Kickstarter: Maxwell EP0 Minimalist E-Bike With Internal Frame Battery Pack

Written by Anna Schwinn Jul 21, 2015 2:50 p.m. ET

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An interesting minimalist e-bike for for the urban market- designed to look and ride as closely to a pedal bike as possible. At only 26lb for the complete bike (depending on size), this model could accomplish that goal, as it is within the realm of pedal bike weight. This model features an interesting battery concept putting small battery packs within the frame tube members rather than in a single external consolidated pack. Check it out after the jump.

Three independent battery packs- one per tube, live within the individual frame members and make up a total of 250Wh. The battery packs can be removed by removing the seat post for the seat tube pack, or by removing the head tube panel for the top tube and down tube packs- a process Maxwell claims to take only 15 minutes. This keeps the weight distributed throughout the frame rather than in a single location, as well as opens the possibility for air travel as each pack is independently smaller than the flyable limit (according to Maxwell).

Full recharge time is projected to be 45 minutes and the system has a charge life of 1000 cycles. The controller is positioned within the bottom of the front triangle to keep it as visually minimal as possible and the complete bike is assisted by a front wheel hub motor, controlled by a pedal assist sensor. Range per single charge is projected to be up to 15 miles and top speed of 20mph.

Maxwell is looking for support for battery testing and upstart costs. For $1300 you can reserve your own Maxwell EP0 within the first production run (expected MSRP for this configuration is $1800).

For more information, visit the Kickstarter.

Anna Schwinn

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Fjork

8 years ago

**Insert multiple ignorant remarks here about how e-bikes are motorcycles and will bring nothing but death and despair to the cycling community**

Tyler

8 years ago

Love the Brooks saddle and Truvativ cranks. But is this seriously called the EPO? And the kickstarter campaign has been put on hold.

fuchsia

8 years ago

E.P.O. … sweet name for a bike.
i see a partnership with Lance Armstrong in the future

colorblind

8 years ago

@fjork- I dont think most Mericans worry about ebikes for pavement, its the MTB EBikes that has everyone so worked up

Gunnstein

8 years ago

The terminology needs some work. How is this not a “pedal bike”? It’s got pedals, and is claimed to have a “Pedal Assist Sensor” – which I understand to mean if you don’t pedal, the motor does nothing. So it’s a pedal bike.

Personally, I value my life too much to ride a bike without a front brake, or any single brake bike for that matter (no redundancy = bad). Though I see the kickstarter has got front brake options for us non suicidal riders.

Not my thing, but could be good for electrically minded hipsters / weight weenies.

Champs

8 years ago

Call me crazy but personally I *do* see a problem with it on pavement.

I will not share a bike lane or off-street trail with motor vehicles at automotive speeds, especially given operators that don’t need insurance or even a license. It’s not envy that upsets me when an e-bike passes me up the climb, it’s the fact that they buzzed me so they didn’t have to pass in the auto lane.

TheFunkyMonkey

8 years ago

Another day, another e-bike article on BIKErumor. Big surprise.

Canfield called and want their name back. Oh wait, it’s the Maxwell EP0 – right, that won’t cause any confusion.

John

8 years ago

eBikeRumors.com!

-Rizza

8 years ago

Hipster straight out art/design school on kickstarter selling his jumped up fixie. It comes complete with artisanal beard oil and gluten free bagels and is for sale only in Williamsburg, SanFran and Portland.

frank

8 years ago

Not a terrible concept, but it’s another example of how battery technology is the real limiting factor in electric vehicles. 15 miles on a charge? That’s a pretty serious limitation for a lot of people.

We’re getting a lot better at fast-charging batteries, but improvements in price/size/weight/capacity have been incremental for the last 2 decades. Unless there is a big breakthrough in battery technology or (go forbid) someone bites the bullet and goes fossil fuel, powered bikes are going to remain extremely niche.

Nemesis

8 years ago

20mph and the brakes are optional? That should generate some strong Darwin Award contenders. I’m usually down on the e-bikes, but this one is just too awesome to hate on.

Be careful

8 years ago

Hmmm, the bike industry has to be extremely careful not to label E-Bikes as “Motorbikes”. That will be slippery slope to having bans and restrictions everywhere. This marketing strategy by these guys shows a lot of ignorance. I’m not impressed.

Be careful

8 years ago

Plus, using the term “EPO” is just not cool. In any way.

Be careful

8 years ago

I’m not very happy with these guys. “Motorbikes” and “Epo”, yeah two really positive words in the bike industry. Great job.

Sully

8 years ago

Campaign has been CANCELED!

Anyone want to guess why? I have my own theories (based on the 2 minutes I spent watching the video)
1. Realized cost hurdle was several orders of magnitude larger than thought.
2. Contacted by someone’s lawyer regarding patent infringement.
3. Decided to partner/sell out to a larger company who really liked the idea.
4. Industrial designer got caught with architect’s girlfriend…uh oh!

Reggie Mantle

8 years ago

Which marketing savant chose to call it EPO?

jlg

8 years ago

Cube made an eBike name EPO.
Maybe that is why they have to canceled the campaign.

Jim

8 years ago

I still reckon – “hide” the battery in a bidon easy to charge and replaceable from the team car 🙂

ebikes make alot of sense for commuting as long as they don’t have overly enhanced performance.

Star

8 years ago

Electric Pedal Overland?

BillBob

8 years ago

Front wheel drive? Now that’s going to make for some interesting handling. Shame it got canceled. This would have purged a lot of clueless hipsters from society.

Jack

8 years ago

I travel to Brazil annually due to family ties, and I see the streets of Rio and surrounding towns filled with bikes that have been retrofitted with IC motors that appear to be about the scale of a chainsaw 2-cycle engine. These are not playthings for the green set, they are used by delivery riders, tradesmen and other working class people, most of whom look like they can’t afford a car.

With a bit of soundproofing, you could add something like this to a bike for ~$100, a much more reasonable price point than the $2,000-$5,000 for e-bikes

Scott

8 years ago

I think it’s great. Looks a lot better that a lot of the ebikes out there.

888787998

8 years ago

Jeez for 1800 you could have an older Suzuki sv650 and actually use it go far and haul stuff.

Gunnstein

8 years ago

BillBob – nothing wrong with front wheel drive. I’ve tried both electric fwd (common on cheaper ebikes) and a human powered, chain driven version (recumbent). No trouble with handling on either. The only issue is that it will spin out sooner on steep uphill gravel roads. On pavement it’s perfectly fine.

Sassafras

8 years ago

Not long ago a customer brought in his Specialized Turbo S for a new set of tires, and told my boss and I to give it a try. I must say, that is one hell of a thrill. And I normally dislike ebikes, not the idea, the execution. Normally they are like this thing, a motor first, and a bike as an afterthought. Now, I understand that this is like comparing a Ducati and a Kymco. But still, if I’m throwing a leg over something that can take me over 20 without even feeling it, I want it to be a well crafted, thought out, tool. Not a toy. I’ve seen too many cheaper alternatives come through our door with shot motors that make them unusable, or crappy brakes that make them downright unsafe. If you want a replacement for your car in the form of a proper e-bike, shell out the cash. If you don’t want to pay that much (and I can’t blame you) get a bike, ride it, and I promise it’ll get easier. Or if that’s just not fast enough, get a scooter, because if you’re on something that can crack 40 without a set of pro-legs and a lot of sweat. Your days in the bike lane are over.