Bicycle Design

Torque e-bike by Emil Møller Pedersen

A month or so ago, I posted about a handcycle by Marius Hjelmervik, a design student at Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark. It turns out that Marius wasn’t the only one in his class to design a bike. For his final project, classmate Emil Møller Pedersen designed an electric bike called the Torque. Emil pointed out that many electric bikes today are essentially standard bikes with a battery and motor installed, so his concept was to explore what a newly designed electric bike might look like just a few years from now.

Here is what Emil had to say about his concept e-bike (slightly paraphrased):

“With my project ‘Future (e) Bike’ it has been my goal to make an electric bicycle that can get more people to ditch the car in favor of electric bicycle. To do so I have been focusing on a younger group of users than those who use electric bicycles today, at least in Denmark where mostly elderly people ride electric bikes.
The objective of my project is to make a concept on how a future electric bicycle (2015) might look like. The bike should be realistic. That means no hubless wheels with nano magnetic levitation or whatever it is called. The electric bicycles available today are largely conventional bikes with a battery and a motor installed, but what would an electric bicycle look if you think of it as an e-bike from the beginning?

The concept aims to bring all technologies on the electric bike together in a single unit on the bike. This will give the electric bicycle a visual simplicity and ensure that it stands out from a conventional bike. All the extra weight is placed very low on the bike, resulting in a low center of gravity and a bike that is very stable.

The most important parts of the bike are the battery-ring and the closed chain box. These parts are what make the Torque different than other electric bikes. The battery-ring is intended as the icon of the electric bicycle and what makes it stand out from a conventional bike. The frame is simple and ‘bike-like’. Even though it is electric it should still look like a bicycle!

The chain box houses the chain, an automatic chain tensioner, the electric motor, and most of the wiring (keeping it all clean and dry). The motor is based on the European standard, which states that the motor will only help when the rider is pedaling, and only up to 25 km/h (15.5 mph).

The bicycle computer on Torque is where the user is able to check the battery life and change gears, in addition to normal cycling computer functions.”

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34 responses to “Torque e-bike by Emil Møller Pedersen”

  1. Richard Avatar
    Richard

    If you were designing an electric bike from scratch, you would have an electric motor in the rear hub, and a generator in the bottom bracket, and a battery somewhere unobtrusive. You would not have a chain.

    With modern electronics, it’s perfectly possible to design a generator which will reproduce the mechanical resistance you would find while pedalling a bicycle in the right gear for the conditions. It should also be possible to adjust the level of effort demanded electronically, via a control on the handlebars.

    Dispensing with the chain, chainrings, chainguard, gears etc would be a significant weight saving and reduce manufacturing costs and maintenance commitments. Also, with an elctric motor in the rear hub, it should be possible to recover some energy through regenerative braking.

    Reply
    1. Emil Møller Pedersen Avatar
      Emil Møller Pedersen

      Hi Richard
      I guess this is the bike you are thinking of http://www.inodasveje.com/products/electronics/bike-2-0/.
      For long time in my project I thought that I would make the bike just as you describes it. But after talking to different experts I decided to keep the chain. They all said that it would be possible to do it, but there would be a large amount of energy loss from the generator to the electric motor. As much as 20-25%. And with the a well kept chain this energy loss is only 3-4%.

      I also talked to the designer of the Bike 2.0, who told me that the bike is only a concept and that they didn’t know if it was at all feasible.

      What I have read about regenerativ braking, there is very little energy braking a bicycle compared to a car. And the problem is that of this small amount of energy only 10% return to the battery (http://www.ecospeed.com/regenbraking.pdf).

      I agree with you that it would be great to have a chainless bike, but I wanted to make a realistic project and not another bike with hubless wheels!

      Reply
      1. David K Fried Avatar
        David K Fried

        Well… A chainless bike is just a scooter… Right?

        Reply
    2. Rich Avatar
      Rich

      This design would not be efficient for inputing human power. There’s nothing wrong with a standard hub motor that has a freewheel with gears, and normal bike chain. The rider can input instant power with 98% efficiency. The motor/controller/battery system is only about 80% efficiency for each stage.

      Reply
  2. Ross Nicholson Avatar
    Ross Nicholson

    The apparently pressure-sensitive and gesture-sensitive handlebar controls are lovely. The suspension mechanism seems quite novel as well. All in all, a beautiful creation.

    Reply
    1. Matt Avatar
      Matt

      @ Ross – Suspension mechanism? It didn’t look like it had suspension to me.

