Brompton Electric launches in the UK
 

brilliant...

http://i.imgur.com/eCTRLub.jpg

We've been waiting a while for an electric Brommie direct from the factory. I've heard good things about the nano Brompton, so one would hope the factory version would at least be its equal.

Very nice indeed,...

Looks good but I prefer the power source being curries, cream cakes etc. I also prefer the simplicity and compactness of the standard Brompton.

Well, the compactness is exactly identical with the Brompton Electric. The simplicity not so much, but that's obvious. In comparison to the existing aftermarket solutions it looks much cleaner (less cables, no boxes for electronics, no panels and switches on the bars, etc.). So the two points that you mention are pretty perfect if you ask me.

Still it is a bit of a disappointment. It delivers basically no advantage over the existing solutions (at least none that I could regocnize) apart from having a torque sensor, is massively more expensive, heavy, offers limited choice of colors, handlebar-type and battery-size and locks you in to a proprietary battery-system. You cannot use the existing range of Brompton-bags. On first sight it is basically a me-too-product , a bit better integrated (was to be expected from a factory solution) but with a hell of a lot limitiations in comparison to the aftermarket-solutions that have been available for 10 years. After five years of development (just counting the last iteration since the reset the eBrompton development back to zero in 2012) none of the promises regarding light weight and advanced KERS-technology have become reality but a product that smaller third-party-vendors have been selling for years and years already for a cheaper price and ready for retrofit. Not really what I was not only hoping for but expecting.

The compactness is not the same because of the battery bag I didn't mean anything beyond that. It's an extra item. Some solutions use an internal increased frame tube solution which slides out and has no real difference between their standard and e-bike folding size just a weight penalty because of the battery and motor hub.

For a folding bike I think the external battery is the better solution. The "weight penalty" for the electric conversion on the Electric Brompton is about 5.5kg in total, about 3kg of that is in the battery-package. The total weight of the Electric Brompton is 16.6kg for the 2-speed and 17.3 for the 6-speed. Too much to carry comfortably. With the Battery being an extra item at 3 kg to carry over your shoulder what's left for the bike is 13.6 respectively 14.4 kg. Still a lot and a bit on the heavy side but possible.
When my steel Brommi was fully equipped with lights, rack, Brooks-saddle and the S/A-8-speed-hub it weighted around 14.5 kg. This was the absolute upper limit I was willing to carry. In fact I "downsized" to the 6-speed BWR to save 1kg of weight - which made a hell of a difference. Still I like my Titanium 2-speed more when it comes to carrying - it weights just above 10kgs. Easy to handle. The sweet-spot is from my experience around 12 kg - more than that makes it more and more uncomfortable.

Therefor I think it would have been a bad idea to integrate the additional 3kg fixed into the bike. Regarding the compactness: I ride 99% of the time with a bag on the carrier-block. Therefor at least for me nothing would change regarding compactness. Plus an external battery is easier to charge or to swap.

Hmmm... it's sort of what I was expecting, though there had been an amount of hype that implied Brompton were going to come up with something out of the ordinary. What's out of the ordinary is the price tag, even by Brompton's standards.

It's a tricky one, there's really nowhere other than the front hub where a motor can be installed, but to put extra weight on the front makes the folded package more unbalanced, and it's already not particularly balanced.

I wonder if a Shareroller might be a better option.

250w front wheel motor, It aint going to be a hillclimber.

First: 250w is the legal limit for electric bikes, that need no insurance in Europe. Which results in most ebikes from wellknown manufacturers are within this limit. The market for more expensive ebikes is Europe and it is huge. The market for stronger ebikes in Europe is almost not existent due to legal limitations.

Second: Did you ever ride an ebike? 250w is way enough to bring you up the hill. And after all it is a Brompton, not a mountain-bike. You won't leave the pavement with this bike and probably the power is sufficient even for the hilly areas of San Francisco.

I believe the original nano Brompton battery was 266w. So technically illegal by European standards, but one wonders how this is enforced. "Freeze! Battery police! Take your hands away from the handlebars slowly..."

I suppose if you were in an accident, it could become an issue, but otherwise, it's not exactly like the nano Brompton was a speed demon. I'm not condoning breaking the law, just pointing out the obvious.

For anyone who wants to read a good review of the original nano Brompton from my fave A to B magazine:

Nano Brompton Folding Electric Bike Review | A to B Magazine

How do you embed video? Anyways ... there a two or three videos on the e-brompton on youtube.

p/s - Can I just buy the cute little backpack (without batteries and e-bike) ? :saweeet:

The legal limit is on the motor not the battery. The battery for that Nano was 266Wh, which is on the low side, but good for weight and cost savings.

Seems you are confusing some things. :p The legal limitation is a maximum continuous motor support of 250 watts (higher peaks are legal and common) and max. supported speed of 25kph. There is no limitation on the battery (plus batteries are described by voltage (volts), power (ampere) and capacity in watt-hours (wh) or ampere-hours (ah), not in watt as watt would not make any sense at all) .
The power of the motor is not the problem 250w takes you over the 25kph limit and the short (legal) peaks help on hills. The low kph-limit is something I dislike as I think it is too low - even a non-sporty rider will hit this limit continuously and often at least temporarily be faster than that even w/o motor. In the US and Canada there seems to be a limit, too, but it is a bit higher - at least the "US/Canade-mode" in some motors supports up to 32kph (and this is still not an issue with the 250w that the motor delivers). Seems more practical to me. And I would assume if and when the Brompton Electric ever comes to the US it will have this mode as well as it is just software and therefor cheap and easy to implement.

Berlinonaut, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up!