Sanyo Hybrid Electric Bicycle Recharges While Running

Sanyo Electric Co., a major Japanese electric appliance company, has launched a next-generation hybrid electric bicycle that employs a "regenerative braking system." This system recharges a battery using a motor with generator which is started by braking for stopping and riding downhill. This is the first electric bicycle to utilize such a mechanism.

Conventional electric bicycles just consume power from the battery while running, but the newly-developed motor, the lightest and smallest of its kind, enables this new bicycle to recharge the battery while running by using the brake.

The new bicycle is useful particularly in hilly areas. When the bicycle repeatedly goes up and down slopes of two degrees, the use of the regenerative braking system going downhill extends the power-assisted distance by as much as 50 percent more than non-recharged runs.

The price of the bicycle is in the mid-price range for electric-assisted bicycles, or 60,000 to 130,000 yen (about U.S.$500 - 1,100).

The first electric-assisted bicycle was launched in about 1993. Backed by the growing awareness of environmental issues, the sales of electric bicycles have been growing, and more than 200,000 units are expected to be sold in fiscal 2002.



Posted: 2003/02/21 11:48:20 AM
Japanese version