The History of Electric Bikes

In the 1890s, electric bicycles were documented within various U.S. patents. For example, on 31 December 1895 Ogden Bolton Jr. was granted U.S. Patent 552,271 for a battery-powered bicycle with 6-pole brush-and-commutator direct current (DC) hub motor mounted in the rear wheel. There were no gears and the motor could draw up to 100 amperes (A) from a 10-V battery.

By 2001 the terms, E-Bikes, power bike, pedelec, assisted bicycle and power-assisted bicycle where commonly used to describe electric bicycles. E-bike, according to Google, is a term that has increased in trend. This term generally referred to an electric bicycle which used a throttle. The terms Electric Motorbike or E-Motorbike have been used to describe more powerful models which attain up to 80km/h. In a parallel hybrid motorized bicycle, such as the afformentioned 1897 invention by Hosea W. Libbey, man and machine are mechanically coupled either in the bottom bracket, the rear or the front wheel, whereas in a Series Hybrid Cycles the user propels a generator using the pedals. In series hybrid cycles human power is converted into electricity and is fed directly into the motor.

Pedelec is a European term that generally referred to an electric bicycle that incorporated a torque sensor and/or a power controller that delivered a proportionate level of assist and only ran when the rider pedaled. On the opposite side, a Noped is a term used by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario for similar type vehicles which do not have pedals or to whome the pedals have been removed from their motorized bicycle. Finally, Assist Bicycle is the technical term used to describe such a vehicle and Power-Assisted Bicycle is used in the Canadian Federal Legislation, but is carefully defined to only apply to electric motor assist, and specifically excludes internal combustion engines (though this is not the case in the United States

These days, China is the world's leading producer of electric bicycles. According to the data of the China Bicycle Association, a government-chartered industry group, in 2004 China's manufacturers sold 7.5 million electric bicycles nationwide, which was almost twice the year 2003 sales;[2] domestic sales reached 10 million in 2005, and 16 to 18 million in 2006.[3]

By 2007, electric bicycles were thought to make up 10 to 20 percent of all two-wheeled vehicles on the streets of many major cities.A typical unit requires 8 hours to charge the battery, which provides the range of 25-30 miles (40-50 km),[3] at the speed of around 20 km/h.[2] A large number of such vehicles is exported from China as well (3 million units, worth 40 billion yuan ($5.8 billion), in the year 2006 alone