Brompton Folding Electric Bicycle Uses Formula E Technology

Brompton has been building folding bicycles for years. Now it has enhanced the appeal of its products by adding the Brompton Electric, the world’s first production folding electric bicycle. The battery and motor are supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering, the same company that supplies batteries to the Formula E, the international open wheel racing series for electric cars. The battery for the Brompton Electric bicycle clips onto the front of the bike and stores away into a separate bag for easy carrying.

The company says its folding electric bicycle it is the most technically advanced model it has ever produced. “We’ve spent five years taking Williams Racing technology and integrating it into the Brompton,” says company CEO Will Butler-Adams. “It has been harder than any of us imagined but we believe we have created a product that will inspire more people to get out from under the ground, out of their cars and back onto a bike to rediscover their cities.”

Brompton’s folding frames date back to 1975, when Andrew Ritchie built the first one in his flat in London. The brand opened its first factory in 1988, and today makes more than 45,000 folding bikes each year — making it the UK’s largest bicycle manufacturer. Aimed at city dwellers, Brompton bikes fold up to a third of their size, so can be carried on trains by commuters, or packed into the boot of a car.

Typically a Brompton folding bicycle weighs between 20 and 30 pounds. The Brompton Electric bicycle weighs about 36 pounds, but that is still about half what some other electric bicycles weigh. Its battery weighs less than 8 pounds. “The vision for the Brompton Electric was to make a product that was as light as possible without sacrificing durability, and was extremely compact,” says chief design and engineering officer Will Carleysmith.

The Brompton Electric has a range of 50 miles. Riders can select between three power assistance levels depending on their needs and riding style. There is also a smartphone app that lets users track their mileage and customize settings for the bike to their personal preference. The company says sales are strongest in cities, where finding places to park a bicycle safely outdoors are scarce. The folding bike fits easily into elevators and its relatively light weight makes it possible for most people to carry it up stairs as needed.

The Brompton Electric is now available to be reserved – as either two or six speed versions, in white or black – and the first models will be shipped in early 2018. Prices range from $2,900 to $3,400, depending on how the bike is configured. That is no more expensive than many electric bicycles (and some conventional bikes) that do not offer the low weight and convenience of the Brompton Electric.

Source: Dezeen.com

Williams Formula E Experience Will Make Better EV Battery Possible

“Racing improves the breed,” is one of the most time-honored phrases in motorsports. Many new ideas got tried on race cars first before they were incorporated into road cars — electronic fuel injection, disc brakes, overhead camshafts, to name just a few. Formula E features battery-electric open-wheel race cars that compete on racing circuits laid out on city streets. All the cars use a 28 kWh battery supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering, a subsidiary of the Williams Formula One enterprise. The lessons learned from the first two Formula E seasons have taught Williams engineers how to make a better EV battery for road cars.

Racing flat out for 50 minutes builds up a tremendous heat, more than would ever be experienced in an ordinary electric car in daily use. Also, the combination of bumpy city streets and stiff racing suspension means the level of vibration is far higher than any passenger car would normally experience. To address those concerns, Williams Advanced Engineering has many modifications that will make a regular EV battery more robust and reliable. Paul McNamara, technical director at Williams Advanced Engineering, explains the changes:

“We have made quite a range of small changes in three areas: the first one is the cooling system – with changes to make that more robust and make it easier for us to assemble and disassemble. We’ve also done a few things to improve the performance of the thermal interface materials and the details of how the cooling tubes link up with the cells and the bus bars.

“The second area is the bus bars themselves. In the battery, we’ve got proper bus bars dealing with the quite high currents. In terms of building up the battery those bus bars all have to be interconnected. They’ve got special joints in them so that we can disarm it and bring it down to beneath 50 volts and allow us to disassemble it. Those joints have improved so they’re more resilient to vibration and the thermal displacement going into them has improved in the battery as well.

“And the final area has been in the detail design around supporting the cells, because the pack cells of the battery have to be supported and insulated from vibration and then connected into the bus bars. So, we’ve made quite a lot of detail changes to do that throughout. All of those things help us with making the batteries more reliable for the teams but they also help us in extracting more power and help us to put in more power.”

To make things more complicated, the FIA has approved a rule change for season three that allows 50% more energy to be regenerated and put back into the battery during braking. That means even more heat that the drivetrain must cope with.

“The ability to cool the battery and do all of that in a lightweight way is the key thing,” says McNamara. “If you’re trying to make an electric car, the biggest challenge you’ve got is weight. Because by the time you’ve taken away your engine and conventional gearbox, drivetrain, fuel system, fuel tank and exhaust, the weight of all that is usually lighter than what you want to put back in terms of a battery pack. The real challenge is having parity of weight while having a decent range. So making the battery lightweight is key to that, and that’s where Formula E brings learnings to us.”

