NEXT SEASON: CONNECT+
By Richard Peace
THE CONNECTED E-BIKE
Jesper Lundqvist, Pro-Movec founder and CEO of the 27 employee Danish company seems to have come along way since the company was founded in 2001 with the remit of selling mobility products for the elderly.
He now finds himself in the middle of the connectivity revolution and presenting Pro-Movec’s own Design Line and Premium Line complete e-bike systems at Eurobike 2017. ‘With the connectivity options these products offer we hope we will be able to open up the world of e-bikes to a whole new, younger, smartphone-savvy generation’ he states.
Like many importers of far-eastern e-bikes in the early 2000s he found himself beset by quality issues and in 2008 they launched their own e-bike to avoid the quality control issues of directly importing. This lead to other firms approaching them to manufacture e-bikes for them and now Jesper finds that, with the increasing complexity of their supply chain and the development of their open protocol software, they are in a strong position to offer complete solutions to bike manufacturers looking to exploit the possibilities of ‘connected’ bikes.
THE SYSTEMS
Both their Design Line and Premium Line, that feature the open protocol software as standard, put the smartphone at the heart of the system; ‘We are not going to do a better job than Apple or Samsung, for example’ says Lunqvist, though he adds for those who want to keep it simple there is the option of a basic display rather than using the smartphone itself as the e-bike display.
The Design Line features a range of 36V hub motors and an eyecatching choice of either saddlebag or chaincase, as Pro-Movec say, ‘to make e-bikes that stand out from anything on the market’.
The Premium line also includes some 48V, disk brake options and two mid motor drives (one with coaster brake) and a wide range of batteries with capacities up to an impressive 734.4 Wh.
Frame options range from city and trekking through to mtb and retro.
The driving demands remain the same for Lundqvist whatever option a customer might choose.
‘We aim to offer very competitive prices and functionality’.
HARNESSING CREATIVITY THROUGH SOFTWARE
‘We want to harness the creativity of both manufacturers and ultimately the thousands and thousands of end users who use out products.’ says Lunqvist. ‘It really depends what parameters are set for the software. To give just one example from an end user perspective, the rider may want to reach a destination 50km away so an app setting would regulate the power settings to ensure the rider reached their destination.’
The possibilities are almost limitless though thinks Lundqvist, with specialised apps potentially being developed for tourist authorities hiring out e-bikes, e-bike share companies who may want to utilise the benefits of big data or even parcel delivery companies.’
