Author Archives: Annick Roetynck

About Annick Roetynck

Annick is the Manager of LEVA-EU, with decades of experience in two-wheeled and light electric mobility.

• Bafang to set up Third Chinese Subsidiary

  01/03/2021 16:28 Comments Off on Bafang to set up Third Chinese Subsidiary

  LEVA-EU Member and manufacturer of e-drive systems, Bafang, is investing in a new facility for the development and production of high-end battery packs.

  To meet growing development needs and clarify their business layout, e-drive systems manufacturer Bafang will soon establish a third wholly owned subsidiary in China, with a working name of Bafang New Energy (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. The final name is subject to the approval of the relevant industrial and commercial registration authority. An agreement has been signed with Suzhou Industrial Park Suxiang Cooperation Zone (“Suxiang Cooperation Zone”) in February 2021.

  

  The e-bike industry has been booming in recent years. Built on a solid foundation of advanced technology and a good reputation, the production and sales of Bafang’s motors and supporting products continue to grow steadily. The lithium-ion battery pack, as the power source of the electrical system in an e-bike, plays an important role in the design and performance of the overall electrical system. To ensure the timely delivery and compatibility of battery packs with Bafang’s products, Bafang’s board of directors have decided to establish Bafang New Energy, with a registered capital of 200 million RMB (approximately 31 million USD), in the Suxiang Cooperation Zone.

  Bafang New Energy will serve as an R&D and production base for Bafang’s lithium-ion battery packs. These products, together with supporting motors, controllers, and instruments, constitute a complete electrical system package. Customers can therefore enjoy a “one-stop” purchasing experience. The establishment of Bafang New Energy will help Bafang to leverage its regional synergies and agglomeration advantages, to attract high-caliber technical talents and carry out further technological innovation and cooperation. The new subsidiary will optimize Bafang’s organizational and business structure, clarify business segments, and enhance Bafang’s operational efficiency and comprehensive strengths.

  The Suxiang Cooperation Zone focuses on future-city technology, new-generation electronic information, artificial intelligence and high-end equipment manufacturing. With a total area of 50.58 km2, it is located in the northern part of Suzhou, adjacent to Suzhou North Station of the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway. Major current projects introduced to the Zone, with large-scale investment and high industrial levels, include AVIC, CASIC, Midea, Ping An, and Fuyao Group.

• Standardised labels for correct recharging LEVs

  16:22 Comments Off on Standardised labels for correct recharging LEVs

  Source: ACEM – A brand new harmonised set of labels for electric vehicles and charging stations will start to be used throughout Europe as of 20 March this year, in line with the requirements of the EU Directive on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (2014/94/EU).
  As well as appearing on charging stations, the labels will be placed on all newly-produced electric mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles in a clear and visible manner.

  The aim is to help consumers identify the right recharging option for their battery electric vehicles by harmonising labelling across the entire EU.
  In order to assist both consumers and the operators of charging points to understand these new labels, a coalition of European vehicle manufacturers, charging infrastructure operators and the electricity industry have published an informative brochure. This brochure, in Q&A format, explains the purpose of these labels, their design and in which
  vehicles they will appear.

  The brochure for electric vehicles is now available here: https://bit.ly/2ZZ1hN5

• CAKE wins Good Design Award for the Ösa

  12:57 Comments Off on CAKE wins Good Design Award for the Ösa

  LEVA-EU member CAKE, the Swedish manufacturer of lightweight electric performance motorcycles, has won the prestigious Chicago Athenaeum’s 2020 GOOD DESIGN Award for the Ösa electric motorcycle.

  Founded in Chicago in 1950 by Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames, GOOD DESIGN remains the oldest and the world’s most recognized program for design excellence worldwide. The 70th GOOD DESIGN jury made selections from over 48 nations worthy of the GOOD DESIGN Award for their Design Excellence. GOOD DESIGN represents the world’s critical mass of the design and manufacturing industry representing the best consumer design ranging from the ‘spoon to the city’ for sustainability, superior design, and unparalleled function.

  “Being acknowledged and rewarded by The Chicago Athenaeum is truly inspiring and energetic. This will charge us up as a team and moving forward at an even higher pace,” says Stefan Ytterborn, CEO & Founder of CAKE.

  CAKE’s motorcycles are built with a purpose to inspire people to contribute to speeding up the journey towards a zero-emission society by combining excitement and responsibility. Apart from being a light, clean, and quiet electric motorcycle, the Ösa is derived from the diversity of work and differentiated needs of the customer. What to bring and what to carry varies greatly between the office worker and the craftsman, and the roads toward the destination include highways and trails and everything in between. As a result, CAKE’s solution was to build an electric and modular utility commuter vehicle that serves a wider range of riders with off-road capabilities.

  Heavily influenced by the workbench, the Ösa design features a large gray bar extending out from underneath the seat. This uni-bar, modular, clamp-on system serves as the heart of the Ösa, allowing users to attach baskets, bags, tools, and more to create over 1,000 different possible configurations. It also features a powerful battery with multiple outlets, meaning the Ösa doubles as a power station on wheels, enabling the rider to be completely independent, off-the-grid.

