A little pricey at $2,500 but a step in the right direction.

- Paul
relevantminded.com

20 miles on a single charge? WOW!

Since there have been lead acid and NiMH bikes doing this for years, why is this news?

I have ridden a similar bike from iZIP made in California and it is stupendous! So light and unobtrusive that people do not know it's an E-bike. Until you kick on the moto and cruise past someone pumping up a steep hill. Tons O'Fun!!

I prefer the e-bikes from Schwinn.

for instance...

http://www3.schwinnbike.com/usa/eng/Products/Electric/All/Details/887-S7WORE-World-GSE

They are still expensive, but to my eyes, they are the best looking available.

Why is it that e-bikes either look awful or are V expensive - it is a shame because they would be a great solution for urban transport for people who won't cycle because either - it is too hot, they are too lazy to cycle, they have too far to go, or they are sick or old and/or infirm.

From the point of view of road space and resource usage, e-bikes are unbeatable - it is a shame they have sold more.

I wonder is there a magic number, like < $1000, looks good and 20 miles range that would make the category take off ?

Or just tweek the licensing requirements to make them easier to live with than ICE scooters.

Let's see, a 500w motor, and 1-hour battery life at full speed suggests a half kw*hr battery. I've seen 52-watt hr laptop batteries sold for $120, so that suggests that half the price is the battery pack.

That's still too high. People who can only go 20 mph and 20 miles range will probably have an issue paying $2500. I certainly hope the battery is easy to take with you and charge away from the bike. It should really be a $300 bike and the battery costs what the battery costs. The battery will be a target for theft, just as a laptop laying around would be. I'd like to see the battery down under $400. That sounds like a solution for the people most likely to use this as primary transportation.

Yeah, I have spent alot of time looking for an e-bike and have been disappointed. As you have said the problem battery life or cost however you want to look at it. If they would last a long time you could justify the cost, but they don't. If they were cheap enough you could replace them every year, but they aren't. It is hard to justify buying one when you compare them to the 50cc scooters that are under $1000. Range is not an issue, higher top speed, etc.

What I think would be great about an electric bike is you could do things you wouldn't on a pedal bike. You could get a more reliable internal hub 3-speed gear set, fatter tires for a more comfortable ride, lower seat for the novice etc. But, like everything else, I am waiting of battery technology...

JRod.

I doubt you will get the full range at full throttle, and I doubt the pack is 1/2 kwh in it.. you can make your own with a couple of dewalt 36v lipo packs, about $130 per pack in ebay.. get yourself a nice heavy duty steel bike and a good hub motor and you can roll your own. The A123 cells in the dewalt pack can be charged in 10-15 minutes and they are bulletproof.

Awesome!!! I can get even fatter while telling people that I ride a bike! Having to actually pedal is for the birds.

For a few more thousands of dollars you can get an electric hang glider from electraflyer. Perhaps vertical take off and landing will be available next.

It is the price of electric vehicles that limits their widespread use after the fact that size, torque, horsepower and style are the choice factors that most people use. Notice that price is not the prime consideration. ..HG..

Nothing more than a niche offering for those with health challenges that make pedaling difficult. People first need to overcome the existing actual and perceived barriers to using a bicycle for transportation versus leisure (e.g., 5 minutes around the suburban cul de sac man made community lake asphalt path that leads to nowhere). A number of solutions exist to expand the gearing range and reduce exposed drive train hassles which may improve the attractiveness to new entrants to bicycle commuting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohloff_Speedhub

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano_nexus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_cycling

I think they need to skip the pedal part and go straight to an electric scooter. It's the only way to get the costs down to a reasonable level, and then you could make something actually look good. These e-bikes currently carry a stigma of total dorkmobiles.

I'm in the bike industry, and can tell you that there's no way to built a reasonably light bike for a price that the average commuter can stomach. Keeping it light enough to pedal is the problem. Ditch the pedals, deal with an extra 20+ lbs of weight, make it look good like a Vespa or something, and then you've got a winner. You could pay for a whole lot of extra battery capacity for the cost of keeping the down to something reasonable for pedaling.

As a frame of reference, a decent dual suspension mountain bike starts at about $1200. Why? Because it's darn expensive to build something durable and light.

For me, I'd rather ride my urban push bike when it's possible, and grab an electric scooter when I can't show up to work sweaty, don't have the time to pedal, etc.

Meant to say "You could pay for a whole lot of extra battery capacity for the cost of keeping the WEIGHT down to something reasonable for pedaling."

The reason bike commute is a hard sell is because for all but the very hardcore - competing with moto traffic is harrowing and not worth the risk. Also, the number of bike/pedestrian accidents keeps rising annually which raises everyone's insurance premiums.

You can buy a hub motor, rim and tire that just replaces the front wheel on just about any mountain bike for around $500. Add a controller and battery pack for another $500 and you can convert the bike in your garage.

raises insurance premiums? huh? based on what facts? pure speculation... would not be a surprise that bike pedestrian accidents are on the rise. more people riding bikes and walking will intuitively result in more accidents in those cases. perhaps the better use of concern is what changes can be made to lower the risk (real and perceived) to bicycling. especially short trips LT 10 miles.