The lessons learned in Formula E will result in a better, more reliable EV battery for road cars in coming years. This is one instance in which racing really is improving the breed.

Source: Electric Cars Report

Volkswagen Wants Category For Electric Cars In World RallyCross Racing

Volkswagen is pushing to add a class for electric cars in the FIA World RallyCross Championship and and the Global RallyCross Championship, according to Autocar. The company currently competes in World RallyCross competition using a race car based on the Beetle chassis. It has about 550 horsepower in competition trim. VW uses a racing version of the VW Polo in the Global RallyCross competition.

Volkswagen’s head of technology, Franck Welsch, says electric cars in those racing series would be a way of show off how advanced electric car technology is becoming. In effect, the idea is little different than the “Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday” philosophy that was once a major part of NASCAR racing, back in the days when the cars on track actually had some relationship to production cars.

“I can certainly imagine a championship done with all-electric cars,” Welsch said. “The races are around six minutes long, which allows for short, intense bursts of competition and then charging. Today these cars are super-powerful, have torque from hell and use all-wheel drive. Electric drivetrains could deliver that. If the championship moved that way it would be perfect for us. We are already in discussions with organisers to that effect.”

Welsch also confirmed that his company will continue in the World Rally Championship for at least the next “two to three years”, with an all-new Polo launching to meet the new regulations in 2017. “We like being three time champions very much, and hope to add to that even when the competition intensifies in the coming years [with the arrival of Toyota and a newly-developed Citroen].”

Racing electric cars seemed a rather silly idea when Alejandro Agag first proposed the Formula E racing series for open wheel electric cars 5 years ago, but now that series is well established and attracting a great deal of interest from organizers and fans. Just last week, another racing series was formed called the Electric GT World Championship. That series is set to begin in 2017 and will feature lightened rear wheel drive Tesla Model S P85+ cars, at least for the first season.

Welsch and Volkswagen are smart to pursue a category for electric cars in rallycross competition. Anything that de-mystifies electric cars has got to be good for the fossil fuel free revolution.  It also would help divert the attention of the public from Volkswagen’s sorrowful diesel cheating scandal woes.

Photo credit: AutoBlog

Richard Branson Hints At Electric Car From Virgin

How much weight can you place on a few words spoken in an unguarded moment during an informal press interview? If the speaker is billionaire Richard Branson, the answer is, “Quite a lot.”

Branson was in Miami last week to watch his Virgin Racing team compete in the 5th round of the Formula E championship. He happened to be speaking with a reporter from Bloomberg News who asked him what racing in Formula E might lead to. Branson replied with this unscripted, off hand remark (via Bloomberg):

“We have teams of people working on electric cars. So you never know. You may find Virgin competing with the Tesla in the car business as we do in the space business. We will see what happens.”

It’s true that Branson’s Virgin Galactic company is working hard on commercial space flight, as is Elon Musk’s SpaceX corporation. He’s also big into renewable energy these days. It’s not unusual for billionaires to compete fiercely with each other as a way of measuring their power, influence and manhood. Perhaps the irrepressible Branson is miffed that Musk is enjoying so much success in the car business with Tesla and just wants to divert the media attention his way a little bit.

Anything is possible, but one thing is for sure. If Richard Branson wants to jump into the car business, he has the means to do so. He is no stranger to challenges such as being the first man to travel around the world in a helium balloon. If he says “Do it!”, it will be done.

For the present season, Formula E rules do not allow any variations in motors, batteries, inverters. gearboxes or cooling systems. But starting next year, development of motors, inverters and gearboxes will be allowed and the following year, improved batteries will be permitted. So Branson and Virgin Racing will need to have some very talented engineers to remain competitive with the rest of the field. Could those same engineers be put to work on building a passenger car or two?

What do you think?

BMW Will Be Official Car Of Formula E

Formula One fans are accustomed to seeing Mercedes cars used at every race for the pace car, medical car, staff cars and go for pizza cars. It’s good marketing for the three-star brand. Now BMW will do the same thing in Formula E, showcasing its entire line of advanced electric and hybrid cars at every Formula E event.

The already-iconic BMW i8 will be the pace car, while the i3 will be available to staff and VIPs. Selected race fans will also get a chance to see, touch, and possibly drive the cars as well.

Says Jörg Reimann, Vice President BMW Brand Experience:

“We have watched with great interest the continued growth of the new FIA Formula E Championship and the potential it has to significantly increase the interest in sustainable mobility. As a global manufacturer at the forefront of innovation and technology, BMW regards Formula E as a great platform in which to showcase our range of fully-electric and hybrid vehicles and to align our common goals. We are working on an agreement to finalise this partnership.”

With BMW entering Formula E as a sponsor, their commitment to electric vehicles continues to grow. How long before we see a BMW Formula E racer hitting the track as well?

Source: BMW.