[ad_1]
The Lyft ebike handlebars will display basic data on the screen (such as speed and battery level) and has a speakerphone to inform you of unlocking and parking instructions. But the company says it is playing with other uses, such as navigation.
This leads to the next big improvement: connectivity. Unlike the current ebiks in Lyft’s fleets, the new model is equipped with Wi-Fi and GPS. For cyclists, bikes are easier to locate using the app’s street map, especially in markets where bikes have no docks. But with new connectivity features, Lyft can broadcast firmware updates over the air to fix bugs or add new features. It can track stolen bikes or monitor hardware in real time for any physical manipulation. Shambat says none of this data is shared with third parties.
Safety sensors are also included throughout the bike, which can report some problems, such as depleted batteries, broken cable locks, or faulty brakes to service. That’s important, especially considering that Lyft had to take hundreds of ebiks out of its fleet in 2019 after injuring dozens of pilots. as a result of brake defects.
“They’re all talking together,” Shambat says. “We want to know how things are going, so we’re constantly in control.”
Despite their larger size, the new ebike enters the berths that still exist. The selected stations will soon be electrified to recharge the bike while charging, but most will see the service team swap batteries when needed. By greatly improving the autonomy of upgraded models, batteries will not need to be changed frequently.
This does not mean that standard pedal bikes will disappear. Cities limit the number of bicycles to support pedals in a fleet. For example, Lyft says New York supports only 20 percent of its fleet being electric: about 4,300 of its 22,000 bikes. These limitations may increase as ebiks gain popularity.
Ebike Boom
Since the US blockade in early 2020, the use of electric bicycles has increased. Ebike sales grew 137 percent in 2020 During 2019, according to the NPD Group. Samantha Herr, executive director of the Bikeshare Association of North America, said ebiks are also in greater demand in bike sharing programs.
“In shared micromobility in 2019 industry status report, we saw that ebikes were being used more intensively in systems than traditional bicycles, “says Herri.” We also saw that 15% of shared bikes were bikes, and about 20% of cities in North America had bike sharing systems. enter ebikeak. We are fully seeing these numbers increase. ”(The 2020 report will arrive this summer).
With restrictions on long-distance travel and uncertainties about the safety of public transportation during the pandemic, cities closed their streets to cars and bicycles and other methods for micro-mobility, like electric scooters.
“It was a really positive impact,” Herri says. “We can see that it’s about the kind of rapid response that happened during Covid, and that there’s a push to make those changes more sustainable. To create something that was already happening.”
But ebiks are a relatively new means of transportation in many parts of the U.S., which leads to new problems. Namely, accidents. According to Jennifer Dean, car drivers and pedestrians are not accustomed to accurately measuring the speed of electric bicycles.
“You can’t judge by that whether you’re trying to cross the road in front of what you think is a traditional bike, or you’re turning right or left in the car and much faster than you expect that bike to come,” Dean says. “So we’re seeing wounds, and those injuries are linked to a lack of awareness among road users.”
[ad_2]
Source link
