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Bicle Team
Orange ventures has entered the Dutch market with Veeley - under the flag of independent oil trader Sakko Holding – as one of the first electrical steps that is in the possession of a Europeans approval.
We all know that electric mobility is much more than e-bikes. More and more vehicles are equipped with electrical motorization, and this is only growing. As we also showed on Bicle, the e-step is an ongoing trend. Already several brands are on the market, but not all of the in Europe launched brands have a European approval. As a result, many of those are not allowed on Dutch roads, for instance. Several automotive brands, that launched their own e-step brands, had to be retrieved. This is exactly what Veeley does have: a European type approval and the European safety quality mark TüV.
In big parts of the world, you cannot enter a house without walking into at least one piece of Ikea-furniture. The global go-to-store for all your in house needs, with almost 400 stores in more than 30 countries, has probably delivered some of its products at your doorstep as well. Of course, the occasional missing piece in your Ikea-package might have caused you some trouble in the past, but Ikea has a bigger struggle to cope with. The worldwide delivery of its products makes the company responsible for a gigantic carbon footprint. Ikea is well known for its great environmental actions, but recently they even announced the next step in its green strategy.
Read the full article on Bicle.com!
Expert blog by: Liu Yang, Vice General Manager of LEV Battery Business Unit, Phylion
It is well known that the range of e-bike is obviously reduced under low temperature in winter. It is mainly due to the reason of decrease of battery capacity and charging and discharging efficiency caused by low temperature etc..
- The harm of low-temperature charging and discharging to the battery
It is difficult or even impossible for e-bike to charge normally at low temperatures. Under such circumstance, battery charging has a certain risk. As the temperature decreases, the dynamic characteristics of graphite anode become worse and worse. During charging, the electrochemical polarization of graphite anode increases significantly. The lithium metal precipitated easily forms lithium dendrites, breaks through the diaphragm and leads to short circuit between the positive and negative electrodes.
Discharge at low temperature also affects battery capacity. At low temperature, the activity of cathode materials decreases, resulting in a decrease in the number of lithium ions that can move to bring discharge current. Besides capacity, open-circuit voltage of batteries decreases as the temperature drops. Therefore, the energy of battery will be reduced substantially.
- Decrease of charging and discharging efficiency
At low temperature, the SEI of negative electrode of lithium-ion batteries becomes thicker and the conduction rate of lithium ions in SEI decreases with the increase of SEI impedance. Finally, the charging and discharging efficiency of lithium-ion batteries decreases with the formation of polarization at low temperature.
- Internal side effects of lithium-ion batteries
At low temperature, the performance of lithium-ion batteries deteriorates seriously, and some side effects occur during the charging and discharging process of lithium-ion batteries. These side effects are mainly the irreversible reaction between lithium ion and electrolyte, which will cause the capacity degradation of lithium batteries and further deteriorate the performance of batteries.
Battery Protection Scheme under Low Temperature
While in the face of the limited use of lithium batteries at low temperature, the strategy is heating while charging, which has obvious effect on improving the discharge capacity and long-term life of lithium batteries.
Before charging or using lithium batteries at low temperature, BMS control is used to heat both ends of the batteries to ensure that the batteries can be charged and discharged normally. BMS monitors the temperature of the battery in real time and continues to heat once the temperature drops to the preset value.
At present, this technology has been applied to the actual project. This technology not only ensures the safety of E-bike during charging, but also guarantees the capacity of the battery at low temperature to ensure the mileage of the vehicle and the cycle life of the battery. It has practical significance for the normal use of E-bike in cold environment.
The Online Mobility Services Market Is Booming
A large part of what we write about on Bicle.com is the way E-mobility is incorporated into our lives. We often speak of what possible solutions the E-mobility industry can give us and especially focussing on the service part of mobility. But in this article, we will alter that focus and concentrate on the size of the mobility service market.
The online mobility services We chose one specific side of the mobility industry and that is the offering of online mobility services. Statista defines them as follows: “The Online Mobility Services segment includes flights, ride-hailing services, long-distance bus travel and train tickets that are booked online as well as car rental hires that are made via the Internet. These services are booked directly via the website of the service provider or via online travel agencies (OTAs). Users represent the people who have booked tickets, independent of the number of travellers listed on each booking.” According to data provided by Statista, the industry will have a revenue of $454,621 million in 2019. It’s also believed that the market will grow 6,8% annually until 2023, which will lead to a total of $592,024 million in revenue. Most of this revenue is generated in the United States of America, worth $310,847 million. That’s roughly 70% of the total.
