News
Panasonic launch regenerative electric bike
Mark Sutton Jul 11 2008, 9:59am
Comments (3)
Energy taken from braking to recharge battery
Panasonic are set to launch an electric bike in Japan next month capable of recharging itself.
Panasonic's Vivi RX 10-S, due August 20th, works similarly to many existing hybrid vehicle systems. It works by taking the energy from braking and redirecting it to the battery.
The bike is said to cost $1,400, yet Panasonic has not announced plans to launch the bike in the UK.
The rear-wheel braking system on the bike recharges a 10Ah Li-ion secondary battery, which weighs in at 2.5kg.
The electronics giant plans to sell 3,000 in the first year.
read more here.
Comments
“Panasonic electric bikes”
Posted by: Tim Snaith - Jul 11, 11:27am
Electric bikes using the Panasonic pedelec system are already available in the UK, notably the Kalkhoff Agattu and Pro Connect, more details of which are available at 50cycles Ltd. These are the two machines that represent a real breakthrough in electric bicycle reliability, performance and desirability.
“Re: Panasonic electric bikes”
Posted by: Ben Cooper - Jul 11, 12:24pm
BionX motor systems have also had regenerative braking for quite a while - available on recumbents from Kinetics...
(see, I can do PR puff disguised as a comment as well ;-) )
“Re: Re: Panasonic electric bikes”
Posted by: Noland Brown - Jul 13, 4:51pm
Regen braking on an ebike is close to a useless feature due to its light weighn and the fact that your just not on the brakes that much. I've got an iZIP that was a fraction of this price and is simply marvelous.