The electric bikes with onboard music

Commuters in the near future will glide to work astride sleek electric bikes soothed by sounds from built-in onboard speakers. At least that’s the vision conjured by Noordung with its latest range of electric bikes.

The Noordung Angel Edition is an exotic handmade urban bike that offers a glimpse of what is possible when the designers of electric vehicles start with a blank canvas. Alongside features such as a carbon frame and app-enabled connectivity, the designers have added a playful feature to the lithium-ion battery pack. The removable unit includes speaker that can play up to 100 hours of music from your phone.

With a limited production run of only 15 bikes and price tag of 8,000 euros, the Angel Edition is far too expensive and exclusive, but there is little reason that a mass-produced version could not revolutionise personal transport in cities around the world if regulation paved the way.

Despite being over 100 years old, electric vehicles remains a frontiers technology that’s still finding its feet. The Department for Transport plans to regulate prices for roadside charging following concerns that the fees, which can be as much as £7.50 per half hour, are too high and make running an electric car no better value than a diesel equivalent. Meanwhile, Tesla has this month introduced charges for using its network of super-chargers, including a 40 pence-per-minute penalty for drivers who leave their cars plugged in once the batteries are full.

The government plans for nine per cent of new vehicles in 2020 to be low emission, the definition of which extends beyond pure electric – a target which could be far more ambitious if our understanding of electric vehicles went beyond only cars.

While other countries embrace the electric bicycle as a cheap and efficient way to promote low-emission personal transport, they are omitted from the government’s plug-in grant that subsidises the purchase of electric cars. And a new breed of electric bike that spans the gap between bicycle and moped and appears well equipped to tackle the problems of air pollution and congestion is hampered by regulations that have yet to catch up with this new mode of transport.

Noordung electric bike

Electric bikes and the law

Many electric bikes such as the Noordung are subject to a bewildering array of classifications and regulation depending on where you are in the world. For example, in Europe any power-assisted bicycle capable of more than 15 mph must undergo the onerous task of being registered as a motorcycle. By contrast, a good-quality road bike, which relies only on human effort to gain speed, can cruise easily at 20 mph and yet is not subject to the same regulation.
The promotion of electric vehicles is back to front; the government appears blind to the wider benefits of electric bicycles and mopeds – vehicles that do not require the investment in technology and infrastructure required by electric cars.

Bicycles currently represent the most efficient and realistic application for electric motor technology; battery-powered cars and motorcycles are heavy and troublesome to charge without widespread charging points, but e-bikes are light enough to be carried into a house to be re-charged. Best of all, the electrically-assisted bicycle is the ultimate hybrid; if the battery runs flat, the rider can switch to leg power in an instant.

Lohner Stroler electric bicycles are designed to build on the ubiquity of the retro-styled Vespa in today’s major European cities. If commuters are to be convinced that electric bikes can be more than simply toys for the weekend, the answer might be to disguise them as something older, smokier and nosier.

A narrow tank and whitewall tyres: Every inch the 1950s motorcycle

The Lohner family has an illustrious automotive history including collaboration in 1900 with Ferdinand Porsche on the first electric car in the world. After working on aircraft construction, propeller manufacture & electric trams, Lohner has turned its attention to the electric bicycle.

Lohner electric bikes have an electric motor hidden in the rear wheel, a battery under the saddle and an eight-litre storage compartment beneath a faux petrol tank. A full battery charge takes six hours after which it will whisk you along at 15 mph.

In keeping with its motorcycle styling, the Stroler has built in mudguards and lights, but downsides includes an almost-moped like weight of 36 kg and retail price of £2,990.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.

Our need to conserve global resources is matched only by our addiction to cars. Can a new breed of commuter bike such the Noordung offer an answer by delivering clean, quiet and safe personal transport for the masses?

When it comes to transport solutions, conventional motorcycles represent a double-edged sword: They have the potential to reduce CO2 emissions and congestion, but this very ability to beat traffic in urban areas makes them a potential threat to vulnerable road users.

Just as British families took to motorcycles during the austere post-war years, the time has surely come for us to re-discover the small-capacity motorbikes as a cheap and practical way of getting about. In these cash-strapped times, and for those unwilling or unable to use a bicycle, how hard a sell can it be to promote a mode of transport with VED of £17 a year, 100 mpg fuel economy, free in-town parking, cheap insurance and near care-free maintenance?

Promotion or penalty?

Motorcycles are referred to by those in transport planning as powered two-wheelers (PWT) – an all-encompassing term that includes large-capacity machines, commuter bikes, scooters and now battery powered bikes.

Such ePTWs already account for the largest segment of the alternative-powered vehicle fleet in Britain. It’s a fact that makes the decision by government to exclude this class of vehicle, which alongside electric-assist bicycles (pedelecs) represents the most affordable and practicable application of electric vehicle (EV) technology, from the government’s Plug-in Grant bemusing.

PTWs cover around 1 per cent of road miles travelled in Britain – a similar proportion to cycling. Whilst not environmentally benign like cycling, motorcycling has suffered from the same lack of support from government. In fact, some policies appear to actively penalise PTWs. The emissions-based vehicle excise duty (VED) does not recognise that many PTWs are a low-carbon mode of transport.

Motorcycle manufacturers do not routinely publish CO2 figures, but a 125 cc commuter bike that returns 80 mpg emits around 85 g/km. A car that emits less than 100 g/km is currently exempt from VED – the motorcycle pays £17. At a national level, motorcycles emit around 25 per cent less CO2 than cars ( the national fleet emits an average 100-110 g/km compared to approximately 145 g/km for the car fleet).

At the macro level, as significant as the global demand for personal transport is the stark fact that it is environmentally and physically unsustainable for us all to drive cars. The production and burning of petrol and diesel contributes towards global warming, cities are clogged by congestion. For a large proportion of the world’s poor, car ownership has been little more than a dream – until now. If China were to have as many cars per capita as America, it would effectively double the global car fleet.

In terms of nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons, small motorcycles and scooters contribute to the traffic smog that is the blight of many city dwellers, particularly in summer. However, they produce far less CO2 than cars and these tailpipe emissions form only part of their lifetime environmental cost; the manufacture, maintenance and disposal of small-engined motorcycles uses a fraction of the resources necessary to build and finally recycle a car. Electric bikes offer a technological solution to these drawbacks.