Front hub motor: a sleeping force

One of the most distinct features of an electric bicycle is its motor, in both performance and appearance. There are three possible positions: in the front or rear wheel or in the middle, mainly at the bottom bracket. 

Especially the latter has come to dominance fostered by the likes of Bosch and before Panasonic. But also the rear wheel drive has secured its position among the favored and therefore high quality and often premium priced solutions. 

First BionX and since 2012 the German company Alber feature direct drives in the rear wheel with considerable and most of all feasible power. Even Panasonic has now introduced a rear wheel drive among others.

One wonders however why the front hub drive does not seem to benefit on the same scale by the ever-increasing variety of drive trains for electric bicycles?

Instead, it is regarded widely as the cheapest and implicitly simplest solution. Hence, front hub motors are mainly used in bicycles of rather low quality and often the engine matches the low level of the bike or is further degraded by the use of cheap and bulky batteries and a leaping motion sensor control.

There are a few exceptions to the rule, nonetheless. One is Giant who now produce their own front hub motor for their successful Twist series. (It seems likely though to be a cooperative effort with Sanyo or say some of their engineers who were set free in the latest merging with Panasonic.)

Twist Esprit

The Giant front hub drive together with their unique control runs very smoothly and enables the global company to offer a competitively priced bike range that still keeps the brand’s quality promise.

Another example is Momentum Electric a new bike brand based in London whose first two models feature a Bafang (also known as 8Fun) front hub motor. While this can be said about Raleigh or other Derby Cycle brands like Kalkhoff as well, the Momentum Electric bikes are ruled by a torque sensor unique to the company called the Autorqmatic™.

The front hub drive further boosts the company's declared mission of ‘Moving Everybody’ by keeping the price comparatively low without compromising on value. 

Model T

The design of the Model T and, even more so, the Upstart accounts for further distinction. While most front powered bikes of established brands look as though no special attention has been paid to their appearance, the Momentum models embody a vision of clarity and coolness. Obviously, the company desires to attract more design-conscious riders. 

Upstart

The motor could easily be mistaken for a hub dynamo and thus appeals to people who prefer their bike not to "scream" electric...

Another small enterprise whose success was driven by front hub engines is the German Vital Bike. They now have widened their range with the omni-present Bosch bottom bracket drive but kept their easy to handle and comfortable pedelecs with front motor that are carefully targeted. Elderly consumers in particular praise these bikes with ergonomics made for their needs like the low step through frame, comfortably upright riding position or the coaster brake which remains popular in Germany.

Vital Bike

The battery in the rear combined with the motor in the front wheel accounts for one of the most balanced systems one can find in a pedelec.

For all the above brands, the unrestrained thinking and careful alignment with consumer’s needs rather than trends or dominant technology seems to be paying off. 

So what are the true disadvantages of a front hub drive compared to other motors? 

Most front hub drives on the market are of Chinese make and though this could be said of some bottom bracket and most rear wheel drives as well - at least if you follow their production back to the roots - the factories pouring out front drives are plenty and of varying quality. 

The technology used when building a front hub drive is not too complicated. Most of them are of similar design, geared and nowadays brushless. Respectively, it is the gearing and the material of the gears that make them most vulnerable to failure as opposed to direct drives used in rear wheels which enjoy a much longer life without requiring maintenance.

Another widespread argument against the front hub drive plays on the impaired rolling or rather steering performance of the bicycle. While this might be true for heavy motors that sit in bicycles with running properties that would be questionable already without the motor, for bicycles of better quality using lighter motors a comparison with driving with a hub dynamo seems more appropriate. 

Assuming front hub drives are better than their reputation, is there some untapped potential waiting to be discovered?

Front hub motors belong to the lightest and smallest drives on the market for electric bicycles without trading too much power for reduced weight. It is in their light-weight where their biggest potential lies, especially so as weight reducing improvements seem to have not (yet) been fully explored.

Technological advances (or weight reduction) could mainly be gained in clever gearing or controlling as well as experimenting with new material- apart from accuracy in production and sourcing.
All these improvements or experiments however, require expertise and investment of money and time, which are rather scarce resources in an economy emerging with high speed. This is particularly true for China who at the same time is the main producer of these drives.

Demand and image are two more factors to take into account when looking at the seemingly less enthusiastic uptake on front hub drives by the (European) industry.

