insurance policy that insures
e-bikes with power assist up to 750 watts and covers theft, damage, and more.
Policies start as low as $100 per year and offer a variety of coverage levels
and deductible options.
Each policy
can be customized to fit you and your riding style. Coverages can include
protection for damage caused by theft, crash, collision, fire, attempted theft,
vandalism, or hitting another object. Coverage of spare parts, cycle apparel,
and rental reimbursement can also be included at no additional cost.
A modern peddle
Currently,
commercially available, peddles dominate the European and North American
markets. Although their design varies depending on manufacturers it is possible
to identify basic components that each peddle shares.
Fig. 1,
below, offers an overview of the main components of a modern peddle: (i) an
electric motor, which can have various positions and technology; (ii) a motor
controller, fit with torque sensors and cadence sensors to respond to the
cyclist’s inputs; (iii) a battery pack; (iv) a user interface system; and (v) a
speed sensor.
Battery pack
There are
several types of electrically assisted bicycles (E-bikes) batteries on the
market, including lead-acid, nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), and, lithium-ion
(Li-ion) (Weinert et al., 2007).
Li-ion
batteries are roughly twenty times more expensive per unit of energy than a
lead-acid battery than and twice as expensive as a NiMH battery. It is
estimated that lead-acid batteries cost about $35/kWh while NiMH about $350/kWh
and Li-ion up to $710/kWh (Curtis, 2014, Hung and Lim, 2020). Prices of Li-ion
batteries built by Tesla Motors and Panasonic cost around $300 per kWh, with
the target of reducing the price to $100/kWh by improving product design and
production techniques (Holland, 2018). Currently, 70% of the cost of producing
these batteries comes from the raw materials needed (Fogel, 2016).
The mass of
a Li-ion battery is circa ¼ compared with a lead-acid battery of the same
capacity (Hung and Lim, 2020), this has allowed manufacturers to create
electric bicycles weighing below 20 kg (Salmeron-Manzano and Manzano-Agugliaro,
2018). Currently, a lithium battery pack accounts for 30% of the e-Bike mass
(e.g., ranging from 2.0 to 3.5 kg (Robert Bosch GmbH, 2021)) and 48% of its
cost (Kerdsup and Fuengwarodsakul, 2017). The mass of the battery influences
its installation location and the subsequent comfort of the ride (Hung and Lim,
2020). For example, batteries installed under the seat tube have proved to
provide better ride comfort than batteries fitted in the rear cargo rack, based
on the analysis of the weighted vertical acceleration (W-Acceleration) on the
saddle (Du et al., 2009).
Electric
motor
Currently,
most e-Bikes use a Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motor due to its compact
size and high efficiency in comparison with brushed motors (Chlebosz et al.,
2010). However, BLDC motors result be more expensive (e.g. typically twice as
much as a brushed DC motor with the same power rating) as they require costly
permanent magnets for field excitation (Chlebosz et al., 2010).
The main
options with respect to the mounting location of the motor in an e-Bike
include: (i) the front hub, (ii) the rear hub, (iii) the middle of the bike
frame also known as mid-drive, and (iv) over the rear wheel in the friction
drive as shown above in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Motor positioning. (i) Rear Hub; (ii) Friction Drive; (iii) Mid-Drive; (iv)
Front Hub.
Each
position provides advantages and disadvantages with respect to e-Bike
performance. Most current e-Bike motors are mounted on either the front or the
rear wheel hub (Muetze and Tan, 2007). A rear hub motor position provides
benefits including improved ride quality, direct motor-to-wheel power
transmission, and allowance for a compact frame design.
Motor
controller and sensors
Modern
peddles in Europe operate largely with a motor controller using a “constant
gain” strategy. This logic is simple and based on three main factors: (i)
torque input from the cyclist, (ii) cadence used, and (iii) speed of the
vehicle.
The user is
asked to select a level of assistance (or a gain) from a set of 3 to 5 modes,
depending on the manufacturer and the model of the e-Bike. In normal operation,
the controller measures the torque that the cyclist inputs at each pedal crank
revolution and controls the Direct Current (DC) motor to generate a torque
controlled by the gain selected. The typical gain value ranges from 70% to 300%
of human input.
To comply
with EU regulations, the vehicle is limited in speed, therefore once the speed
limit is reached (25 km/h in the EU) the motor controller disables any
assistance.
Furthermore,
most of the DC motors used, operate with gearing to guarantee torque
performances, spinning at speeds often tens of times higher than the cyclist
cadence. This results in issues at higher cadence where it is common to see
e-Bikes not able to deliver the power quickly enough.
Smart
sensors and intelligent features
Although the
electric bicycle market is becoming established globally, electrically assisted
bicycles (E-bikes) with embedded intelligence are very much in their infancy
(Smart e-bikes research project, 2018).
Various
e-Bike brands' offerings include features marked as “intelligent” purely for
marketing reasons. Built-in onboard computer systems with internal Global
Positioning System (GPS), anti-theft tracking systems, and connectivity options
to smartphones via Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Bluetooth (Yamaha Motor Co.,
Ltd., 2017, Robert Bosch GmbH, 2021, Shimano, 2017, Panasonic Industry Europe
GmbH, 2018, Brose Antriebstechnik GmbH & Co., 2017). Other e-Bikes enable
users to plug in their smartphones and use their GPS and built-in sensors' apps
to analyze and display information to the rider or to share data on social
networks (Robert Bosch GmbH, 2021). Typical functionality includes navigation,
performance logging, and health monitoring. More recently, interactive feedback
on the handlebars, using flashing lights and vibration are available in the
crowdsourced Electrically assisted bicycles (E-bikes) by Canadian company
Vanhawks Valour to help the cyclist follow routes with minimal distractions
from the road ahead and associated hazards (Anon, 2014).
In addition,
currently, purported intelligent Electrically assisted bicycles (E-bikes)provide
users with data e.g. bike’s location (i.e. longitude, latitude, altitude, and
time), usage (i.e. use of the motor assistance), and other sensor data (e.g.
seating pressure, foot pressure location) without offering reasons as to why
these data can be useful to a user group (Kiefer and Behrendt, 2016).
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