It’s pretty easy to do a hatchet job on the electric car, if you have a mind for it. It’s expensive, doesn’t go far enough before needing a recharge and the batteries cost a fortune when they eventually need replacing.
Yet transfer the technology to a bicycle and there’s another dimension. We’ve been riding the new EBCO Eagle and see this as much more the future of electric transport than the current crop of electric cars.
The Eagle is a purpose-built machine, not a traditional bike with a motor levered in. It provides boost only when you pedal, but it’s a decent whack of power that makes even steep hills a cinch.
You can, as we did, cycle 11 miles to work and then home again, and still have life in the battery. We then ran it flat, which happened after 30 miles on roads that included some significant hills.
That may not equal the 50-mile range quoted, but we used the higher power settings and anyway, 30 miles in a day is going to be fine 99% of the time. Mind you, the Eagle with a flat battery is damned hard work on pedal power alone, so you’ll do well to steer clear of the danger zone on the gauge.
The battery is particularly high capacity in the Eagle, which goes towards explaining the £1,599 price tag. EBCO sells other models for around £1,100 and prices for simple electric bikes are as low as £700 on the high street.
BMW recently leased 20 electric Minis with potential customers and found that on average, they travelled just 30 miles a day. Wouldn’t many of the drivers have been better off with an electric bicycle?
Our experience shows us that this is a genuine way forward. Quiet, economical and healthy. Very much in tune with our times, in fact. For more pictures and riding impressions check out the MSN Cars blog.