Interestingly enough, there is demand from a small group of consumers who wish to convert their regular bicycle. Those often turn to retro-fit kits with a front hub drive as it is clearly the easiest to install and often the most affordable solution.
In case of failure front hub motors can simply be exchanged and hardly stand in the way in case of a punctured tyre. The former just requires a new front wheel, the latter the unplugging of a connector.However, conversion kits, especially those of dubious quality must be seen as a critical development as their installation is not always safe nor have the resulting electric bicycles undergone any testing.

More demand from the industry for high quality or advanced front drives that could inspire innovation and investment is yet to come but might be hindered by short-sighted profit seeking that wants to keep electric bicycles in the premium segment with high margins. 
The charme of the front hub drive however lies in volume and variation. 

There is a whole segment of consumers for whom premium models around 2,000 Euro and more are simply not affordable nor attractive. That does not mean however, they would not spend a still considerate sum for the thrill of electric propulsion which a front hub drive could easily offer.

At the same time, lighter and / or easier to handle electric bicycles could attract buyers who might not have considered an electric bicycle before. Here, an aesthetic argument can be factored in - the front hub drive is the most unobtrusive of them all. 

Inventiveness and investment will be essential to uncover the front hub drive’s potential but need to be accompanied by a change of attitude. Quantity or simplicity must not necessarily come at the price of quality. Simultaneously, electric bicycles of decent quality must not stay a product only the elite can afford but can become a vehicle for inclusion.

words & thoughts : Nora Manthey

pictures: Giant, Momentum Electric and Vital Bike

Reversed Trendsetting Or: How the elderly made the pedelec a trend in Hollywood

On the continent, pedelecs (for pedal electric cycle) meaning electric bicycles are on the brink of broad acceptance. In the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and now Austria these pedal-assist machines already count for up to 5- 15% of the market for bicycles with numbers continuously growing.

The e-bike sales result in turnovers higher than those from muscle-only powered two-wheelers. Their commercial success is reflected in the media. Almost every newspaper, national and local,  and TV station has at least once featured the new vehicles. 
Recently, the pedelec trend swashed over the Atlantic shores when the likes of Leonardo di Caprio and Adrien Brody were seen on Swiss-made bikes in New York and Los Angeles. On the same track is Cadel Evans (picture), winner of the Tour de France, literally polishing the image of electric bicycles in a new marketing campaign. 
These bikes have nothing to do anymore with what was once widely perceived as a mobility aid for elderly generations, if known at all and it is safe to say, that they have become trendy by now.

However, the mass-media reporting the pedelec’s success and its prominent owners are only one explanation for its advance- battery or sensor technology another. What is strangely missing are the actual everyday users. How often do you see someone actually riding a pedelec and if so, who sits in the saddle? Most likely it will be someone in the autumn of their life, golden or not.

Ultimately, the pedelec is a technology that is not easily communicated by shiny campaigns but that is best to be experienced to unfold a persuasive power rarely matched by other inventions. Therefore, a factor worth looking at to describe the advent of electric bikes and to feed it further is the groundwork done by people who tried it early on.

The difficulty of communicating the pedal-assist principle

When explaining the working principle of an electric bicycle in accurate terms, i.e. as a human-machine hybrid which engine only works when driven by muscle power, one is usually faced with misconceptions. The first reaction often goes along the lines of: “Oh, so you do not have to pedal anymore?!”

The answer: “No, it is pedal-assist, you have to pedal for the motor to support you” might lead to further efforts of understanding but is soon met with certain cognitive resistance (almost a cognitive dissonance).

As the bicycle is widely seen as a sports device, the idea of an added motor is closely associated with effortlessness or weakness or the concept of a throttle-controlled scooter. So if one thinks motor, the facile flick of a wrist comes to mind, not the turn of the pedals.

Still, there is a way to bring across the idea of electric bicycles.  Let someone try it. Instant understanding and interest is the reward.

Marketeers, go real

Given that an electric bicycle should be tried to be sold, campaigning alone will not do much. If then the most successful process of how the product is best sold to the consumer is already predefined (test-ride) and not easily or cost-effectively achieved, one wonders what role marketing had and/or will play in the emergence of the pedelec.

 The answer might lie within the creation of a product early on. This would mean to reconnect marketing to the identification of consumer's need and to advise on creating products that satisfy those needs.

The emergence of digital marketing has made campaigning appear all too easy and cheap. It builds on the idea of a continuous feedback process (= impact evaluation) through social networking. However, the number of fans, likes or retweets is only quantitative data with no or very limited qualitative substance or substantial exchange.

While social media marketing in its simple forms might help to shape the image or feel of brands it is unlikely to sell or create products, especially those entirely new to most audiences. Therefore, it cannot replace thorough market research as done in face-to-face interviews or surveys which, in case of the pedelec, would imply a test-ride opportunity.

