General Information
You may not have seen many electric bicycles on the roads of Britain, but you can be assured that in the future you will be seeing them just about everywhere. You may even end up owning one.
Electric bicycles are going to be getting increasingly more popular as the cost of fossil fuels continue to rise. With fuel prices climbing inevitably, many people are looking for other ways to travel to work.
There are many reasons why you should consider obtaining and using an electrically assisted bicycle. Health, Finances, Environmental Concerns, and yes - Just the plain and simple Fun of it!
Take a look at what the reality of town and city travelling is in the 21st Century...
According to Transport for London+ average traffic speeds in Inner and Central London is as low as 10.2 mph in the morning peak, and 11.2 mph in the evening rush hour. With an electric bicycle you can whizz along at speeds of up to 15mph with the electric motor on, and more if you choose to pedal too! Couple that with uncluttered cycle lanes, Bus lanes, and dedicated cycle paths, and travelling to work becomes much easier.
Commuting may well account for 20 - 30% of all travel. The average car journey for all European countries was only 8-9 miles. 71% of all commuting journeys in the UK are made by car! Shopping trips don't do much better, with the average trip being under 4 miles.
The AA++, reports that the true costs of operating a mid priced (£13,000 - £20,000) car that clocks up the average mileage of 9600 per annum is about £1.04 per mile.
Compare this with an electric assisted bike that will cost in the region of 5p - 8p per mile!
Individuals who commute by public transport, often buy Season Tickets in order to contain costs. However, these tickets still remain hugely expensive, and unless a first class reservation is bought, then there is no guarantee of a seat for the journey anyway.
Trains are frequently overcrowded, and dirty, and don't always run to schedule. How often have you wondered about the "Wrong Kind of Snow" or "Wet leaves on the track"
To illustrate the costs, to travel by South West Trains from Feltham in Middlesex, to Waterloo, (A journey time of about 40 minutes) will cost £1352.00 per year, rising to £1784.00 per year if a Travelcard is bought at the same time.
To give an idea of the savings that an electric bike will offer you, consider this; According to Google Maps, the road distance between Feltham Station and Waterloo is just 16.5 miles. On an electric bike, (using the electric motor only!) this journey will take about about an hour and five minutes, A car journey will take about the same time (According to Transport for London, the average speed of a vehicle in London is just 4.8 miles per hour), and could be costing in the region of 77p per mile - £12.70 each way!!!
An Electric Bike can cost as little as £399.00, and will only rack up travelling costs of about 8p per mile - so the same journey will only cost £1.32 each way, and will get you there at about the same time. The advantages of Electric Bikes are obvious - its a "No brainer!"
An electric bike will, strangely enough, have a better chance of improving your overall level of fitness than a conventional pedal cycle.
Research * has found that 46% of conventional bikes are used only once or twice a week, with a further 30% being used once a fortnight or even less. By contrast, a recent survey of electric bicycle owners reveals that a third ride their bike at least once a day and 81% use the bike at least once a week ** The figures confirm our experience that an electric bike typically gets used at least twice as often as a conventional machine. |
Using an e-bike is also environmentally very sound. The only consumables that an ebike uses are its battery, and these may be recharged many times before they need replacement. Interestingly, the Lithium Polymer batteries may be disposed of and recycled when they reach the end of their life, Naturally, there will be other items that need replacing such as brake pads and tyres, but these would need to be replaced on a conventional bike too.
There is an argument too, that the energy requirements to feed a human being so that he or she may propel a bicycle are greater than the energy requirements to recharge the battery of an ebike. This is primarily due to the extremely high costs of processing and distributing most western foods. Despite the natural instinct to assume that the pedal bike is more efficient, it may be argued that the e-bike consumes between 2 to 4 times less primary energy than a human rider consuming a conventional diet. We didnt believe it either until we researched the facts!***
So - when you ride one of our bikes, not only are you getting fitter, you are actually doing it in a more environmentally friendly way than our Lycra-clad associates on their conventional machines. Bet that makes you feel as smug as it does us!
