Hasta La Gadget!

Sanyo has brought its electric Eneloop bike to the US, and when we were in CES we got to take a look. It’s certainly not the first electric bike around: Even Sanyo has been making them in Japan since the early 1970s. But it is one of the easiest to ride for a regular cyclist, and – because it carries the Eneloop brand – it is one of the greenest in terms of energy use.

The bike is a front-wheel drive (you can see the hub in the video) with the rear wheel assembly being completely standard, just like a normal pedal-bike. The magic is twofold. First, a special bottom-bracket monitors how hard you press on the pedals. This controls the motor in the hub and gives a power boost. There is no assistance when you are freewheeling on the flat, but as soon as you push the motor kicks in. The initial feeling is how I’d imagine a robot exo-skeleton to feel, but right away you don’t notice it anymore and it just feels like the bike is really easy to ride.

The second trick is also a hub/pedal double-team. If you are going down a hill and not pedaling, the hub will turn into a generator and re-juice the batteries. A sensor in the brake lever also switches the motor into regeneration mode. This increases battery life by around 20%, which gives a total of up to 46 miles on a charge (that charge takes three hours).

The power has other benefits. The lights of course run off the battery, but because of the sensors in the brake levers, there is a brake light, too.

Riding the Eneloop bike feels almost exactly like riding a normal bike, so it is well suited to aging cyclists who just can’t make it up the steep hills anymore. The problem is that it costs $2,000. That’s still a lot less than a car or motorbike, and if you are a keen cyclist who is having trouble staying on the road, or if you want to get fit but are a little too rotund to get started, $2,000 is a bargain.

Sanyo Eneloop Electric Assist Bike Recharges Itself [Wired Video]

SANYO ‘eneloop bike’ Electric Hybrid Bicycle Makes First San Diego Debut [Sanyo]