Consider that the 5-15% market share pedelecs have are only their share in the bicycle market which makes not more than 20% of the population. In Germany there were about a million sold pedelecs in a country with 80 mio people, so one can assume that pedelecs still remain a product many people have not yet heard of nor tried. This means, that an online survey for example will certainly prove difficult.

Again, the practical experience will have to come into play and leads to a change in attitude rarely heard of. A qualitative study of the Dutch G² consultancy  asked participants of their survey about their opinions, before and after offering a test-ride. After actually trying the bike, 50% of participants considered buying an electric bicycle, regardless of what they thought of it before.

Adopting technology

Everett Rogers theory on the diffusion of innovation explains how innovation is adopted by a social system through certain channels over time. He identifies mass media and individuals as the two main sources spreading (in the sense of buying) a new technology.

Before a new product category becomes widely accepted it undergoes five stages that Rogers calls knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation and confirmation. This means an individual becomes aware of an innovation, actively seeks information on which ground a decision of acceptance or rejection is taken.

While this process is the same for each individual, Rogers assumes that there are some individuals more prone to adopt a new technology.  He calls these the “early adopters” only outrun by the actual “innovators”. The former are made of the so-called opinion leaders that have specific knowledge of a field or are well-known.  Their opinions are thus trusted and soon followed by others called “early majority” till the "late majority" and even the "laggards" or last adopters accept the new technology. This is the point where the market reaches saturation.

Nowadays, with social networks building on the idea of recommendation through a trusted circle of acquaintances, the concept of the opinion leader has become highly relevant but blurred at the same time. 

For Rogers, an opinion leader was defined not necessarily by prominence or image but by inside knowledge or expertise in a relevant field. An engineer specializing in green energy would be more likely to hear of and adopt solar panel technology early on and later be able to convince his neighbours to try the same. The neighbours therefore skip the process of collecting hard to find information and draw from the experiences made by their trusted neighbour instead.

This “local” process that involves actually experiencing the product has become somehow neglected in the digital world. While Rogers’ theory helps to understand the acceptance of once new technologies through essentially a process of hear-say-follow, the most important part of embracing the idea of an electric bike is to actually experience it. What Everett calls persuasion is mostly or solely done by the product itself given it is of a certain quality.

Adoptive parents and young trendy laggards

The pedelec being principally a bicycle makes it an inclusive rather than exclusive product. Special knowledge, apart from being able to ride a bike is not necessarily required. Curiosity or the quest for information can thus be driven by a need not expertise.

The desire for an electric bicycle was first felt by individuals looking for something that could re-introduce individual and healthy mobility into their lives. This means that a rather unusual group of early adopters has played an important role in the broad acceptance of electric bicycles: the elderly and the infirm.

While most marketers compete for the attention of the most valued group of the 18- 39 year old who are believed to be setting or follow trends quickly the pedelec, turned that process upside-down.
Even though one might not go as far as to say, that the niece has tried her granny's bike and liked it so much that she bought one for herself and showed it to her friends who in turn wanted one as well till a new trend was born (though those cases are not unheard of today), the elder generation has indeed facilitated the broad acceptance of electric bikes by their sheer commercial power.

By buying these new products in great numbers and at high prices early on, the elderly injected money into the bicycle industry that was hitherto unseen. In return, they got better products for themselves but also sparked a wave of innovation or the will and means to open this most profitable segment to the other, more fashionable classes of bicycles as well, thus making them appealing to younger people as well.

Today, urban commuter machines some as fast as 45 km/h and even electric mountain and road bikes are available and become more widely accepted by the month. These more stylish and conceptual bikes certainly helped to further raise awareness of electric bicycles in all parts of society. More importantly, they are changing the perceptions and image slowly thus making it easier to sell with a less legs-on method in the future.

Finally, the marketing models of opinion leadership or prominence can unfold their persuasive power again with Leonardo di Caprio or Adrien Brody spearheading the trend on fashionable e-bikes rather unashamedly in the streets of NYC. Accordingly, evermore campaigns surface that put their hopes on sport prominence or fancy videos.

However, one should not be mistaken. The biggest share of the market still lies with the elder population or comes down to usability like commuter pedelecs for middle-aged people with good income, esp. so because the most fancy models are often the most expensive and out of reach of younger buyers. And yet, people that give it a try are most likely to buy.

Nora Manthey

Pictures and video are courtesy of : Stromer, Susanne Bruesch, Nora Manthey & Haibike