Ride-hailing grows te most These online mobility services can be found in different means of transportation. For this specific segment, the attention is focused on car rentals, flights, ride-hailing and trains & busses. All of these categories will grow in the coming years leading up to 2023, but a special mention for the ride-hailing is required. Ride-hailing - also known as peer-to-peer ridesharing - is a service wherein a person drives his or her own car and comes at the need of the customer. One of these services is the app Uber, which has been quite popular all over the world. According to the stats provided by Statista, ride-hailing had roughly 383 million users. This will grow in the next years and will have 693 million users in the year 2023.
Relatively young users It’s kind of expected that the users of such online mobility services are rather young. This has everything to do with the novelty of the technologies and that can be found in the numbers as well. The numbers that are provided again come from Statista and they tell us a few interesting things. Approximately 33.3% of the users of online mobility services are between 25 and 34 years old, which makes up for the largest group. This group is closely followed by the age group 35-44-year-olds, which amounts for 24% of the total. Together they represent more than half of the total usage of online mobility services.
We at Bicle would love to know your thoughts on this. Did you expect that the market would be this big in revenue? Or did you think the numbers were different? Let us know in the comments down below!
If there’s anything we can see about e-scooters, it’s the fact that their market has grown a lot in the last few years. The amount of people of that bought an e-scooter has grown, but the regulations in the countries concerning the e-scooter has not changed with it, making a lot of the vehicles illegal to ride on. We had a look at few countries and their regulations on the e-scooters.
We are looking at the regulations, because over the last few years e-scooters are available from all over the world. For example the Xiaomi e-scooters are manufactured in Asia, but are available for purchase in the European Union. But the manufacturers on other continents, have different regulations. Hence the prohibition of the usage of some of those vehicles.
Laws in the UK It’s quite hard to have an e-scooter in the United Kingdom and actually ride one. Because e-scooters are motorised and have no pedals, they are illegal to use on cycle-lanes and pavements. Another problem is that they are low-powered and therefor are illegal to use on the road. If you still want to ride an e-scooter, you have to look at e-scooters or other electric vehicles which are legal. It’s not likely that the UK government is trying to change the law on the short term.
Law in the Netherlands The law in the Netherland is different to the UK and can be considered as less strict than the one with the United Kingdom. In the Netherlands you can ride an e-scooter, provided that it has been given permission by the RDW, the organisation for vehicles and vehicle safety in the Netherlands. If not, you can’t drive it on the open road. If so, you have to comply with a set of rules. You have to be over 16 years of age, you have to insure the vehicle and follow the rules that are connected to that type of vehicle. This is not very different from the regulation in the UK.
Law in Germany Germany was quite strict on the usage of e-scooters as well, but this has changed in 2018. In this year there were plans to officially approve e-scooters as a new mode of transportation in Germany. “Electric scooters will then formally be allowed to travel along cycle paths and motor roads as long as they fulfilled regulatory standards” a spokesperson of the German government said. Xinhuanet.com stated the following regarding the regulations in Germany: “In order to be eligible to drive e-scooters in the future without being penalized by law enforcement officers, the owners must attach an insurance placard, be at least 15 years of age and have some form of driving license, be it for a vehicle or regular motor scooter. The ministry stated that wearing helmets would not be necessary.” While Germany had rather outdated regulations on the usage of e-scooters in public, they have acted on the present times and made it more accessible.
What do you think? Will e-scooters survive and become really booming as a last mile trend? Let us know in the comment section below!
Are More Governments Supporting The Purchase Of eBikes?
Move to any of these countries and get a subsidy on your e-bike!
Many people have heard about the advantages that electric bicycles have to offer. But despite their knowledge about the speed, environmental friendliness and the minimal effort it takes to ride an e-bike, there still is one big disadvantage that nullifies all that positivity. We’re obviously talking about the price. Many people can’t afford to buy an expensive e-bike, and therefore stick to their non-electric bicycles or their cars. But there are governments around the world that aim to give those people the help they need by offering subsidy on the purchase of electric bicycles.
Where to get your e-bike? In October of last year, the Swedish government offered its inhabitants a 25% refund on the price of their e-bikes. The capital city of Norway, Oslo, offered its residents 1200 dollar to buy a brand new electric bicycle. In the Netherlands, the government introduced great tax advantages for entrepreneurs who are willing to buy electric vehicles. And in Scotland, the government made 1.3 million pound available to stimulate citizens to buy an e-bike.
