E-Bike News: Envo Stax Lightweight Speedster, California E-Bike Licensing Law and More!

California’s e-bike licensing law begins its journey through the state legislature

Tasha Boerner, a member of the California State Assembly, wrote the bill Assembly Bill 530 and it has begun its journey through state government and into the legislature. It stipulates that e-bike drivers without an active driving license must acquire an “e-bike driving license” and is therefore clearly aimed primarily at younger cyclists. The launch follows a series of recent e-bike accidents that received widespread attention in the US media.

Key features of the proposed law are:

One of the recent incidents that appears to have tipped the balance in favor of the proposed law the death of 15-year-old Brodee Champlain-Kingman on June 22 of this year after the e-bike he was riding crashed into a van in the Southern California beach town of Encinitas.

The new Lynx model from Quietkat has a two-speed hub motor

GearJunkie reports to Quietkat’s announcement that a high-speed café moto-style e-bike will be available for sale at the end of summer 2023. Unusually, the new Lynx model features a 1000-watt, 2-speed rear hub motor, promising efficiency and performance improvements over traditional geared hub motors that only have an internal gear ratio.

As for the hard specs, there aren’t too many other details; There are 24 x 4.5-inch tires, a rear luggage rack, lights and mechanical steel shock absorbers with 203mm of travel at the front and 100mm at the rear. Estimated MSRP is approximately $4,000.

Cowboy introduces more cost-effective slick urban e-bike

The British ebiketips report on how lightweight urban e-bike specialists work cowboy have developed a “software-light” and cheaper e-bike range called Core and renamed their more electronically sophisticated offerings Connect. So far, Belgium-based Cowboy has focused on increasingly sophisticated software and smartphone connectivity. As ebiketips says, the Connect range will include software features like AdaptivePower technologyCrash detection, Apple Watch integration, and newer Google Maps platform features: Share My Trip, Hazard Alerts, and Clean Air Routes.

By omitting these advanced features from the Core range, Cowboy delivers a lightweight, smooth-riding single-speed e-bike for £2,190 (note that Cowboy e-bikes are not currently widely available in the US).

British charity provides practical recommendations for electrical safety for e-bikes

The British BBC reports “E-bike batteries should be regulated in the same way as fireworks, heavy machinery or medical equipment as they pose a fire risk,” a charity said.

The 72-page Electrical Safety First report makes numerous recommendations for the safety of electric e-bikes in the UK, including:

Battery summary

If there was one thing that revolutionized the modern e-bike, it was the introduction of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery. When the first models came onto the market in the early 1990s, they struggled with reliability and safety issues. However, by the early 2000s they became the battery of choice for e-bikes as safety and reliability issues were largely overcome (although inexpensive batteries were emerging). and chargers has detected that the problem occurs again). Concerns about the range and weight of e-bikes were gone and the e-bike hasn’t looked back since.

But could we be seeing the early stages of the next quantum leap in battery technology, which could, over time, spawn a new generation of ultralight e-bikes?

Some reports on Electrive suggest that batteries with higher energy density and therefore longer range may be in the manufacturing pipeline.

First, it tells We’ve learned that Panasonic – whose batteries are widely used in e-bikes and electric cars – will start using silicone-based anodes: “By purchasing the anode material from Nexeon (a UK-based company), Panasonic wants to Increase performance of electric car batteries. It will be used in lithium-ion batteries that Panasonic will produce in its new factory in De Soto, Kansas, starting in 2025. The two companies do not provide any specific information on the purchase quantity or term of the agreement.

While Panasonic’s goal using silicon is to “increase volumetric energy density by five percent by 2025 and 25 percent by 2030,” a far greater increase in energy density will be achieved if effective solid-state batteries can be brought to market . A solid electrolyte is used instead of a gel.

Electrive reports this “The European SUBLIME project aims to develop solid-state battery cells based on sulfide solid-state electrolytes that can be used widely in electric vehicles.” The focus of the project is not only on the development of such cells, but also on their production and material procurement.”

Solid state batteries are clearly a much longer term project, as the article is quite vague about the possibility of commercial production, saying only: “The project will also produce a roadmap for 2030…”

Lyft is considering selling its e-bike and e-scooter business

According to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News “According to a report, Lyft is hearing purchase and investor offers for its bikeshare division for e-bikes and e-scooters blog entry on his website on Monday.’

The company operates bike-sharing services in eight U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Denver. Lyft says its bikeshare system Citi Bike is the 30th largest mass transit provider in the United States