cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/7654367
I personally think it could be a great alternative to cars and bikes for those who need to take a whole family somewhere or a decent amount of stuff.
Only modifications I would make would be ride-by-wire and an extra set of pedals (so you can have two people pedalling without the annoyance of normal tandem bikes having to pedal at the same rate), and a more powerful motor (only 250W is legal in France, where this was designed, whereas 500W is legal here in Canada)
Hi! I am not part of the project itself but part of a publicly funded project aiming at making its production easier. Had lot's of reads and discussions with protagonists of the vhelio.
Vhelio is part of a group of projects funded by the French government to develop alternative vehicles. Some bikes, some electric cars, some things in between.
No one says the vhélio will by itself solve the transportation needs. It is seen as a puzzle piece to fit in a precise niche (urban and suburban trips in flat areas). The motor is too weak for slopes and we really want to make the laws around the power limitations evolve. Anyway, you can have a bigger motor but then the vehicle enters a different category: it is not an electric-assisted bike but closer to am electric scooter.
The part that I find great in the vhelio is that it is open and friendly to modifications. We may be able to circumvent power limitation by putting two motors, someone I know would like to make a version where the pedals only ever charge the batteries and the vehicle is always motor-driven, so that you can pedal at a constant rhythm, much healthier.
The design will have to evolve, several parts are unsafe (notably it has a lot of hard corners and if you hit into a wall at high speed the driver breaks both legs). Another friend thinks it has far too many screws and could be simplified, the vhelio team is working on a soldered frame.
I think it is better to see it as a platform than a single product.
Thanks for some actual info rather than the rest of opinion and commentary here... Also for working to make the world a place.
Frustrating that one of the hurdles is red tape around engine size that needs a quirky solution like multiple motors.
Very frustrating! And we know that the path to change that is ~10 years. In the meantime, we will have to find a way to homologate them as registered vehicles, a process that's not exactly designed for small projects like that but thankfully we have a governmental agency on our side to open some doors. Right now we are mostly using a loophole (and a bit of a gray area) of "self build vehicles" that can be insured but not bought or sold. That's a reason why these are only sold in kit.
Good information, thank you!
This is all really interesting.
As an early iteration it's great, but without wanting to sound critical - it really does demonstrate a lot of problems.
To me, this format is too specialised to see much use in Australia for example. I can't think of many suburbs that would be flat enough for one person to drag around 3 bodies plus the machine even with a bigger motor. I cycle regularly, but it wouldn't take much of an incline with a headwind to make hauling 3 bodies plus machine a real challenge.
Don't haul 3. See it as an electrical tricycle (=great because you wont fall even at low speed) that can occasionally carry some things, and that recharges while parked. Honestly with a 1000W motor, I think it would be a very good product.
Yeah, I think it's really the EU e-bike regulations that are the limiting factor. In Canada, we can have 500W, and the US allows up to 750W or 1000W iirc. Much more feasible than the paltry 250W allowed by EU.