What’s New at Currie Technologies - IZIP & EZIP

In the U.S. electric bicycles, scooters and motorcycles have been the in the realm of fanatic aficionado’s for a long time. They’ve been available either by building your own or purchase through one of the few dealers. However they won’t make much effect on greening transportation until they’re widely available and are being used widely. In some areas, notably Europe and China, electric bicycles and scooters are popular and widely available (Time, June 14, 2009, “Last year, Chinese bought 21 million e-bikes, compared with 9.4 million autos. While China now has about 25 million cars on the road, it has four times as many e-bikes.”). Indeed most of the commercial electric bicycles and scooters available in the U.S. are made in China.

The electronics retailer Best Buy recently announced plans to begin selling electric bicycles, scooters and motorcycles through selected stores. A few of their stores today are selling electric bicycles and scooters, and sales of the Enertia motorcycle (made by Brammo) will wait until at least the July 5 launch of that bike.

It’s not clear how to determine which Best Buy locations have these vehicles. A conveniently large banner at their San Carlos CA store was a clue that store had them in stock. Unfortunately a visit to this store, on a Sunday afternoon, was a little disappointing.

The bikes and scooters were easily found within the store, and had a sizable chunk of floor space for display. The selection is very good with highly regarded bicycles and scooters. They have been selling Segway scooters in some stores for nearly a year, and this store had two models. The A2B bicycle from Ultra Motors is a very ruggedly built bicycle with a great reputation. Currie has been on the market selling electric bicycles and scooters for over 10 years, and are held in high regard. Good choices all which indicates Best Buy took some care in choosing good quality products rather than simply importing a selection of cheap bikes from China.

Author: David Herron

Tags: Best Buy electric bikes, currie bikes, e-bikes, ezip bikes, izip bikes

Most of us are quite fond of our automobile with good reason and their advantages over bicycles are obvious. Still if you fit a couple of simple criteria, an electric bicycle might be just what you need to make ends more readily meet in these challenging economic times.

If you work downtown, pay to park and live within 10 miles of your office you are an excellent candidate for an electric bike. Saving the $200 to $300 a month you spend on parking and gas for the commute will pay for a bike over the summer.

There are a handful of providers in the metro area including Bird RV in Aurora, the Electric Bike Shop in Castle Rock, Green Machines in Edgewater plus a couple more in Boulder and Longmont.

We recently spoke with Bruce Campbell, owner of Green Machines at 5217 W. 25th Ave. When Campbell talks about hybrids he means bicycles that combine human power with electric motors. The result is a power-assisted bicycle that feels like it’s always going downhill.

“You have two different modes of propulsion,” Campbell explained. “On some models you can go on power alone, without having to pedal, or you have the choice of pedaling and using less power. Other models you have to pedal but as soon as you start a sensor notices the motion and assists you.”

The one we took for a brief test spin had eight gears and five power levels. It was easy to ride and made climbing a slight incline as easy as coasting. The bicycles use a battery pack that locks into place to power an electric motor. The bicycles will go from 15 to 20 miles on a single charge and the batteries can be recharged in 3 to 6 hours, making it a practical way of commuting to work for those who live within 5 or 10 miles of their job. One would also make quick trips to the convenience store or post office both fun and economical.

“It’ll go 13 to 15 mph under it’s own power, which is a fairly typical bicycle speed,” he said. “Right now I am only selling new bikes that are all electric. I do have some used bikes for resale.” Campbell accepts bike donations as well and fixes them up, donating any proceeds to charity. “It’s more of a charitable contribution to the recycling effort – just to try and stay green.”

The new bikes come in a range of models and power levels starting with the IZIP, which retails for $499 plus shipping and taxes. “The mid-range is roughly $799 to $875 and the high end is from about $1,799 up to $3,000 for the real top of the line. It’s a monster – a really great bike.”

The difference is in the size of the motor. The average electric bike has a 450-watt motor – the biggest ones have a 750-watt motor. “It’s also got a larger battery so it’ll take you farther on a charge. I tip the scales at almost 280 pounds and that bike took me uphill at speeds like I was on level ground – close to 20 miles an hour uphill.”

