Connectivity by standard interfaces, Human machine sensors, Sharing systems, Pedelec as part of public transport, Vehicle to X communication, Partially covered bikes, More safety by different riding positions.
 

 
On 26th November 2019, Hannes Neupert, Chairman ExtraEnergy e.V./Executive Director EnergyBus e.V., talked online at the "Ebike Future Conference".     

Topic: State of the global pedelec market and technology - where does it go?     

Content
• Self introduction
• Market of pedelecs today
• Market drivers in the past*
• Market drivers today*
• Key technologies for Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) which will drive the next 10 years of innovation!
• Disruptors? Who will become the "Elon of the Pedelecs"?   

Video
Watch part 7 of "Key technologies for Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs) which will drive the next 10 years of innovation!":   

>> Key technologies for LEVs - part 7 (vimeo) 

Connectivity by standard interfaces
"Good customer experience are all the services over the cloud.

That means software update over the air: We always have the up to date secure save product.

Of course if your product is connected to the internet, always someone could hack in.

Yes, that’s something which will happen but on the other hand you have so many more benefits that in the end you will accept this.

Especially theft tracking, easy updates, fleet management and so on.

So, we have GSM, GPS, Bluetooth and EnergyBus as the gateways.

The Stromer pedelec already for many years is the state of the art of this subject. 

Human machine sensors
Also important is that we have the sensors on the human being, like smart watches.

This is getting more and more advanced and they can measure more and more.

They will have also helmets even with face recognition camera which can see how much fun we have and optimize the fun. 

Pedelec sharing systems
An other example is the Copenhagen sharing bike.

Actually it’s a Linux tablet computer with wheels and a bigger battery - the same as the Tesla.

The Tesla is also a tablet computer with a very big battery and wheels.  

This allows that you register yourself and have a lot of usage.  

You can also park it besides official parking places when there is no free space.

You can do this for upcharging and someone else can collect this bike and bring it to the parking space which is free, may be two streets further down the road and collects some bonus or money points. 

Pedelec as part of public transport
Interaction with public transport: You can book in real time so that you have for example a trip starting with the bus going on the bike and then continue by train.

So you can have a multi modal ride which you can book upfront and you have your bike waiting for you when you exit the train. 

Vehicle to X communication
Real time communication - This is a kind of machine to machine thing which can stop potential accidents from happening.  

Today in the vehicle to X consortia typically only cars, trucks and busses are considered.

But only when enhancing the communication between all mayor traffic participants it will be a fully powerful tool.

This needs to include pedestrians, cyclists, cars, trucks,… 

Partially covered bikes
You can see here the PODBIKE from Norway.

I am also one of the guys who ordered one and I am really looking forward to get this.

I believe there is a huge future to have things which have properties of a bicycle with more safety, more comfort, weather protection and fun.

Of course a big topic there will be fresh air, always clean windows and no condensation on the window when there are bad weather conditions. To keep the window clean - not so easy. 

The Bio-Hybrid from Schaeffler on the right bottom side here is more easy because at least you willl have no condensation when you exercise a lot inside because it is mainly open. 

More safety by different riding positions
A very interesting thing is, when you lower your center of gravity, you can have much better braking capability.

With a normal bike, upright riding position is quite bad. When you do fast braking, you will fly over the steering wheel.

So, together with ABS/ESP, active suspension, may be easier weather and dirt protection, I believe such type of bikes will become just the new normal. 

But it´s a slow process because the bicycle archetype is so strong connected to people. More than 100 years we had the diamond frame and the safety bike. So, it is kind of burnt into our minds how a bicycle has too look like. It will be a hard time to change this.

But if someone does it right, really right, I think it will be a big success. 

Further keys to the future
High reliability: Especially paid by use will be really important. People can rent a bike on minute base, on monthly base, on any base - including service. So that you have a complete solution. This is the future. 

Always on: Of course it will be connected to the internet to secure full service.  

User experience centric design: Technology will adopt to the user wishes automatically. This is something which is with a series hybrid possible. This means that the bike always can adopt to your wishes and doing this in the best - even automatically. 

It sounds crazy but I think it will be just normal."

Ebike Future Conference
The full video of Hannes Neupert`s speach and all other conference videos are now available at the conference website:   

>> Ebike Future Conference  

*only available at www.ebikefuturecon.com

>> Key Technologies for LEVs - Part 6

Video recording and lecturing: Hannes Neupert  

Video editing and online publication: Angela Budde   

Picture: Video screenshot     

2nd April 2020