Bike 2.0: Energy from bike wheels

A group of researchers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in United States have designed a bicycle that is able to move itself by using the excess of kinetic energy from its own wheel. This modern bike was unveiled this month at the COP15 Copenhagen Conference.

This creation was named by its designers as “The Copenhagen Wheel”. It is equipped with Bluetooth connection and it is possible to connect it to an iPhone in order to see a lot of information through an app: Speed, fitness information, traffic data, distances, and pollution warnings, among others. Some people have also called this creation “Bike 2.0″; definitely, it is a very appropriate name from a cybernetic point of view, especially because it could be considered as an “online” bike and even you can share some data with your friends via social networks.

“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. 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,” says Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT SENSEable City Laboratory.

According to Ritt Bjerregaard, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, the first goal of the Copenhagen Wheel project is to promote cycling by extending the range of distance people can cover and by making the whole riding experience smoother so that even steep inclines are no longer a barrier to comfortable cycling.

“Our city’s ambition is that 50 percent of the citizens will take their bike to work or school every day. So for us, this project is part of the answer to how can we make using a bike even more attractive,” Bjerregaard added.