For people with medical conditions that limit their abilities, the hybrids can allow them to rejoin a fun family activity despite their limitations. Hybrid bicycles are an idea whose time just may have come.

Keep the car for longer trips and mountain drives, but commuting is simply a means to an end and money you save there can be spent on those outings or getaways that always seem just out of reach.

Author: Don Bain

Tags: Electric Bikes, ezip bikes, izip bikes

Of all the things that have changed in China over the past 30 years, transportation has undergone one of the most obvious of transformations. Where city streets once swarmed with bicycles, they are now full of automobiles. Cars clog intersection and expressways. Their exhaust clouds the sky and the air is full of the sound of horns. But zipping through the congestion is the vanguard of another transportation revolution: vehicles that use no gas, emit no exhaust and are so quiet they can surprise the unwary pedestrian.

In China, electric bicycles are leaving cars in the dust. Last year, Chinese bought 21 million e-bikes, compared with 9.4 million autos. While China now has about 25 million cars on the road, it has four times as many e-bikes. Thanks to government encouragement and a population well versed in riding two wheels to work, the country has become the world’s leading market for the cheap, green vehicles, helping to offset some of the harmful effects of the country’s automobile boom. Indeed, as engineers around the world scramble to create eco-friendly, plug-in electric cars, China is already ahead of the game. Says Frank Jamerson, a former GM engineer turned electric-vehicle analyst: “What’s happening in China is sort of a clue to what the future will be.”

Right now the future buzzes along at a sedate pace. Government regulations limit the top speed of e-bikes to about 12 mph. But manufacturers are building bigger and bigger machines with speed regulators that are easily removed. E-bikes that are basically pedal-powered machines with an electric boost are common in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but e-scooters with heavier motors and top speeds of around 30 mph, fast enough to rival mopeds, are growing in popularity.

The e-bike boom owes much to Chinese policy. The government made developing e-bikes an official technology goal in 1991. Major Chinese cities have extensive bicycle lanes, which means riders can avoid the worst of rush-hour congestion. In cities such as Shanghai, local governments have drastically raised licensing fees on gas-powered scooters in recent years, effectively driving hoards of consumers to e-bike manufacturers.

The relative simplicity of the machines and their components has encouraged a huge number of e-bike companies to open in China. In 2006 there were 2,700 licensed manufacturers, and countless additional smaller shops. Rising to the top of the heap is not easy. Leading manufacturer Xinri (the name means “new day”) was founded in 1999 by Zhang Chongshun, an auto parts factory executive who recognized the potential of the field. In its first year Xinri built less than 1,000 bikes; last year it churned out 1.6 million.
Xinri’s Zhang puts in thousands of miles on the road a year, visiting as many as six cities a day to investigate local market conditions. But ultimately what makes Xinri successful is that electric bikes have hit a sweet spot in the Chinese economy. As Chinese grow richer, they want more convenient means of transportation. But not everyone can afford a car. “Motorcycles are too dangerous, cars are too expensive, public transportation is too crowded and pedal bikes leave you too tired,” says Hu Guang, Xinri’s deputy general manager. “So people buy e-bikes.”

The company’s ads show Jackie Chan riding an e-bike alongside a model in a glamorous European capital. Reality is much more mundane. E-bikes are commonly used by migrant laborers who schlep across town from their quarters in the suburbs to work sites across town, with their drills and saws strapped to their bike racks. Police stations are often fronted by a row of blue and white patrol e-bikes. Delivery workers from McDonald’s and KFC haul plastic cases stuffed with Big Macs and fried chicken to office parks. “At first, I picked an e-bike because I couldn’t stand the sickening smell of gas from my scooter,” says Zhang Dengming, 50, a construction supervisor in Shanghai. “But after a while, I realized that e-bikes are actually much safer than motorcycles, and better for the environment. Although e-bikes are generally slower than gas scooters, I find them fast enough for my daily commutes. Their price, which is typically just over 2,000 renminbi ($290) is also more acceptable, so I don’t feel as bad when they get stolen.”

