The big auto shows—Detroit, L.A., Tokyo, Geneva, etc.—are where car manufacturers show-off dreamy, almost-out-of-this world concepts; many will never make it into production, while some will morph into practical variants, but they showcase the direction a carmaker is taking and new technologies it is using. These concepts tend to be of the four-wheel variety, however, Ford’s newly unveiled vehicle at the Frankfurt Motor Show this month isn’t what’s usually shown on the show floor.
Behold Ford’s beautiful E-Bike Concept. It has the recognizable two-wheel frame of a traditional bicycle, yet it has lines and accents that evoke a modern car. According to Ford, the E-Bike is an exercise in translating Ford’s “design language” to a bicycle and demonstrating “Ford’s electric mobility competence.” Ford recognizes major growth in the electric bicycle market and sees e-bikes as a major part of urban transport in the future.
The Ford E-Bike is a gender-neutral bicycle created by a Ford Design team headed by its executive design director, Martin Smith, and cyber-Wear of Germany, which designs Ford’s Lifestyle Collection of products. The E-Bike is made of aluminum and carbon, which gives it strength yet remains lightweight at approximately 5.5 pounds. The bike features a trapezoidal frame profile with six-spoke V-design wheels. Bike components include a 11-speed Shimano Alfine internal gear hub, 2012 Shimano Rapidfire shifter, and a Carbon Belt Drive System that replaces a traditional chain to make the bike even lighter.
The heart of the E-Bike is the car-like technologies. Hidden from view, the drive system has a motor in the front wheel hub, a lithium-ion battery in the frame, and a control unit. It also uses magnetostriction sensor technology borrowed from Formula One racing. According to Ford, “Magnetostrictive materials are used to convert magnetic energy into kinetic energy, and vice versa. In Formula One, these sensors help handle high engine revolutions in combination with intense thermal strains. They need no physical contact with other parts of the engine, are temperature-independent and are completely maintenance-free.” With the E-Bike, which Ford says it’s the first in the bicycle industry to utilize this type of technology, “the sensors read the revolutions in the inner bearing and relay this information to the control unit within a hundredth of a second. The control unit then instantly activates or deactivates the electric motor, providing a seamless integration of the power of the legs with the power of the motor.” Like dashboard gauges, a display on the handlebar lets the rider choose three modes—Economy, Comfort, and Sport—as well as trip info and some type of iPhone connection.
With a fully charged battery, the E-Bike has a range of about 53 miles per hour, which gives those legs a rest when you’re riding longer distances.
Like many things we covet in life, the Ford E-Bike won’t be hitting Ford dealerships or bike shops anytime soon. As with four-wheel concept vehicles, Ford has no plans to produce the E-Bike, which remains a research-in-progress. But, if Ford truly sees a growing market in electric bikes that it would like to tap into, we’ll be dreaming of the day we get out hands and butts onto one of these beauties.