      2 questions:
      – Is there a reason for the single-sided fork? Seems like it’d be more expensive to produce that way.
      – It appears the chaincase/box is the only connection to the rear wheel. In the exploded view, it doesn’t seem likely that it’s beefy enough to deal with the forces it would encounter. Am I missing something?

      Reply
      1. Richard Avatar
        Richard

        In fairness, I’ve owned a couple of motorcycles with single-sided rear suspension. However, that was a design that came from endurance racing, where easily and quickly changing a rear wheel was worth the trade-off of increased weight. Unless there’s a compelling reason to go single-sided, I’m inclined to view it as styling.

        Again, the “closed chain box” seems to be little more than an old-fashioned full-enclosure chain guard beefed up to compensate for the lack of seat-stays. This, again, seems to be a styling feature. It also looks like you’d have to undo a dozen bolts to get at the chain if maintenance or adjustment was required.

        The “icon” battery ring not only stands out visually; it stands out physically too. It looks very easy to break off if the bike is dropped or crashed.

        Reply
      2. Emil Møller Pedersen Avatar
        Emil Møller Pedersen

        The primary reason for the single-sided front and rear is style. I wanted the bike to stand out in the crowd.
        The second reason easy maintenance. It’s easy for the user to change tires or tubes.

        I’m not a engineer myself, but those that I have talked to about the project tells me that it should be strong enough. But it will be a bit heavier than a normal rear end.
        But then you get a closed chain box, that makes sure there is no water or dirt getting onto the chain. There’s also a automatic chain tensioner (like the arm on a rear derailleur). This means that you very rarely need to undo the bolts on the rear/chain box.

        Reply
    2. Emil Møller Pedersen Avatar
      Emil Møller Pedersen

      Thank you Ross.
      But as Matt says the bike is rigid, front and rear.

      Reply
  3. Will Avatar
    Will

    Cannondale called. They want Penderson to stop copying them.

    Reply
    1. Matt Avatar
      Matt

      @ Will – I was thinking the same thing 🙂 I decide to be charitable since there are only so many reasonable configurations though…

      Reply
    2. Emil Møller Pedersen Avatar
      Emil Møller Pedersen

      They haven’t called yet Will!
      Could you tell me what Cannondale bike it is I’ve copied? I don’t think they have the patent on single sided forks or rear. But maybe I’m wrong there?

      Reply
      1. Pete Hall Avatar
        Pete Hall

        It’s called the onBike. I’ve ridden one, it’s surprisingly stiff laterally.
        http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/cannondale-onbike-first-look-25322/

        Reply
        1. James Thomas Avatar
          James Thomas

          …and that On bike is an evolution of the Cannondale Jackknife, which was another student design.

          Reply
        2. Emil Møller Pedersen Avatar
          Emil Møller Pedersen

          Yeah, I can see that there are some similarities, with the single sided front and rear.

          Reply
  4. Pete Hall Avatar
    Pete Hall

    As a design student graduating in the States this year I’m simply amazed how many students projects simply involve CAD of the design. CAD is great, but you learn much more about the design when producing a physical prototype. Get your hands dirty people, make it to see if it really works!

    Reply
  5. wilson Avatar
    wilson

    Hello to all of you. First of all I must say that the design it’s very nice. I’m from Buenos Aires Argentina (can you tell where it is without google?) were bikes stills being conventional. Sometimes I think cars will fly before we have bicycles like this available in stores.
    I’m thinking about my own design for electric trike or bike, and I belive battery racks should be inside frame, more or less like in celular phones.

    Reply
  6. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    “The primary reason for the single-sided front and rear is style.”

    Please do not ever make a major engineering decision for this reason again. You will have a longer and more successful career as an industrial designer and will be much more respected by your colleagues. Design schools around the world have been summarily unable to teach this lesson to their students, which is why so many of them have to learn it on the job. Save yourself the trouble and commit to it now. I say this often here, but if you want to make design decisions primarily on the basis of style you should work in fashion, as there are thousands of jobs available there compared to the handfull in the bike industry. You’ll enjoy the work much more if your primary concern is aligned with the primary goals of your projects.

    I like that some thought went into keeping the battery weight low on the bike, but I’m not sure what existing or near-future battery technology could easily and efficiently be made into this donut form. Personally I’d put the battery just over the BB to help with weight distribution, though putting it directly over the back hub will help a little with the inherent structural weakness of a single unsupported chainstay. Keep in mind that adding weight over the rear axle limits the potential cargo capacity on the rear, as there is a limit to how much weight you can put over the back wheel without compromising handling. @Wilson, putting batteries inside the tubes always seems like a great idea, but it’s tough to do without making the wiring a pain in the butt or compromising the structural integrity of the tube.

