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| Another week, another electric car startup, this one between Uniti Sweden and Siemens Nordics. |
Evees come in all sizes, we look at current trends in electric motors, and surprise, the market is not in the hypercars, but the millions of commuters who walk far between home and public transport's pick-up points.
Last milers
Ask anyone who commute by bus or train — its
the “last mile” between station and home that feels the longest on foot,
especially after a hard day at work.
This market of people desperate for something to ride on to make
the last mile easier is huge. In South Africa alone, an estimated 15 million
commuters face this mile daily, which explains why so many designers are making
portable last mile transporters.
Weird ride-ons
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| Honda's self-balancing bike is aimed at older riders. |
Electric skateboards and gyrospic bikes are the
most popular platforms, and each month sees a new last miler for bush or city
use. The latest is Germany’s JayKay, who crammed all of the electronics,
electric motors and even the battery underneath a longboard that can do 30k/h
for 12 km, thanks to regenerative braking. They plan to sell from September at
1549 euro.
Among the ride-ons, Airwheel in South Africa sells a gyroscopic
wheel called the X3 for R6 895. The X3 has a top speed of 18 km/h and can carry
120 kg for 90 mins. The rider stands astride the wheel on two footrests that act
as pedal controls. Two lithium batteries, a 130 Watt-hour or 170 Wh, is
available
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| The WalkCar from Cocoa Motors. |
The smallest ride-on comes from Cocoa Motors in Japan, who sells a
laptop-sized tray powered by the sprung front wheels for a steep $1280.
The tiny conveyance steers via two rear castors by leaning and can
do 16 km/h for an hour, after which the lithium battery takes an hour to
recharge via USB, providing a range of 12 km.
Its 27-year-old developer Kuniako Sato told BBC he is confident
that WalkCar is where the future lies, bot bulkier devices such as the Segway or
Toyota’s Winglet.
Sato said the WalkCar is designed for Tokoyo’ steep, bumpy
sidewalks and is powerful enough to push a person in a wheelchair up an incline,
and it can handle payloads weighing up to 120 kg.
Two wheelers
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| Calfee's latest bamboo bike hides a 1,5kW motor. |
Calfee Design from Santa Cruz in the U.S. last
week displayed their bamboo-framed prototype bicycle at the North American
Handmade Bicycle Show in Salt Lake City.
With a Bafang motor capable of 1,5 kW powered by a 54-volt/250-Wh
battery pack, the bamboo bike will be plenty fast.
A dynamo hub in the front wheel generates electricity for the
12-volt LED lighting system and in the rear wheel a highly-geared Sturmey-Archer
hub transmission provides the right torque for motor-assisted top pedalling at
64 km/h. A seat on a cantilevered suspension ensures a soft ride.
If all goes according to plan, the as-yet-unnamed bamboo e-bike
could hit the market by the August at a price somewhere under $5,000 (about
R63 600).
If this sounds a lot for a bike with a wooden ride, then sit down
for the price of the new CZ from Eastern Europe. Two decades after Czech company
Česká Zbrojovka Strakonice, aka CZ, stopped building the Čezeta Type 506, the
iconic scooter is back, this time with an electric motor.
Hand-bui
lt in limited quantities by Englishman called Neil Eamonn
Smith high-tech at Prostějov in the Czech Republic, the exclusive modern
replicas retain the looks of the original Čezeta but power comes from an 11 kW
rear-wheel-hub electric motor that can accelerating from 0 to 60 in just 3,2
seconds with a top speed of 120 km/h. This compares to at least a 250 to 300 cc
scrambler. A four-map Dynamic Selector allows the rider to set the motor’s
torque output to full, city, or rain mode, and includes a reverse gear to move
the 147 kg scooter into parking bays.
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| The new CZ scooter comes with a steep price handbuilt into it. |
The battery pack is made of Panasonic 18650 LiFeYPO4 cells, and
comes in two versions. The Čezeta 506/01 is fed by a 4 kWh/84 V pack, while the
most potent 506/02 enjoys 6 kWh/84 V. The in-house developed battery management
system includes a 1.8 kW on-board charger that will bring the charge to 80
percent in two (4 kWh) or three (6 kWh) hours, connected to a standard domestic
socket — with a fast charger that can achieve the same result in just 30
minutes. The starting price for the low power 506/01 model is €7,640 (about
R104 510) with leased batteries.
Cars
Three wheels or more
For those bemoaning the lack of noise from
electric motors, the performance more than make up for the motor’s whine.
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| Named after a flower, the Denrobium all electric super car is fast too. |
Typical of the breed of new electric supercars
is the Dendrobium, launched at the Geneva Motorshow by Singapore’s Vanda
Electrics. It has a top speed down from the advertised 400km/h to 320 km/h, with
an estimated 2,6 second jump from 0 to 100 km/h for the 1,750 kg car.
While Vanda is coy in the details, it admits to
two inboard electric motors on each axle like Tesla does things, with a
single-speed gearbox and differential at the front, as well as a multi-speed
gearbox and differential at the rear.