+ Transport for London statistics
++ The AA.com "Costs of running a car 2008
* Transport Research Laboratory report: 'New Cycle Owners: expectations and experiences' (Davies and Hartley 1998)
** Leeds University report: 'The New Generation of Private Vehicles in the UK. Should their use be encouraged and can they attract drivers of conventional cars?' (Neil Guthrie 2001)
*** Justin Lemire-Elmore "The Energy Cost of Electric & Human-Powered Bicycles" April 2004
Advantages of a Good Quality Electric Bike
Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten!!!
Batteries
All of our Electric bikes all use Lithium Polymer battery technology. This ensures that you get the best power to weight ratio from your battery, an important consideration for when you are pedalling the bike in the conventional sense. Also lighter batteries means that the motor has to deliver less effort to move the bike, which gives more battery time for power... great isnt it? These batteries also last considerably longer than other types, lasting between 800-1000 full charges. Some cheaper (and heavier) batteries need to be fully disharged and then fully recharged in order to maximise their life expectancy - but with our batteries you only need to top them up as and when required, for as long as is convenient to you.
Lithium Polymer batteries are very easy to recycle too! When your battery needs replacement, we will part exchange them, and give you a £50.00 rebate off the cost of the replacement battery. We cant say fairer than that!
Most of our batteries (with matched management systems and chargers) are made by some of the finest electronics manufacturers in the world. For example, our Wisper batteries are made by a company with an estimated annual turnover this year in access of £100,000,000. All of our Wisper batteries carry world wide public liability insurance of $10,000,000 (about £5,000,000) against personal injury. Copies of the insurance policies are available on request.
So why not other types of batteries?
Lead-acid batteries are cheap and easily recycled, but they are sensitive to maltreatment and have a limited life (about 100 charges). Weight for weight these are the least efficient of all batteries. Lead acid batteries on ebikes have been banned in some Chinese regions now due to the fact that they are not being properly recycled.
Nickel-Cadmium batteries give good capacity and long life, however they are expensive, cadmium is a recognised pollutant and they are difficult to recycle when the battery fails. These batteries have already been banned in some Scandinavian countries because of their pollutant content.
NiMh batteries are theoretically more efficient than nickel cadmium, and of course they are expensive. Our experience is that NiMh offers little, if any, improvement in range. They are, however, easier and safer to dispose of than Nickel-Cadmium when they eventually fail.
So - why pay a cheaper price if the ongoing costs are more expensive, and cause you more inconvenience. Buy Cheap, Buy Twice!
Electric Motors
The electric motors fitted to our bicycles are not only highly efficient, but are also aesthetically pleasing - take a look at the two photographs below, and decide which bicycle you would rather be riding!
The upper photograph is of the rear wheel hub motor of the Wisper 905se. As you can see, the motor is virtually undetectable, and blends in with the lines of the bicycle. The power cable may be seen running along the top of the chainstay, and neatly entering the hub itself through the centre spindle. Now look at the drive mechanism on our competitor's machine. The motor is bolted to the side of the frame, and drives through a supplementary chain. This is not a clean and tidy design, and the location of the motor make it a target for thieves, vandals, and subject to damage should the bike be dropped, or involved in an accident.
Frames
Virtually all electric bicycles are made in China. This is true of Wisper bikes too - but there is a difference. Many of the cheaper electric bicycles are sourced from China, and are purchased in bulk from stocks designed for the Chinese domestic market. This means that the frames are designed to suit the average Chinese person's build - not for larger, taller Europeans, who statistically weigh considerably more that their Oriental counterparts. The Wisper range have frames that are designed here in the UK, (but built in China) to accomodate our larger bulkier bodies. Wisper bike frames are hand assembled and welded, and then placed into a jig, and re-heated. This removes all the internal stresses caused by the welding process, and gives the bikes a durable and robust construction. All of the range of Wisper Bikes have frames that are made from 6061 Alloy, which offers both light weight, and good strength.
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