Last year Chinese bought about 90% of the 23 million e-bikes sold worldwide. Experts say that next regions to likely embrace e-bikes are Southeast Asia, where gas-powered scooters are popular, and India, where rising incomes mean personal transportation is starting to be in reach of hundreds of millions. Japan has seen steady annual sales of about 300,000 for several years, and in the cycle-crazy Netherlands e-bikes are beginning to take off. In the U.S., where bikes are still overwhelmingly used for recreation rather than transportation, e-bike sales are expected to break 200,000 this year, or about 1% of China’s sales.

E-bikes weren’t always so popular on the mainland. Early models were even slower than today’s; range was limited and batteries died in less than a year. Now they can travel as far as 100 km on a full charge, more than enough for a day’s riding. But batteries remain the weak point. Most e-bikes rely on lead-acid batteries, cheap century-old technology unsuitable for the growing demands of daily commuting. “The battery is the key limiting factor,” says Jonathan Weinert, a transportation expert who wrote his doctoral dissertation on electric bikes in China.
While lead-acid batteries are improving, Weinart says that electric bikes will create a larger market for lithium-ion batteries — a newer, lighter technology whose development is key for the future of electric vehicles. Already Giant, the world’s largest manufacturer of pedal bicycles but a small player in the Chinese e-bike market, has made headway in northern Europe selling high-end e-bikes that use lith-ion batteries. “To the extent that the electric bike industry can help get battery costs down, test the technology and get it in the market, that may lead” the development of electric vehicles with more than two wheels, Weinert says.

Chinese market leaders like Xinri and Yadea have partnered with top schools like Tsinghua and Peking universities to improve battery technology. And like a slew of other Chinese companies, some e-bike makers are already working on electric cars. Yadea plans to create electric cars for special uses such as shuttling sightseers at tourist destinations. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Xinri provided e-bikes and an electric car for use by police at the Bird’s Nest stadium.
Electric cars will require more powerful recharging stations than the standard wall outlets used to juice up bikes. But when four-wheeled technology becomes road-ready, it will find a willing customer base in China. “The Chinese have a hundred million people on electric bikes,” says Jamerson. “That means a hundred million potential customers” for electric cars. When he worked at GM, which filed for bankruptcy on June 1, Jamerson said he once suggested the company give away an electric bike with every new car, just to get customers used to the idea of a means of transportation you plug in every night. His bosses thought he was joking. When the electric revolution final comes, China’s e-bike makers could have the last laugh.

—with reporting by Jessie Jiang/Beijing and Natalie Tso/Taipei10 camera digital nv samsung

Tags: e-bike

Recent reports say the cost of a barrel of oil has risen to over $60 US and signs of a global economy rebound, particularly in Asia, have many commodity experts predicting the price will continue to rise.

In other words, prepare for another round of skyrocketing gasoline prices.

Recent events have seen our economic base gradually switch from traditional manufacturing to “green” technologies and the entire social landscape altered by such legislation as the provincial Green Energy Act.

In other words, environmental consciousness is not a passing fad. It’s our new way of life. So, you may want to consider putting the Hummer in the garage and buying an electric bike.

Electric bicycles have become a rapidly-increasing industry since Ontario passed legislation to make them legal in April. The growing popularity not only stems from ecology and gas price concerns, there is also the appeal that comes from the fact the bikes don’t require driver’s licenses or insurance.

“More families are going down to one car,” points out Mike Daley, proprietor of ERides Canada on Townline Rd and a dealer of Volt Canada electric bikes. “Fifty per cent of trips are around three kilometres each. People are looking for alternative transportation and they are turning to electric bikes.”

Ray Hunt, who runs the Scoot-A-Long electric bike dealerships, is one of this industry’s veterans with seven years under his belt. He says the sales of his bikes-which have a price range of around $1,000 to as high as $3,500-have increased 40 per cent this year, alone.

Scoot-A-Long’s territory stretches from Orangeville west to Kitchener-Waterloo and north to the Owen Sound area. He has also franchised the operation to locations in Windsor and Wasaga Beach.

There are electric bikes that retail for less, yet there is the old axiom that you get what you pay for. Cheaper models, Mr. Hunt maintains, do not have the performance, durability and after-sales servicing that his product lines do.

