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Comment by hbarka | Hacker News Reader

If I may also peddle my opinion, this e-bike is a fresh innovation and it's easy to see how revolutionary it is. What very competitive market has regen, 180 newton-meter of torque, programmable power curve, shape-shifting? This e-bike is incredible. These days, who lets their iphone battery die?

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A phone can get charged with random 5V outlets and you can walk around with a 200g battery to make it last two days.

The bike won't fit any of that until there's hot swappable batteries sold everywhere, and when it's dead you'll be pushing it back home.

When it's dead, you can order an UberXL and toss this in the back? Cheaper than a tow truck...

Also, 100 miles is a lot on a bike. I think they got rid of this design requirement by just making the range longer.

You could lean up against something and pedal to get a bit of charge back in the battery, then you just need to pedal it home like a regular dead e-bike, no?

I don't think the pedals are attached to the drivetrain. They look like they are literally just to charge the battery. So this bike is just dead when it's out of batteries? Unless I'm missing something.

I agree with you, but I'm not clear how it relates to what I said. You charge the battery back up slightly by pedaling, and then it's usable again. You just need to pedal hard enough on the way home that you charge it more than it discharges. Though I don't know what the various efficiencies are.

There is no way you can charge an ebike battery by pedaling fast enough for it to actually get you anywhere in a reasonable time.

you can use your phone charger with this one too

Why should we care for "revolutionary" when the design that has been working for centuries is cheap, widely understood and universally available?

> Why should we care for "revolutionary" when the design that has been working for centuries is cheap, widely understood and universally available?

Because some designer wants to feel good about themselves, better than all who came before.

If wankery is what they they are after, maybe they should go design "revolutionary" sex toys.

You might be stunned at what the boffins have come up with. Or perhaps horrified.

Horses complained about this when the Model T came.

Horses were not cheap nor universally available. And cars had the obvious benefit that they did not leave literal horse shit around the city.

This "revolutionary design" does not offer any significant advantage over the existing systems for e-bikes. A regular e-bike without power is a just a regular bike. You can adapt a regular bike into an e-bike for < $600. Any run-of-the-mill mechanic can figure out how to work on a basic bike. This one will probably require some "certified Rivian expert" to work on it.

Only irrational neomania can justify being interested in this "revolution".

Wow I can't tell if you're being sarcastic. If so then nicely done. If not then bro do you even bike?

> a pun

Eyyyyyyy

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