Zoomi Life

Sanyo and electric stuff go hand-in-hand. They make TVs, juicers, remote controls, stereos, and just about everything else electronic. Now they’re making electric bicycles and, other than the Schwinn, they’re the best-looking electrics I’ve seen.

The new bike, called the Eneloop bike (an electric-hybrid, the hybrid being human pedaling), has some great looks and features. It’s kind of girly, but is the old-style “touring” look that girls and old people really go for.

The Eneloop bike is based on a 1:2 power assist ratio (30% rider, 70% motor) with three speeds. It’s capable of about 100km (30m) on a single charge and has 27Ah lithium-ion batteries. The bike has two modes of operation: auto and power up.

In auto mode, the bike will sense when the motor’s assist is needed and kick in as much as is required to keep speed and torque even. Up hills, this means that going up the hill can be as easy as riding flat. In power mode, the motor can produce even more, producing about double what the rider alone can do, to really fly up the hills. This uses more juice from the batteries, of course.

Other innovations include the regenerative braking (unusual on bicycles) and coasting re-charge, which uses the motion of the wheels as you roll down hills to resupply power to the batteries. This can help extend the range of the bike and is controllable by the rider.

Pretty cool stuff, though the price tag is as spendy as most electric bicycles of quality, ringing in at $1,430.

Source: Treehugger.com