While prices can go as high as $10,000, Mr. Daley figures that a reliable e-bike suitable for the Orangeville market would run in the $2,000 range.

An example is the Boca, a $2,000 (taxes included) electric bike built in North America by Ecolo-Cycle.

It has a 48-volt system, which includes a 500-watt motor, which takes from two to eight hours to charge the lead acid battery. The charge lasts from 60 to 100 kilometres, depending on how much you open the throttle, but a turbobooster feature allows for longer charges if one pedals the bike intermittently.

The evolving technology around the bikes is seeing the gradual introduction of lithium batteries. While more expensive than lead acid batteries, they make the bikes lighter and lessen the charging time by up to two hours.

(What should also be taken into account is that charging the bike’s batteries will likely be done at night during off-peak hours. Thus, in this age of smart meters, the cost might even be less than Mr. Hunt’s estimate of 32 cents a charge).

As well, Mr. Hunt explains, the more costly lithium batteries have a longer life; up to seven years, he figures.

The Ecolo-Cycle Vista SE, (retailing at $3,500), has a three-speed automatic transmission, a lithium battery that is good for up to 120 kilometres, and a cruise control option that recharges the battery while it’s in operation.

It also features rugged ABS plastic construction. Mr. Hunt says that a Vista SE was accidentally dropped from a second storey balcony and came away just a few scratches.

Among the converts to electric biking is Cindy Ness, an Orangeville realtor who has made the commitment to lead as environmentally-conscious lifestyle as possible

.This includes the purchase of a Volt Canada electric bike from E-Rides, (which came with a free regulation motorcycle helmet).

“I plan on parking my car and using the electric bike to show homes in Orangeville and to get back and forth to the office as well as for my personal use like going to the grocery store,” says Ms. Ness.

“Electric bikes only go between 30-40 km/hr but are far better for the environment, not to mention the wear and tear of starting our cars, driving a couple of blocks, stopping, showing the house and starting all over again.”

It also enhances her ability to spread the message as someone who is serious about energy efficiency; not only in transportation, but in home ownership, as well.

“If there are two identical homes for sale on the market and one is rated as an energy efficient home and the other is not which one are you going to buy? Today not many homes are energy rated but I believe home sales for the future will eventually have to show an energy rating designation.”

Andy and Sheila Kirk, a retired Orton couple, say the advent of electric bikes has opened up an avenue of recreation that otherwise would not be open to them.

Health circumstances prevent Andy, a lifelong cycling enthusiast, from cycling alone. With an electric bike, Sheila can join him and keep up. “What it does is allow me to go out cycling with him and allows him to go out,” she explains.

Tags: buy e bikes, ebike, Electric bike

“Think Success”, “Be Inspired”, “ Be Courageous” are just a few of the positive messages imprinted on these super comfy t-shirts and tanks. Ride your Hybrid Bike and send a great message out to world at the same time!

Live Life Organics is a charitable giving, green company selling eco-friendly, sustainable organic cotton clothing with positive, inspirational messages, to women, men, juniors, and babies.  These luxurious garments are made from the finest organic cotton, and only low impact dyes are used for the designs.  An added feature — the hang tags can be planted to recycle into wildflowers.

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, is a poster boy for bike-riding. Almost. Firstly, where’s the helmet. And secondly, he keeps having his bikes stolen.

The second one was nicked last week, from the front of his house. So what should he, and all cyclists, be doing to avoid theft? After the fold: some helpful hints.

l. Get a Good Lock

Invest 10-20% of the cost of your bike on the lock. The hardened steel D-locks are highly recommended. Use two locks: a D-lock and a chain and the robber needs 2 different kinds of tools to get them off.

2. Lock it Properly

Put the lock through the frame and lock it to something immovable. Leave as little slack in the chain as possible.
Don’t leave the padlock lying on the ground where it can be whacked open.

3. Consider the Value of your Bike

That means, the more valuable it is, the more the thieves will want it.
Don’t park in the same spot every day.
Don’t let it stand out as the most expensive one around.

