After about three years of development, US bike-sharing company Lyft is introducing its first in-house electric bike. The Lyft e-bike features a 500-watt electric motor and a single gear drivetrain. With a strong battery, the e-bike can go up to 60 miles on a full charge, providing greater width for persons who want to go on a commute with minimal energy. The presence of an electric motor makes the bike relatively easy to operate and maintain.
The Lyft e-bike was designed such that the power cell and connecting cables were built into the bike’s frame to give a durable and more secure bike. The painting on the frame features a retroreflective design that makes the e-bike reflect light at night, similar to road signs that illuminate at night. There is an LED lighting system at the front of the bike to illuminate the biker at night.
The rear wheel houses a hydraulic solid disc brake to provide braking power to the bike. Lyft has added several sensors that will provide data that will help the company maintain the bikes in top conditions over time. The seat is also designed to accommodate diverse riders of different heights.
Lyft bought Motivate, the Citibike parent company, in 2018, and it has expanded its network of bike sharing across the United States since then. The new Lyft e-bike will join the company’s fleet across the US. A pilot run will commence in Lyft’s Bay Wheels fleet next week. The company has seen a surge in requests for its bikes since the pandemic began. Indeed the coronavirus pandemic was a significant factor that contributed to the seeming explosion of bike-hailing and bike sharing across the world.
With physical distancing as one of the important preventive protocols, many people chose the option of using bike services to move around. Last year alone, Lyft logged about 1.8 million new users, indicating a growing demand for its services. In addition, the requests for e-bikes were up 2x more than the manually operated bikes.
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