    I’m skeptical about the rear hub. With a drive system and a disc brake on one side it seems like you’re going to have some bad combination of heel clearance issues, unacceptable Q factor, and very high dish on a wheel that has to take electric drive torque. Maybe it all works out, but I’d like to see a prototype with realistic dimensions for all of the elements back there.

    As usual, less CAD time and more build time would have benefitted this project immensely. I never understand why people bother with elaborately detailed renderings of concept ideas, it’s not like color and lighting and exploded diagrams of fictional components help the person who does the real design work once the concept moves toward production. Prototypes, people!

    Reply
    1. Emil Møller Pedersen Avatar
      Emil Møller Pedersen

      Hi Mike
      You are right that the only reason for a major engineering decision should not be style. But I do think the designer should challenge the engineering aspect sometimes. And I do think that the decision to make it single sided helps with making the bike different from a normal bike and causes it to stand out. Which was one of my primary goals.
      And no I should not be a fashion designer!

      I’ve sugested the use of 18650 batteries for my bike. There should be room for 30 batteries in the ‘donut’. According to the battery specialist I’ve asked the amps of the 18650 should reach 4.0 (2.6 today) in the next 5-8 years. And that should be more than enough to assists the user more than 50 kilometers.

      A prototype would have been nice. But sadly I did not have money or time to make one. And I had to show something at my presentation, that is why I made these renderings.
      The nearest I came to a prototype was this model: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3476017/Torque%20model.jpg

      Reply
    2. art Avatar
      art

      Nothing in this design represents an insurmountable engineering problem unless you want it at a very low price point. Single sided hubs are all over the place, and I can see no problem fitting standard lithium ion batteries into the donut.

      The only thing I would do differently as an engineer is move the bearings from inside of the rear hub to in the chainstay and have a rigid axle connected to the hub shell. That way the disc brake can be moved outboard, and the rear wheel can be a little more balanced.

      Reply
  7. wilson Avatar
    wilson

    @Mike, luckily I never’d consider a render for my project / prototype. As a spanish speaker maybe I was not clear about my point of batteries. What I wanted to mean is that inside the frame there is a lot of free space available, inside the tube or in a box fixed to it. Hope now it’s clear.

    By the time I only have scrachts and ideas taken from different models I’ve seen on Internet. Money for me it’s a big trouble to get tools, machines and parts to build. When I could I’ll buy old bikes to get parts from.

    Reply
  8. mommus Avatar
    mommus

    I think it’s unfair to accuse the designer of copying the Cannondale jacknife. I’m sure it’s not the first time that kind of design has been used to support the rear wheel. Some motorcycles have been designed that way for decades, albeit with the rear ‘swingarm’ sprung rather than fixed. My Vespa has a similar setup, and is definitely not derived from endurance racing!
    I have been working on a folding bike design which (if it ever sees the light of day) has a very similar method of supporting the rear wheel, without seat stays. In my case it is essential to the function of the bike, rather than aesthetic, but I came to it completely independently before I was even aware of the Cannondale design.
    I am a little depressed by Mike’s dismissive rantings but I have to agree with him on the Q-factor and heel clearance thing. It does seem unlikely that you’ll get a strong enough structure AND a disc brake AND half a rear hub into the space between the bike’s centreline and the clearance for the RH pedal, and still have the wheel sitting centrally. Though you could have the rear ‘swingarm’ thing curving along its length.

    Reply
    1. Will Avatar
      Will

      I guess Mike had higher expectations when it comes to researching an idea before you spend hours working on the rendering.

      Reply
      1. mommus Avatar
        mommus

        I think these days, a render is much easier to achieve than engineering research and calculation. A lot of bikes are designed straight int 3d CAD packages which lend themselves to very easy renderings. It looks like the bike above was rendered directly from Solidworks or ProEngineer.

        Reply
        1. Will Avatar
          Will

          When I was in research, the lab’s director would always say, “You’re not the first person to do this. If you haven’t found a previous attempt on your idea you haven’t looked hard enough. What you need to focus on is why the previous attempts failed and what’s different now that will enable your solution.” Since then I always look at these industrial designs as missing that critical explanation of what’s different now that will enable design success where similar attempts previously failed.

          Reply
    2. Mike Avatar
      Mike

      The shape of the swing arm is limited by the fact that it has to enclose the chain, which absent some really goofy mechanicals has to run parallel to the centerline of the bike.