  To learn more about the 2020 GOOD DESIGN Award winners, visit good-designawards.com/winners/. 

• Commission’s Battery Proposal is existential threat for LEV-market

  12:29 Comments Off on Commission’s Battery Proposal is existential threat for LEV-market

  LEVA-EU’s in-depth analysis of the Commission’s proposal for a new Battery Regulation shows no less than an existential threat to the EU market for light, electric vehicles. LEVA-EU has made proposals to the Commission for essential amendments.

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  The Commission has published a proposal for a new Battery Regulation in December last year. The proposal is aimed at improving the sustainability and safety of batteries throughout their entire life. Long-term sustainable batteries are key for the goals of the European Green Deal and contribute to the zero-pollution ambition set in it.

  The Commission explicitly acknowledges the issues of batteries for light electric vehicles. They propose to categorise these batteries as portable batteries. However, the conditions set out for this categorisation are such that certain light, electric vehicles (LEV) will be prevented from coming on the market.

  The idea is that sealed LEV-batteries of less than 5 kg will be considered portable batteries, but only on condition that they are used in wheeled vehicles with a seating position, with a motor of less than 750 W to be powered by the motor alone or by a combination of motor and human power.

  This would mean, among other things, that one and the same battery becomes either portable or electric vehicle battery depending on the wattage of the motor. A speed pedelec in L1e-B with a 500W motor would have a portable battery. That exact same battery in a speed pedelec with a 750W motor becomes an electric vehicle battery. All batteries in e-scooters, e-monowheels, e-hoverboards and self-balancing vehicles, etc. will be electric vehicle batteries because they don’t have a seating position.

  It is simply impossible for LEV-battery producers to comply with electric vehicle battery regulations. The requirements concerning carbon footprint declaration, technical documentation, registration, extended producer’s responsibility, electronic exchange of information, battery passport, collection targets, information on performance and durability and mandatory declarations of levels of recycled content, followed by mandatory levels of recycled content are simply unachievable. It is also very debatable whether these requirements are necessary and adequate for LEV-batteries.

  Even if the manufacturer would be able to implement all this, it would have a huge impact on the price of the battery and therefore also on the vehicle. The battery already has an important share in the vehicle price. Further big increases will price the vehicles out of the market in favour of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

  Another major issue is the fact that a lot of the responsibilities fall on the producer, who first puts the battery on the market in a member state. In a large majority of cases, that will be the vehicle producer or importer. Under electric vehicle battery rules, that producer will be charged with duties beyond his competence.

  If the Commission pursues the proposal for LEVS, it will kill off all LEV-production involving electric vehicle batteries for lack of availability. This concerns electric motorcycles, electric quadricycles, electric mopeds, e-scooters, e-monowheels, e-hoverboards, self-balancing vehicles, L1e-A powered cycles with electric vehicle batteries, speed pedelecs with electric vehicle batteries, e-cargocycles with electric vehicle batteries. The only surviving market will be for e-cycles with pedal assistance up to 25 km – 250W. As a result, the transition from ICE-vehicles to LEVs will be reversed, all R&D made unnecessary and innovation made impossible.

  LEVA-EU does agree that efforts are needed to improve the sustainability, longevity and recyclability of Li-Ion batteries for LEVs. However, these efforts need to be well-founded, proportionate and aimed at promoting LEVs, not at pushing them out of the market. LEVA-proposes to solve the issue as follows.

  In the new Regulation, a separate battery category should be created for all LEVs in the scope of Regulation 168/2013, as well as for all LEVs excluded from this Regulation through Article 2.2. The Commission also needs to enter into a long-term dialogue with the LEV-sector. This will benefit legislation that is specifically adapted to LEV-batteries. The Commission should provide for and organise the necessary studies to analyse the market of LEV-batteries. The study results in combination with the above-mentioned dialogue should allow for adequate and proportionate measures for LEV-batteries.

  And finally, the Commission should officially acknowledge LEVs in all EU battery-related policies. LEV-battery stakeholders should be involved in all initiatives aimed at furthering sustainable battery development and production both in and outside the EU. There are currently many EU battery-initiatives, involving investments worth billions. These are however fully focused on batteries for cars, vans and busses. Last year, at least 10 million LEVs have been sold in the EU, compared to only half a million battery electric vehicles (BEV). It is high time for the Commission to recognise that LEVs have a major stake in the field of batteries.

  LEVA-EU’s full position paper is here: https://bit.ly/2PdD7fI

  For further details, please contact LEVA-EU Manager, Annick Roetynck, tel. +32 9 233 60 05, email annick@leva-eu.com

  Photo by Christina Spinnen on Unsplash

• France is stingy in financing sustainable mobility

  08:38 Comments Off on France is stingy in financing sustainable mobility

  In May 2020, France introduced the so-called “Forfait Mobilité Durable”, a financial incentive to encourage employees to commute sustainably. The conditions for 2021 have been slightly adjusted. A comparison with Belgium shows that France is skimping on sustainable mobility.

