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Schaeffler Bio-Hybrid: Drive in the Bike Lane, Legally!
Everything about transportation and mobility is in play anymore, with no certainty about what’s coming next. Who’d have thought that Ford, the company that put America on wheels, would suggest we need folding electrical bicycles? For an especially vivid illustration of future-think, check out this prototype by automotive supplier Schaeffler, a one-seater placed inbetween e-bikes, a.k.a. “ped-elecs,” and quicker not fairly cars such as the Renault Twizy, a fun-to-drive, electrically powered four-wheeler classified as an electrified ATV in Europe and rentable in San Francisco wearing a Nissan logo.
Schaeffler may not be a household name, but it’s a heavyweight among automotive suppliers and technology houses; its heritage is in gears and bearings, but the German company—together with better-known Continental—has spent a lot of time and effort devising strategies to deal with automotive electrification and the challenges of future urban mobility.
The Bio-Hybrid, whipped out on the public at the CES in Las Vegas and at the Detroit auto demonstrate, is the result of two and a half years of strategic, conceptual, and development work, said Peter Gutzmer, the company’s chief technology officer and board member. In 2014, he put together a puny group of thinkers and engineers and asked them to come up with solutions for mobility that could make use of the growing network of bike lanes within the world’s metropolitan areas—without the disadvantages of railing a bicycle.
Gutzmer’s team checked the legal environments in numerous countries, created concepts, tapped into the resources of the Universities of Graz in Austria and Karlsruhe in Germany, and ultimately came up with a package of three- and four-wheeled vehicles with an e-bike powertrain. These use a combination of human and electrical power and are specifically designed to stir people or cargo in bike lanes. Besides maintaining legal access to bike lanes, the catalog of specifications included effortless accessibility, weather protection, and plasticity.
The resulting vehicle is a mere 33.Five inches broad and 78.7 inches long; it varies in height depending on the roof module. The two existing prototypes weigh about one hundred seventy six pounds, but the target mass is one hundred thirty two pounds, which Schaeffler aims to achieve by using carbon-fiber and recyclable composite materials. The multimaterial method will be explored in conjunction with Germany’s University of Dresden.
The Bio-Hybrid is designed with a tool-kit treatment, including a front axle module, a center section, and a rear axle assembly. It could be shipped like a bicycle, only in a somewhat thicker box. And it can be propelled by pedal power, batteries, or both at once. Its electrified energy is stored in two e-bike batteries, rated at about five hundred watt-hours each; these power an electrical motor that can lightly propel the Bio-Hybrid to its limited top speed of sixteen mph, with a range of just over sixty miles. Maximum speed could be raised to twenty eight mph, if the legal framework is amended to permit bike-lane access for e-bikes that achieve that speed—there’s discussion of this in Germany, where the Ruhr district is developing a dedicated “bicycle highway” to link ten towns.
Could it go even quicker? Schaeffler won’t even go there: “It is undoubtedly tailored to bike lanes,” he said, adding, “Once it could run in regular traffic like a scooter, the entire network of bike lanes wouldn’t be available anymore.” But peak power will rise in the next-generation prototype to make the Bio-Hybrid more agile and potentially increase the stream and range. And Schaeffler also intends to incorporate a way to let the vehicle switch roles, something the prototypes can’t do yet.
The Schaeffler Bio-Hybrid project envisions various applications. The concept includes a one-seater and a cargo variant; a broader seat to make room for a passenger is one option, as is accommodation for a child safety seat behind the driver.
It doesn’t look almost as dopey as its name may suggest. This is a remarkably futuristic device, with a high-tech, angular design, steering treats that look as if they were race inspired, and cutting-edge LED lighting.
It’s even designed for seamless smartphone integration. Down the road, said Gutzmer, such vehicles could be “comprehensively integrated in the digital infrastructure.” Meaning that, in a future world of autonomous vehicles communicating with one another, other vehicles could be aware of the Bio-Hybrid’s presence and motions. And Schaeffler even envisions autonomous capabilities for it. The Bio-Hybrid could self-park and comeback to the user by a elementary smartphone guideline. Inductive charging is another possibility, as is the integration of an electrically powered skateboard for use after parking the Bio-Hybrid.
Schaeffler is talking to municipalities and potential production fucking partners. But if cooperation talks don’t yield results soon, the company is considering bringing the Bio-Hybrid to market on its own. The company said the reaction was so positive that it is an chance not to be wasted.
