The Electrom LEV is a revolutionary new light electric vehicle. It is exciting to ride, slips through traffic jams as a bicycle, has room for over 100 liters of cargo and much more.
Every part of the Electrom has been optimized for fun and convenience, it’s easy to get on and off, can take a passenger and the fairing helps keep you dry. Because it is legally a bicycle and super narrow it can easily slip through congested traffic, and when you get where you’re going you can just roll up onto the sidewalk and park.
Features:
- Ease of use – the Electrom has been deigned from the ground up to be easy to use. Stand-over height is just 17 inches and thanks to the swing-away front fairing, easily deployed center-stand, and understeer handlebars, getting on and off is super easy. This, combined with the fact that there are no gears to shift through, makes for a very pleasant riding experience. The Electrom’s controls are intuitive and simple, consisting only of throttle, brakes and turn signals. The Electrom also has mirrors, lights, turn signals, and a quick-deploy centre stand — all of which make it easier to use.
- Immune to Traffic Jams – The Electrom is legally a bicycle, and as such is allowed to lane-split. This and the fact that the Electrom is very narrow–less than 24 inches–allows the rider to easily slip through stalled traffic. Its motorcycle grade tires are super stable compared to a skinny bike tire. This makes riding on the shoulder of the road where all the sewer grates, debris and bumps are much less nerve-racking.
- Generator Drive: No complicated gearshifting needed – The generator drive acts like an automatic transmission for a bike. The rider’s energy goes from the cranks to a hub that sends energy to both a generator and the back wheel via a chain drive. When the vehicle exceeds 10 kph, the chain drive is in freewheel mode and all of the rider’s energy goes to the generator. The rider can just pedal at a constant cadence, free from the need to think about gears while producing electricity to supplement the battery. An added benefit of the split drive system is that the vehicle encounters a hill too steep for the motor to manage, the vehicle slows down to the point where the back wheel’s freewheeling cog starts to engage and the rider’s energy goes into the back wheel to help the Electrom up the hill. See the Electrom Drive Explanation video in the sidebar for a visual explanation.
- Exercise – Many electric bikes are really just electric scooters exploiting ebike standards as a loophole. Not the Electrom. It is was conceived by a life-long cyclist who’s first goal was to create a vehicle that offered all of the advantages of a bicycle, including exercise. The generator drive allows the rider to pedal as hard as they wish, the resistance goes up considerably as one pedals faster, and the rider can pedal almost all the time, including around tight corners and while decelerating or going down hill. As a result the quality of exercise is actually better than on a standard un-electrified bicycle. However, the exercise is voluntary, if one wishes they can just coast along pedaling gently or not at all.
- Range and power – The Electrom was designed to meet British Columbia electric assist bicycle rules. it uses a 500 watt nominal hub motor that easily produces enough power to travel at 32 KPH– the BC electric assist bicycle speed limit. Using one 72 volt, 20 amp-hour battery and traveling at 32 KPH it has a range of 80 kilometers. The frame has room for three such batteries, yielding a potential range of 200+ Kilometers.
The Electrom’s controller is easily programmable for other jurisdictions. For example, in the state of California the top speed for a Class B electric bike is 42 KPH–with a few minutes of re-programing the controller can be set for 42 KPH top speed. If a user wished, they could register the Electrom as a Moped in many jurisdictions and re-program the controller for the top allowable speed of a moped in their jurisdiction. The current un-governed top speed of the Electrom with a 17″ outer wheel diameter, 40 amp controller, and 72 volt battery (83 volts fully charged) is 55 kph. - Cargo and passengers – the back tail-box has been designed to handle cargo (up to five grocery bags), and with the easy removal of the cargo hatch it has room for a small adult passenger.
- Clean appearance & no greasy chain – The Electrom is mechanically simple, and the majority of the mechanical components and wiring are placed out of sight under body panels. The panels are easily removed for maintenance. The drive chains are all hidden away where they can’t stain the riders clothes
- Increased Safety – The Electrom has a full compliment of hi visibility LED running lights, headlights, and front and rear turn signals. The vehicle’s size also makes it much easier for drivers to see.
One of the most important aspect of road safety for bikes is good communication with car drivers. The Electrom puts the rider at eye level with car drivers, this improves communication and visibility.
The windscreen on the Electrom places the side view mirrors right where the rider needs them for a complete view of the road behind them. The windscreen is made of a flexible plastic that will bend in the event of a crash in order to reduce the risk of injury to the rider. - No hard-to-find parts – While the design of the Electrom is different, it uses as many off-the-shelf parts a possible in order to keep manufacturing and repair costs down.
The Electrom is an experimental vehicle at this point, but we are considering options for taking it to production. To find out more please send an email to info@electrom.ca