All great developments of course. But there is only one country that can be the leader in the subsidy-rankings. Already in February of 2017, the French government offered a 200 euro refund for everyone who purchased an e-bike. But last year, they even took it a step further. The French people can now get 400 euros for their e-bike purchases, 600 euros if they are interested in both electric and conventional cargo bikes and 400 euros if they intend to upgrade their conventional bikes with electrical assists. This gesture proved to be the perfect fit, because the French bicycle market exploded after the introduction of these measures and grew by more than 90% in the following year.
These plans are of great support to the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. She wants to have all diesel cars banned from the city in the year of the Winter Olympics in 2024, which they organize, and a total ban on gas-powered cars in 2030. That is why the city government even offered 600 euros for residents who want to get rid of their personal cars.
How good is your French? If you’re lucky enough to live in a country where the government already stimulates its citizens to buy an electric bicycle, stay right where you are. But if syou’re jealously watching your French pen-pal on his brand new subsidized e-bike, you now know where to go.
La seule question qui reste est: comme c’est bon parlez-vous Français?
Consumer satisfaction
The main question is: are consumers ready for smart mobility in businesses? Oliver Wyman conducted research into this question and found the following: “The percentages of consumers who consider smart mobility important are overwhelming: In China, a stunning 98 percent of those surveyed ranked it as important or very important; in Europe, 93 percent; and in the United States, 83 percent. Among respondents 18 to 35 years old whose principal transportation is a private car, 97 percent said they would consider switching to public transportation to gain access to smart-mobility services. Even among those 65 and older, 76 percent said they would consider a change. For those who use public transportation, similar percentages would move to automobiles for smart-mobility advantages.”
The consumer seems willing to consider a change in their day to day life and willing to invest to gain a better future. According to the report Oliver Wyman produces, the access to smart-mobility services is a very important factor in transportation, and in that aspect, businesses could thrive: “Among commuters, many said they were willing to add a flat fee on top of their current transit bill each month for a bundle of smart-mobility services, similar to the way they opt to add premium channels to monthly cable charges. On average, commuters said they would pay 4.1 percent above their monthly commuting cost for multimodal, door-to-door journey planning and 2.9 percent more for real-time travel information and rerouting to avoid delays.
People also are willing to pay more for long-distance travel that involves smart-mobility services. Long distance, in this case, is defined as a trip of more than 100 kilometers. With these trips, consumers indicated they would pay on average 3.3 percent more, and as much as 5.8 percent more, for multimodal, door-to-door journey planning, and 2.4 percent more on average for real-time information and rerouting.”
Smart mobility services
Regarding those smart mobility services, we are focussing here on services in the transportation market. It could be an app that connects ride-sharing with a train or bus station. But it also could entail activities that keep the consumer entertained whilst being on that particular journey. You could think of an internet connection that is stable enough to provide the consumer with music and videos. Other services could include information into data: how much have you travelled? How much will it cost you? Are their any roadworks ahead? - this could all be incorporated in a digital platform just for this particular set of smart mobility services.
Mobycy is an Indian company that produces an app that makes it easier to access e-mobility solutions for a short distance in India. The company describes themselves as follows: “Mobycy is a disruptive E-bike, E-scooter and bicycle sharing technology platform to solve this last mile problem. Helps people cover a short distance without any wait at a very nominal cost. Mobycy is India’s first dock=less E-bike and bicycle sharing app. Just pick up an E-scooter or bicycle by scanning QR through the Mobycy app, ride and park it sensibly anywhere. Mobycy’s vision is to solve micro mobility (<5km) for the billion Indians with their electric scooter sharing app.”
Mobycy is of the opinion that their app has a lot of advantages that will make the customer want to use this app:
- Quick short commute: this app is developed for the people that need to travel short distances to work and to home again, without wanting expensive options such as the car or taking a taxi. Mobycy offers a solution with its e-scooter sharing app.
- It’s a green technology. The use of Mobycy is better for the environment in regards to conventional vehicles, as Mobycy uses e-scooters. There’s simply no pollution and that’s a great advantage.
- Less traffic. Mobycy contributes to the idea of less traffic because you don’t use cars as much. Less traffic leads to less chaos and overall safer feeling on the roads.
- Fitness. Due to the usage of cars and other vehicles, the overall stamina and fitness of people has declined over the last few decades. With an e-scooter, your fitness might improve and better health makes for a better person.
You can read more about it here:
https://bicle.com/sharing-light-mobility-vehicles-with-zypp-makes-commuting-easier