MIT invents hybrid bicycle that stores braking energy in a battery for reuse

[steven johnson]

A hybrid bicycle with hybrid regenerative breaking! COOL!

The Senseable City Laboratory at M.I.T. has designed a wheel that captures the kinetic energy released when a rider brakes and saves it for when the rider needs a boost. While technically sound, the wheel’s true challenge may be in winning over cyclists. For centuries, bikes have been beloved for their simplicity, not their bells and whistles.

The new wheel uses a kinetic energy recovery system, the same technology used by hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius, to harvest otherwise wasted energy when a cyclist brakes or speeds down a hill. With that energy, it charges up a battery inside the wheel’s hub.

The sleek red hub, called the Copenhagen Wheel, was to be unveiled Tuesday morning in Copenhagen. It can be retrofitted to any bike’s rear wheel, and it includes sensors that track air quality, a meter that logs miles and a GPS unit to track routes. All that data can be sent via Bluetooth to a rider’s smartphone and shared with others.

The laboratory is trying to eliminate the clunkiness of other electric bikes with heavy batteries and unwieldy wires by placing all the technology into the wheel, said Christine Outram, the project’s lead researcher.

For Bicyclists Needing a Boost, This Wheel May Help

[drm604]

1. I can't imagine that many cyclists will have an interest in this.

How much do you really gain in exchange for the cost and complications?

[Gregorian]

14. Cyclists are a hard breed to satisfy.

I've got my own bicycle design in my future efforts. One electric, one hydraulic. Parker Hannafin had a university engineering hydraulic bike challenge, and not one was worth much.

But these concepts are good. Especially the electric one. It doesn't need to store energy. And if the motor is way out on the periphery of the wheel it starts to look pretty efficient.

These are big engineering challenges though. I've already got decades into my hydraulic one. I'm coming up very short.

However, I believe bikes are the future. I'm not joking. And I know most people can't get their heads around that. But just as we DESIGNED our lives around the stinking automobile, we can do the same with bikes. And kill many birds with one stone. Health being one of them. A better society another.

[drm604]

15. I don't believe that bikes are our future.

We may turn to more mass transportation, but I doubt that a majority will become regular cyclists. Many people simply can't due to age or physical infirmity. Societies where a large percentage of the people bicycle (mainly third world countries) didn't grow around the automobile.

Our suburbs, our cities to a large extent, our food distribution, our everything, evolved around the assumption of quick travel over what once were considered long distances.

I think public transportation, and telecommuting, may replace a lot of automobile travel, but I don't think bicycles will become a major form of transportation in the foreseeable future.

[kristopher]

18. Public transport encourages bike use

Building stations costs money and more stops slows public transit traffic.

Bicycles feed larger pools of riders to stations while avoiding the parking issues associated with cars. Its routine to bicycle 20-30 minutes to get to a train station in the bedroom communities of large urban areas.

[OKIsItJustMe]

19. The Pneumatic-Tired Safety Bicycle was an invention of the 1890’s.

Somehow, they caught on! Even though streetcars had been invented shortly after the turn of the century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar#History

Somehow, I don’t think mass transit will kill the bicycle.

[drm604]

22. We didn't have suburbs in the 1890's.

For the most part, people worked and shopped within a relatively short distance from home. Even so, the bicycle didn't kill streetcars did it? It caught on primarily as a recreational vehicle.

In any case, I never said anything about mass transit killing the bicycle. Mass transit may decrease automobile use, but it won't decrease bike use, which is already minimal. Bike use will probably increase somewhat, but it won't become near as common as it is in some third world countries. Commuting by bike an appreciable distance just isn't practical. In some weather and at some times of year, the practical commuting distance becomes even less.

[OKIsItJustMe]

23. We have suburbs partly due to the bicycle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle#In_daily_life

…

Around the turn of the 20th century, bicycles reduced crowding in inner-city tenements by allowing workers to commute from more spacious dwellings in the suburbs. They also reduced dependence on horses. Bicycles allowed people to travel for leisure into the country, since bicycles were three times as energy efficient as walking and three to four times as fast.