4. Disguise the Brand

A hard one to stomach, but put tape over the name or spray paint the frame an ugly color.
Even if the thieves see the brand name, the re-sale value has been lowered.

5. Consider a Folding Bike

Folding bikes are expensive but you can take them with you.

6. Buy a Cheap Bike

They don’t have so much street-cred but equally, no one wants to steal them. The Guardian

Tags: bike theft, bike tips, Electric bike, steal bike

MTA events will encourage commuters to get out of their cars next week.

If you’re looking for a way to reduce traffic congestion on the roads, shrink your carbon footprint and get some exercise, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has a suggestion: Take part in Bike to Work Day next week.

Los Angeles County’s flagship public transit agency, supportive businesses and other partners are organizing several events and promotional offers on May 14 to get residents to try something different than single-occupancy vehicle commuting. Although it’s admittedly difficult to change ingrained behaviors such as driving to work, the MTA is hoping that people who give it a try for one day might decide to do it on a regular basis. If enough people make an effort, the L.A. region would reap numerous benefits, such as less congestion, cleaner air and a more healthy population.

If you decide to pledge to bike to work at the MTA’s Web site, www.metro.net/biketowork, you’ll have a chance to win several prizes, including a two-night stay for two at the Red Mountain Resort & Spa in St. George, Utah; a hybrid electric bike from Currie Technologies; and wireless bike-attachable speakers for iPODs and Bluetooth connections.

Here’s another incentive to commute on two wheels: If you want to use public transit to supplement your commute, you can ride MTA buses and trains for free that Thursday when you board with a bike or helmet. (During rush hours when ridership is high, however, you may have to wait for the next train to board at certain locations.)

There are a few restrictions: Subway trains that run along the Metro Red and Purple lines do not allow bikes to board in either direction during peak hours between Union Station and the Wilshire/Vermont station.

Other local transit agencies will also offer free rides to bike commuters. In the South Bay, Beach Cities Transit, Torrance Transit and Gardena Municipal Bus Lines will take part in Bike to Work Day by allowing bicyclists to ride at no charge. The Gardena buses do not have bike racks, so riders there would have to park their bikes before boarding.

If you’re still not convinced, consider that you can enjoy refreshments and giveaways from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at 40 pit stops for bicyclists around the county. In the South Bay, such pit stops will be set up at the Aviation Boulevard Green Line Station, under the sponsorship of Los Angeles World Airports, and at Torrance City Hall. The Aerospace Corp. and Raytheon will sponsor a third pit stop along the Green Line in El Segundo .

There are other good reasons to bike to work: You arrive at the job alert and awake, you save money on gas and there’s no hunt for a parking space. As the L.A. area expands its bike routes and bike lanes, it makes sense to see if biking fits into your lifestyle one or more times a week.

Tags: electric bicycles, Electric bike, hybrid bikes

TWIN LAKES — At 51, Lin Dohse’s knees aren’t what they used to be, but she still likes riding bicycles.

Which is one reason she loves her 2008 eZip Trailz, an electric bike. Another has to do with her grandson, Zach, 8, and the hilly land hereabouts, including a short but fairly steep incline just east of the home where she and husband Dennis live at the corner of Mueller and Park.

“It doesn’t hurt my knees when I ride, and I can ride with my grandson,” Dohse said, breaking into a wide smile, as she frequently does. “If my knees have had it, if my knee is hurting, I can kick in the electric motor and get some help. He tells me, ‘Grandma, you’re cheating.’ But 8-year-old knees can do these hills.”

Dohse can pedal the electric bicycle

built by California-based Currie Technologies the same as her 3-speed AMF Roadmaster. She likes that option for the health benefits. “I do pedal. I don’t have this (the motor) on all the time,” she said.

Then there’s the savings in fuel costs from not having to drive to the hardware store, library and grocery store, or run various other errands fewer than 10 miles roundtrip, all of which comprise the majority of her frequent bicycling trips outside of her jaunts with Zach.

