Automotive giants make e-bikes
You may have noticed that many recent technological developments in the bike world have been imported from the car industry. As motors and batteries have become more smaller and more efficient, there has been more room in bike frames to get smart with the integration of tech. The bike industry, generally pretty good at the whole two triangles and two wheels part, has brought in expertise from other industries in order to undertake arguably the largest evolution of cycling product in a hundred years or more.
With the muddying of waters, talent is going both ways, but it’s centred around a natural meeting point: the electric bike. Much of the cycling business has become an effort to refine a once clunky product into something more appealing, while the multi-billion- dollar car businesses have a problem in that political sentiment has turned away from congested, polluted and inefficient cities. Petrol and diesel car sales are being phased out in Europe and congestion charges widely levied.
So what’s the next play? Quite simply: smaller, more nimble vehicles or, if you prefer, a return to where things started for motorised transport. According to the RAC Foundation, the top-selling cars of today are, on average, 30cm wider than they were in the 60s, something that has made residential streets feel increasingly tight over the years.
So, the city of the future needs more e- bikes and the automotive world doesn’t want to lose market, nor modal share. They have budgets for R&D, hiring and even acquisition running into the millions, and the result is a coming together not only of the product, but of the industries themselves.
Car companies have had bike firms produce bikes under licence in the past: Bianchi made Ferrari bikes, while Cervelo has linked with Lamborghini for eye-wateringly expensive builds. Read on into our reviews and you’ll now see that Cube and BMW have just entered an agreement to collaborate on a cargo bike, while Mercedes has debuted a new range of N+ electric bikes. If this long-bubbling trend is showing signs of maturing, it might not be long before you’re able to brand-match your bike and car.
“The bike industry, generally pretty good at the whole two triangles and two wheels part, has brought in expertise from other industries”