The brainchild of French entrepreneur Adrien Leli\u00e8vre, the Pi-Pop e-bike uses a supercapacitor to store energy rather than rely on batteries. If riding a bike on a daily basis is too much of a challenge for you, you might be tempted to opt for an e-bike.<\/p>\n
The issue with those is that the production of the batteries consumes a lot of natural resources such as lithium or rare-earth elements which require extensive and often environmentally impactful mining procedures. French entrepreneur Adrien Leli\u00e8vre, however, has engineered a pioneering, sustainable solution.<\/p>\n
The inventor, who has a background in electronics, designed and patented an\u00a0e-bike called Pi-Pop<\/a>,\u00a0one that doesn\u2019t use lithium<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0batteries but supercapacitors. \u201cThe system gets charged when the ride is easy and when the bike brakes \u2013 thanks to engine braking \u2013 the energy is given back when needed,\u201d Leli\u00e8vre, the director of STEE, the company behind the bike, told Euronews Next.<\/p>\n To put it simply, a supercapacitor works by stocking energy in an electrostatic way, or by way of a slow-moving charge. In contrast, a lithium battery stocks energy as a chemical reaction. In other words, a supercapacitor can stock and release energy very quickly when it is needed. In the case of its bike, it means stocking energy when the person pedals or brakes and using it to assist more difficult actions like restarting or uphill riding.<\/p>\n Lelievre estimates that the assistance offered to the rider by the bike\u2019s supercapacitors is enough to handle an elevation gain of 50 m if charged on a flat beforehand, making it suitable for around 80 per cent of European cities.<\/p>\n The concept of a supercapacitor is not a new innovation in itself; the first ones were manufactured at the end of the 1970s. Today, they are used in photovoltaic systems (such as solar panels), digital cameras and some hybrid or electric vehicles to improve their performance.<\/p>\n It made sense for Leli\u00e8vre to use the technology in bikes. According to him, the 20 kg Pi-Pop \u201creally is a symbol of sobriety. Always wanting more, meaning wanting to go faster, adding more energy\u2026 this is a dead-end,\u201d he said. No rare earth materials are used in the bike\u2019s production as supercapacitors are made of carbon, conducting polymer, aluminium foils, and pulp \u2013 materials for which recycling processes already exist.<\/p>\n There is no need to wait for the bike to charge either, another perk compared to the classic e-bikes. The company also claims that the supercapacitor\u2019s lifetime ranges from 10 to 15 years compared to five or six for a lithium battery.<\/p>\n The bike \u2013 now a third-generation design \u2013 is currently assembled in Orl\u00e9ans. Being locally produced in his native France was important for Leli\u00e8vre whose career was built in the French electronics industry. \u201cI think we can\u2019t innovate if we lose control of production,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we talk about sustainable development, ecological transition, and energy transition, we need to provide the jobs,\u201d added Lelievre whose company employs 25 people. Currently, Pi-Pop produces 100 bikes a month. In the future, the company aims to to produce a thousand bikes monthly by 2024.<\/p>\n\n Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n The post The first no-battery, super capacitor e-bike design (Euronews)<\/a> appeared first on London Reconnections<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The brainchild of French entrepreneur Adrien Leli\u00e8vre, the Pi-Pop e-bike uses a supercapacitor to store energy rather than rely on batteries. If riding a bike on a daily basis is too much of a challenge for you, you might be tempted to opt for an e-bike. The issue with those is that the production of the batteries consumes a lot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}