…

[wtmusic]

25. That "assumption" was based on unlimited energy and clean air

Bicycles are already becoming a major form of transporation, aided in part by public transportation and telecommuting.

[Fumesucker]

17. If you live in hilly terrain or where it gets hot/humid you gain a lot..

It basically turns the average recreational cyclist into Lance Armstrong or better for quite a few miles.

The ability to go up steep hills without getting winded and/or overheated and drenched with sweat is a major advantage, it makes the difference between arriving at your destination absolutely whipped and soaked or fresh and cool.

The average human's ability to put out power is quite limited, around 120 watts or so for an extended period. If you can add say 250 to 350 watts to that power output it makes a truly huge difference in how far and how fast you can ride a bicycle.

[Greyskye]

21. Exactly!

There is a store 1.5 miles from me. To ride my bike there and back is a major endeavor, requiring a shower and fresh clothes at the end of the journey due to all of the hills between the house and the store. Not to mention a general elevation climb in one direction. The name of the town I live in does have the word "Hills" as the last part of its name, after all.

If it works as advertised, I could see this making a huge difference in what we do around the neighborhood, and how often. My wife (who is a skinny little thing) simply doesn't have the muscle power to even get a multi-speed bicycle up these hills, and neither does my 11 year old. And I huff and puff and work up a good sweat. We would get a hell of a lot more exercise using this device then we do now, simply because we don't bike that often due to the killer hills.

[wtmusic]

27. IMO you wouldn't see anywhere near 250W coming back

from the referenced article:

“Regenerative braking hardware adds mass, complexity and cost, and the energy efficiency gains from it turn out to be surprisingly limited,” said William Mitchell, who runs a lab at M.I.T. called SmartCities, a research group devoted to improving urban energy efficiency through technology."

[MineralMan]

2. How much weight does this add to the bicycle?

Most bicyclists I know are obsessive about weight, and do everything possible to minimize it. Somehow, I doubt that this system will provide enough energy to compensate for the energy used to shove that extra weight around.

I can see the system in use, perhaps, on bicycles that are dedicated electric bikes. But not on the typical bicycle used by bikers.

[madokie]

3. Amazing I see things exactly opposite

8 or 10 pounds to lug added to a bicycle doesn't seem like much, in some cases choice of clothing can almost do that. With this the effort to start off or climb inclines would be well worth the trade off. I see this as good and possibly making it to market as a viable addition to the bicycle. :shrug: I still like you though :-)

[MineralMan]

4. You could be right. I'm not an avid bicyclist.

What I see, though, is bicyclists wearing the lightest possible clothing, drilling out components of their bicycles to remove ounces, and tremendous competition among bicycle makers to produce the lightest possible bikes.

What this might do, though, is to recruit new bicyclists by making it a little easier to ride if you're not one of those knotted-muscle, almost anorexic fanatics. Maybe. I just don't see it being a real selling point among current bicyclists who are willing to spend the money this will cost.

I guess we'll find out later, though.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. The bicyclists you know may not accurately represent all bicyclists

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/environment/302372

Electric bikes surge in popularity in China; US, other countries are riding the trend, too

The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.26.2009

SHANGHAI — It's a simple pleasure, but Xu Beilu savors it daily: gliding past snarled traffic on her motorized bicycle, relaxed and sweat-free alongside the pedal-pushing masses.

China, the world's bicycle kingdom — one for every three inhabitants — is going electric.

…

In Japan, plug-in bicycles are favored by cost-conscious companies and older commuters. "Many company workers are beginning to use them to visit clients instead of driving, to save fuel costs," says Miyuki Kimizuka of the Japan Bicycle Promotion Institute, a private industry group.

Australians use electric bicycles in rural towns without bus and train service. Tony Morgan, managing director of The Electric Bicycle Co. Pty. Ltd., the continent's largest manufacturer and retailer of e-bikes, says he has sold about 20,000 in the past decade, priced at about $800-$1,600.