      I may come off as pretty negative, but I’m not any tougher on these guys than the people who they would need to convince to spend money on their idea would be. If they’re not getting this level of critique from their instructors they should ask for a refund of their tuition.

      Reply
      1. Will Avatar
        Will

        I agree with Mike on this. Brutal design reviews were common and expected when I was in school. Hell, they’re common and expected now that I do proposal work. Everyone gets offended when someone tries to shoot down their work, but that’s the way things are, and getting hurt over it won’t help you. Also know that you won’t win over everyone in the room. Sometimes a good review is simply one where you had a reasonable reason for each reasonable question, and let the zingers go by with a “I’ll look into that for my next revision” or something along those lines.

        Reply
  9. mommus Avatar
    mommus

    “You’re not the first person to do this. If you haven’t found a previous attempt on your idea you haven’t looked hard enough. What you need to focus on is why the previous attempts failed and what’s different now that will enable your solution”

    One of the best things I have read in a long time! It describes very concisely why good research is so important.

    Reply
  10. Dan Avatar
    Dan

    Electric bikes want ever be a big thing in europe. People younger than 50 dont want to ride at only 25 kmh. I’am midt forty and don’t consitter my self to be in very god shape, But still only do below 25 kmh for about 35 meters. The rest of the time the e-drive wouldt be ded weight. If it’s to be a succes it nets to help me op hill and head wind. An that’s not at 25 kmh. Slower than 30 kmh and i go in the car. They also increased the fines for doing more than 30/45 on mopet, So now we got to old cars!!!

    Reply
  11. wilson Avatar
    wilson

    I’m happy than in Argentina we have no limit on bicycle speed limit. I know to or three cases of guys that modified 2 sotroke 80cc motors for bikes and goes near 60km/h. I wonder how they brake. By the way, helmets are not popular.

    Reply
  12. Electric Bikes – Electric Bike News – Reviews – Trends – Information

    […] the complete article at: Torque e-bike by Emil Møller PedersenRelated NewsZero S – Two Wheeled Commuting of the Future?Engadget Reviews Brammo Enertia […]

    Reply
  13. Jason Avatar
    Jason

    Hi, Do you know what is Centric Motor System with Linear Signal Torque Sensing Mode for pedelec? Though Panasonic is Centric Motor System but it is Pulse Signal Torque Sensing Mode only, while other common one is Front or Rear Motor System with Pulse Signal Speed Sensing Mode.

    Reply
  14. euro biker Avatar
    euro biker

    I thing it is not worthy to discuss a new electric bikes if they have price tag more than 700-800 euro and some “easy” version/model for the emerging markets priced at 450-500 euro.

    I would like anybody to understand that only a certain % of the people will buy electric bike just because it is green. The majority will buy only if they have decent ROI.

    Anything else is just a “look how nice renderings I have here”…

    Reply
  15. Salvatore Avatar
    Salvatore

    I care to find solutions for user-friendly, environment-safe equipments, and to get more often people on bikes.

    The latest challenge which I addressed to my self, it was that of a gear shifting which could contain the bulk (and weight) though the huge differentiation of the most distant ratios of mechanical transmission (if it is hypothesized a gradual variation needed from 1/1 to 1/10000). If other CVT are observed, such as Nu Vinci, or the automatic gear shifting with epicyclical cones mounted on the Toyota; such devices do not allow variations up to these extremes.

    So schematically, I realized this “Fine-Tuning Wide-Range” CVT to be adapted to any cinematic transmission. Then, from the scheme I studied the way to apply it to my own “System for transforming rectilinear motion to circular motion” (EP2014545), and in particular to the bicycle. My own CVT is not yet patented and is concealed.

    Here, I remind You, that my invention (EP2014545) replaces the function of “torque actuator” of traditional crank system with removal of the related inefficiency, due to “virtual work” untill reaching to positions of “dead point “. The “dead point position” is the maximum peak of inefficiency of the crank, reason for which e-bikes were brought to market (leading it toward a wrong drift).

    With our cooperation, we can supply the rider something much better than e-bike. With the efficient managing of user applied force (on the pedal), it is not needed the electrically-assisted, e-bike. Imagine what kind of change in sport races?

    But, there is huge work for many partners, to be done in many devices based on my invention (EP2014545). My great expectation is about the aircraft.

    Would You like to visit my linkedin profile and make a guess: who might be interested to my proposal?

    http://www.linkedin.com/in/salvatore-cosenza-35a72663/

    Best regards.

    Salvatore Cosenza
    Owner: EP2014545

    Reply

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