“It’s funny coming home with a pumpkin in the basket. Sometimes, I have to break the groceries up into three trips. But so what — I’m not using any gas. It doesn’t take any gas!” she said, laughing. “What’s not to love? Last year, I figured I saved over two fill-ups. So, that was $100. It’s great for older riders. Only thing is, it’s heavy (66 pounds, including motor and battery). But with the battery on it, who cares?

“If you’re really far away, and the battery dies, you can just pedal home. Or you can do what I do,” Dohse added, pretending to hold a phone to her ear, “‘Honey, can you come get me?’”

Fed up with skyrocketing prices at the fuel pump, the mother of three adult daughters found the 2008 women’s model Trailz selling for about $300 online at Walmart, although it is sold elsewhere as well and can be ordered direct from ezipusa.com. That’s pretty much the bottom range in pricing for electric bicycles, which are made by a surprising number of U.S. manufacturers and list as high as $15,000, though most run between $400 and $2,500.

“I got it last year at the end of May when the gas prices started to go up. Two weeks after I bought it, they were sold out,” Dohse said. “I should be a marketer for this. I take it to yard sales all over town and people say, ‘Where did you get that?’”

It shipped assembly required, but Dohse said her husband put it together in 20 minutes. It features a rear luggage rack, with a rechargeable 24-volt battery pack mounted on the side. The 450-watt DC motor bolts on near the left rear hub, with power transferred via chain-drive to the axle. On the opposite side, there’s a 7-speed Shimano freewheel and rear derailleur. The steel frame includes bosses (where water bottle holders are bolted), fender and rack mounts. There’s a comfort seat and a suspension fork. Controls are on the handlebar grips, as are the brake levers and gear shifter.

On its own, the battery provides a range of 15 to 22 miles at speeds of 15 to 18 mph. Adding human pedal power extends the range between charges and can boost the speed according to the rider’s capability.

While the trend is catching on here, in China electric bike sales (including scooter-style bikes) have exploded to well over 10 million since 1995. Given their ease of use, no licensing requirements, cheap operational cost, ability to navigate even the narrowest streets and pathways, and parking convenience, it’s easy to appreciate their popularity.

Of course, navigating Twin Lakes is a far cry from wending through teeming Beijing, but Dohse finds her eZip Trailz appealing for many of the same reasons, aside from it just being plain fun to ride. The only shortcoming has nothing to do with the bike itself.

“There’s only one place in town that has a bike rack. That’s the library,” she said. “It would be nice if they had one at the hardware store and the grocery store. More people are riding bikes these days.”

Tags: Electric Bikes, Mountain Electric Bikes, Women Electric Bikes

Apr 27th 2009
From Economist.com

Electric bicycles and scooters are relatively cheap, can ease congestion and are pleasant to ride

ELECTRIC cars are all the rage. Every big carmaker seems to be developing one, and governments are vying with each other to support them. Although such vehicles are more environmentally friendly than their petrol counterparts, there is a greener option that many governments seem to have overlooked: the electric bicycle.

Like electric cars, electric bicycles are classified as zero-emission vehicles, meaning they emit no exhaust gases. Emissions, however, are produced elsewhere, when the electricity used to power the vehicles is generated. Even taking that into account, though, an electric bicyle wins out handsomely in the emission competition with a petrol-driven car, as it is 15-20 times more efficient. Moreover, making an electric bicycle uses far less energy than making an electric car.

Some 21m electric bicycles were sold in China in 2008, according to Frank Jamerson, author of Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports. The figure has doubled since 2005. In Shanghai alone there are an estimated 1m electric bicycles. Some 800,000 are also sold each year in South East Asia, he says, where they replace the noisy and smelly petrol scooters that are ubiquitous in many places.

Typically, an electric bike can run for 30-50 kilometres (20-30 miles) between charges. Recharging a battery can take 5-8 hours, but costs only a few cents a day. But some advanced new bicycles can store energy when they brake, meaning they can go many times further, and some advanced new batteries can charge up in a fraction of the time.

