Ford Motor Company of the United States showed a concept e-bike called the E-Bike. Despite Ford’s statement that they don’t plan to sell the bike right now, there’s still a lot of interest in its appearance. The e-bike has many distinctive features, such as the lack of a crossbar in front of the seat, making it a universal style for both men and women. Plus, even though this is actually an e-bike, all of its drive equipment is hidden—its motor is hidden in the axle bracket of the front wheel, and the battery is hidden inside the frame of the bike. So at first glance people would think that this is a normal bicycle, because it is indeed designed with pedals. But the most notable aspect of this bike is its front-facing display, which is actually a Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone inside. Not only does it have all the functionality of a smartphone, it also acts as the cyclist’s interface to the bike’s built-in systems.
In the introduction at the auto show site, Ford Motor Company staff said that the display can provide three modes for cyclists to choose from: economy, comfort or sport. It can adjust the tightness of the display connection according to different environments, so as to adapt to different environments, such as bumps, roadside or ordinary streets and so on. It can also act as an information display, prompting some fault information of the bicycle, and can also display the remaining battery power of the vehicle, or display various parameters such as speed and riding distance.
The electric bike can travel at speeds of up to 25 kilometers per hour and weighs just 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms). It can travel an average of about 85 kilometers on a single charge, which means riders can turn on the GPS navigation system on the front display, choose their route carefully, and enjoy a pleasant ride.
Ford has also added magnetostrictive susceptors to the car, a method they say they learned from the design of Formula 1 cars. This technology can convert magnetic energy into kinetic energy, and can also convert it in reverse. These sensors detect the rotation of the bearing and enable seamless conversion of pedal kinetic energy into electrical energy.
This conceptual design product is part of Ford’s “Quality of Life” series of products, which also includes sunglasses, watches, jackets, gloves and other daily necessities. Such conceptual product demonstrations are intended to demonstrate Ford’s ability to design and produce cutting-edge technological concepts.