…

[mackerel]

16. Bikes are the future in most other countries and I can

see this being a valuable tool. My only concern would be cost. I see some of the hybrid
motorcycles are going for 30-40K.

[OKIsItJustMe]

24. This will cost much less than “30-40K.”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10415648-1.html

…

The Copenhagen wheel is targeted to hit the market within a year and will be sold by online retailers, consumer electronics vendors, and possibly bike stores. The wheel will cost as much as a standard electronic bike--somewhere between $500 and $1000.

…

[guardian]

5. 8 to 10 lbs doesn't seem like much!

Words of wisdom spoken by a non-cyclist. That's a lot of weight to be lugging around. If they can get the weight down to 2-3 lbs maybe.

It theory the concept sounds good. If the benefits outweigh the drawbacks of extra weight, complexity, and cost, then people will buy it.

[wtmusic]

26. You nailed it, MM

This would shine on electric bikes but 10 lbs makes it too cumbersome for stop and go city riding, especially to people who measure weight in grams.

In time they will probably be able to halve the weight, which might make it attractive for commuters.

[bhikkhu]

6. E-bikes have been around a long time

http://www.bicycle-power.com/diykits.html

I suppose this is a good excuse to get e-bikes a little news time, but regenerative braking is hardly necessary and questionably practical. Another layer of complexity added to a machine that's beauty lies in its simplicity. Better battery technology is having a much greater impact than regenerative braking in any case.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. This is different

Key point, everything is in the “Copenhagen Wheel.” There are no wires running around the frame, and you can put the wheel onto any bicycle to make it a hybrid electric.

[bhikkhu]

9. Looking closer, so it is

As an old cyclist I'd have to stick with my first reaction, at least as far as how much interest I would have with it. The more you ride, the more aware you become of how much energy you spend in slowing down and speeding back up. Routes and cruising speeds tend to be planned around it, and using the brakes can actually become a rare occurrence. I rode a fixed gear without brakes at all for a time last year without any problem, and the bike I commute on has several thousand miles on the original brake pads...

But I have to take back the "level of complexity" remark, this wheel seems to be the opposite. It would be interesting to try one out to see the effect, though I suspect it would be just a little occasional boost vs constantly carting around that extra weight.

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. As an old cyclist, I’m interested

I currently live a mile up a hill, with the last 2 tenths being rather steep, and having quite a sharp turn below them. So, I start my rides attempting to stand my bicycle on its front wheel for a quarter mile, feeling all of my effort at the end of the previous ride go into wearing down my brakes…

Check out some videos of the “http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=copenhagen+wheel">Copenhagan Wheel.”

My concerns:

1. I want more gears, with manual shifting!
2. I don’t want to use a smart phone to control my bicycle.

[bhikkhu]

12. I suppose it would be ideal in hilly terrain

where it would store the energy of braking on the descent, then release that energy to help you up the next rise.

[OKIsItJustMe]

7. See Also…

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=222421&mesg_id=222421

[mopinko]

13. 10 lb is a lot to add to the longest 10 feet of my bike rides- up the stairs,

to put it away. also needs to be hefted to put your bike on the bus racks.
however, i do think this is pretty cool. if you are riding for transportation, making your ride easier will be popular, i think.

[Greyskye]

20. My neighborhood is either uphill or downhill.

There is literally no street in the area that is anything close to level.

It's a major endeavor to get to the store about a mile and a half away, and by the time you get back you've got to hit the shower. If this could even out those hills, it would definitely be something I'd consider. I'd love to ride more than I do now.

But I don't have any use for all of the fancy air quality sensors, GPS unit, social-network-city-integration etc. And I would hate to have my bike trapped in 'locked' mode simply because I ran out of battery on my smart phone.

I hope that the market will cause them to come up with a version that isn't quite so 'city-centric'. Because the core concept is pure dead brilliant.