Your correspondent borrowed the new electric bicycle andreas vollenweider-kryptos download from Ultra Motors, a British firm, and took it for a spin in London. The ease with which you can slip in and out of traffic, without breaking into a sweat, is intoxicating. The pedals are there should you wish to use them. And there is no battle of wills between pedestrian and cyclist. It is no sweat to restart, so the temptation to zip through a red traffic light, menacing people as you do so, is removed. A twist of throttle sends the A2B silently zipping away at speeds of up to 25kph. There are no more scary moments when, as a cyclist, you struggle to gain the necessary speed to cope in busy traffic. The A2B is at the top end of the market at £1,949 ($2,850), but there is a huge variety of electric bikes available, starting from only £600.

So why don’t more people use them in America and Europe? The reason is that western governments are not much interested bicycles. If more road space were given over to them, and roads were designed with two-wheeled transport in mind, that might change. Safe places to park and recharge are also needed. All these measures would be far less costly than subsidies proposed for electric cars. The British government, for example, announced recently that, in a few years, motorists will be able to get up to £5,000 in incentives to buy an electric car.

Such bribes would not be necessary to encourage people to switch to electric bicycles. People actually love the idea of a bicycle that does not need pedalling. The point is that everything else needs to be made easy. As your correspondent waits at a light, a fit pedal cyclist pulls up beside her. “What is it? An electric? Is it for very lazy people?” Yes, it is. For very lazy people indeed.

Tags: Electric bike, ezip Electric Bike, izip electric bike

Detroit may be the land of the automobile, but the rising cost of gasoline and state emphasis on eco-friendly technology has some Michiganians investing in a two-wheeled, rechargeable means of transportation — the electric bicycle.

It may be the dead of winter, but this battery-powered ride is getting a warm reception here, turning the heads of preteens, 30-somethings and seniors alike who are looking for a cost-effective alternative that’ll get them to school, work or the corner store.

The outlook is good news for eCo Wheelz, a new electric bike retailer in downtown Plymouth that’s hoping to carve its niche for what they believe is an untapped market in the tri-state area. Experts say their timing is right: More Americans are looking to pinch pennies, do their part to promote green technologies and do away with the rigorous physical demand of conventional bikes.

“Anything that gets Metro Detroiters out of cars and trucks and into more efficient modes of transportation is encouraging from both an environmental and road congestion point of view,” said Hugh McDiarmid Jr., a spokesman for the Michigan Environmental Council. “If this shop is unique and one of the first of its kind, it might represent a niche that Michigan companies and workers can fill as part of diversifying the state’s economy.”

The product — a huge commuting tool for decades in China, Europe and Japan — broke onto the scene in warm-weather states like Florida and California in the mid-90s, but just started gaining attention in Michigan over the past year.

Light Electric Vehicle Association Founder Ed Benjamin said Detroit, a flat city on the edge of water with nasty winters, has as good of a chance as any state for this market.

There are plenty of people hoping to reduce their carbon footprint and save on the cost of transportation or invest in electrics for novelty reasons.

Colleen Robbins is finding plenty of uses for the $900 electric bike she bought her preteen Chaz a couple of months ago.

The 37-year-old Canton Township resident might even use it to commute the eight miles to her job as an accountant at a local manufacturing plant or for quick errands.

“You don’t have to take a car or balance groceries on a regular bike,” she said. “You can just charge it and run up to Family Dollar or Kroger to pick up a couple things and run home.”

At first glance, most electrics aren’t much different than a regular bike. The wheels, handlebars, seat and basic frame are the same. But depending on the model, it’s the battery, motor and throttle that make the difference.

Some types have a removable 17-pound battery latched on, while newer versions have batteries built into the frame — with an outlet for charging. Riders can pedal manually or kick on the throttle, and because federal law limits electric bikes to 20 mph, they can be ridden wherever regular bikes are used, said Jeremy Panizzoli, president and co-founder of eCo Wheelz.

“As soon as people get on, they are sold,” Panizzoli said. “They are a lot of fun, easy to operate and a great alternative.”

Although eCo Wheelz declined to site specific sales figures, in their first few months they said in-store and online purchases have steadily increased. [ More.. ]

[ Via The Detroit News ]

Tags: automobile, battery-powered ride, eCo Wheelz, electric bicycle, izip, rechargeable, transportation, two-wheeled