Lyft’s new shared bicycle electric bicycle: trial ride, specifications, details

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The display between the handlebars of the Lyft e-bike will display basic riding data (such as speed and battery level), and there will be a speaker to announce unlock and stop instructions. But the company said it is playing with other uses, such as navigation.

This brings us to the next major improvement: connectivity. Unlike the current electric bicycles of the Lyft fleet, this new model is equipped with Wi-Fi and GPS. For riders, it is easier to find bicycles using the street map in the app, especially in markets where bicycles are not piled up. But the new connectivity feature also allows Lyft to release firmware updates wirelessly, whether it’s fixing bugs or adding new features. It can even track stolen bicycles or monitor hardware in real time to prevent any physical tampering. Shambat stated that none of these data will be shared with third parties.

Safety sensors are also embedded throughout the bicycle. These sensors can report problems such as dead batteries, damaged cable locks, or brake failures to the maintenance team.This is important, especially considering that Lyft had to recall hundreds of e-bikes from its fleet in 2019 after dozens of riders were injured From brake failure.

“They are all talking to each other,” Shambat said. “We want to know how things are going, so we have been monitoring.”

Despite its larger size, the new ebike still fits the existing docking station. Some sites will soon be powered up to charge the bikes while parked, but most sites will still see the service team replace the batteries when needed. The mileage of the updated model is greatly improved, which means that there is no need to replace the battery frequently.

This does not mean that standard pedal bikes will disappear. The city limits the number of pedal assist bicycles available in the fleet. For example, Lyft stated that New York City only allows 20% of its fleet to be electric: 4,300 out of approximately 22,000 bicycles. As electric bicycles become more popular, these restrictions may increase.

Electric bike boom

Since the United States entered a lockdown in early 2020, the use of electric bicycles has surged. Ebike sales have increased 137% in 2020 According to data from NPD Group, 2019. Samantha Hull, executive director of the North American Bicycle Sharing Association, said that the demand for electric bicycles is also higher for shared bicycle projects.

“In our shared micro travel in 2019 Industry status report, We do see that the use of electric bicycles in the system is more intensive than traditional bicycles,” Hull said. “We also see that 15% of shared bicycles are electric bicycles, and about 20% of cities in North America have shared bicycle systems including electric bicycles. bicycle. We definitely see these numbers increasing. “(The 2020 report will be released this summer.)

During the epidemic, due to restrictions on long-distance travel and uncertainty about the safety of public transportation, the city closed its car streets and opened up bicycles and bicycles. Other methods of micro flow, Such as electric scooters.

“This is a very positive effect,” Hull said. “We can see that the kind of rapid response that occurred during Covid is creating a craze, and this momentum makes more of these changes permanent. It just accelerates what has already happened.”

But in many parts of the United States, electric bicycles are still a relatively new mode of transportation, which does bring new problems. That is, the accident. Jennifer Dean said that car drivers and pedestrians are not used to accurately measuring the speed of electric bicycles.

“If you try to cross the road in front of what you think is a traditional bicycle, or you turn right or left in a car and the bicycle is approaching, you cannot make a corresponding judgment. Much faster than you expected, “Dean said. “So we see injuries, and these injuries are related to the lack of awareness of road users.”

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