Copenhagen Wheel Project
17 December 2009
Innovative Bicycle presented at COP 15 Researchers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented the Copenhagen Wheel Project, an innovative smart hybrid bicycle developed by MIT in cooperation with Ducati Energia and with the support of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea.

The project aims at promoting cycling extending the range of distance people can cover and making the whole riding experience smoother, by using for both purposes new environmentally-friendly technologies. The Copenhagen Wheel can be used as a traditional bicycle, but has a self-powered electric motor that offers riders additional power when accelerating or going up a hill. The heart of the bicycle is in the rear wheel, equipped with a red hub containing all the mechanics and electronics needed for the purpose.

"The Wheel uses a technology similar to the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), which has radically changed Formula One racing over the past couple of years,” says Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT SENSEable City Laboratory and of the Copenhagen Wheel Project. "When you brake, your kinetic energy is recuperated by an electric motor and then stored by batteries within the wheel, so that you can have it back to you when you need it. The bike wheel contains all you need so that no sensors or additional electronics need to be added to the frame and an existing bike can be retrofitted in the blink of an eye."

The project aims also at making bikes more attractive for citizens. A variety of extra functions have therefore been developed: by using a series of sensors and a Bluetooth connection to the user's iPhone, which can be mounted on the handlebars, the wheel can monitor the bicycle's speed, direction and distance travelled, as well as collect data on air pollution and even the proximity of the rider's friends.

Finally, the price to the consumer should be competitive with that of a standard electric bike."
 

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