  In the private sector, an employer may intervene up to a maximum of € 500 per year in the purchase of a conventional bicycle or an EPAC, but also in the equipment, accessories, repair and insurance. “May”, because the measure is voluntary. The same intervention is also allowed in the use of shared e-scooters and self-balancing vehicles.

  That amount is exempt from taxes and social security. The employer may contribute more, but everything above € 500 is subject to social security and tax and the employees will also have to declare it as income. Some employers grant their employees a kilometer allowance (Indemnités Kilométriques Vélos – IKV). They can continue to do so, but that fee must be deducted from the € 500.

  This is a peculiar measure because it discriminates against workers who live further from their work. If you commute a decent distance with a speed pedelec, for example, you will soon reach that ceiling of € 500. And that, while it is precisely employees who live far from their work who need extra motivation to switch to sustainable mobility. In the 365SNEL project in Belgium, 20% of the test riders definitely switched to a speed pedelec. A total of 15% previously used a car. In Belgium they can enjoy a tax-free mileage allowance up to € 0.24. The project showed that they drove an average of 21.6 km per day. Assuming 220 working days per year, this results in a tax-free extra of € 1,140, ​​a lot higher than what France is allowing.

  The scheme for employees in public service is different. There, a maximum contribution of € 200 is provided for each employee who uses a bicycle or an EPAC to commute. They must do this for a minimum number of days per year, based on their working time. However, this € 200 cannot be combined with, for example, financial compensation for a subscription to rent an (e)-bike for commuting. In Belgium there is no distinction between employees in the private and public sector. It is not entirely clear to us why France makes this distinction. “L’Hexagone” appears to be willing to invest in sustainable mobility, but it should not all cost too much. Perhaps someone in Paris should carry out an in-depth study and calculation of the internalisation of external costs and benefits of the different transport modes. This will quickly show that skimping on sustainable mobility is not really a profitable policy that benefits society. Molière’s “miser” is long dead.

  Annick Roetynck

  Picture: European Mobility Week

• PIVOT POWERS UP GRAVEL AND BEYOND

  22/02/2021 09:51 Comments Off on PIVOT POWERS UP GRAVEL AND BEYOND

  Tempe, Arizona – LEVA-EU member Pivot opens up new riding horizons with the E-Vault. Evolved from the acclaimed multi-surface Vault, the E-Vault is a refined fusion of technology that bolsters human capability with electric assist, expanding possibilities and exploring limits.
  
  Evolved from the acclaimed all-terrain all-star Vault, the E-Vault is a lightweight, responsive, nimble handling machine that is equally at home on city streets as it is on gravel missions in the back of nowhere. Pivot’s proprietary carbon fiber construction minimizes weight, optimizes strength and responsiveness, and incorporates functionally elegant design touches such as patent-pending ISO-FLEX ride damping and massive tire clearance. A Fazua motor and battery module is unobtrusively integrated into this versatile chassis, amplifying rider inputs when desired and radically enhancing the potential of every ride.
  
  “This bike is a game changer,” says Chris Cocalis, Pivot’s founder and CEO. ”With the stealth  incorporation of a motor and battery into what is already an incredibly versatile platform, the E-Vault brings a whole new level of fun and adventure to pavement and gravel riding. It can enable riders of vastly different strength and endurance to enjoy riding together, and it will allow riders of all levels to up the fun factor as well as expand the range and the terrain that they currently enjoy.”

  Featuring a motor that can be adjusted on-the-fly to three different levels of assist ranging from 100 and 250 watts, the E-Vault can provide a gentle tailwind at the end of a long ride, or it can be the secret key to a killer sprint. A powerful 252 watt-hour battery fuels ample range for back of beyond exploration, and an ingenious gearbox decouples completely for natural, drag-free riding when the motor is not needed. Most e-assist motors do not decouple like this, rendering non-assist riding akin to pedaling through quicksand. The E-Vault allows riders to power-up their riding when needed, yet still enjoy responsive, lively performance when pedaling by muscle alone. This synthesis of muscle and motor ushers in a whole new world of riding; a world where boundaries fall away and possibilities are limitless.

• Bafang Receives UL 2849 Certificate for Mid Motor

  09:47 Comments Off on Bafang Receives UL 2849 Certificate for Mid Motor

  On February 9, 2021, LEVA-EU member Bafang Electric was awarded the UL 2849 certificate, the first mid motor UL certificate in China. The certificate awarding ceremony was held both online and offline. Mr. Qinghua Wang, Chairman and General Manager of Bafang, Mr. Xiukun Yu, Vice President of UL, and senior staff from both sides attended the meeting to witness this significant moment together.

  

  The electric bicycle industry has been booming in recent years. As the first electric drive system manufacturer in China to pass the UL 2849 test and become certified, Bafang has received a green light to enter the North American market.

  During the ceremony, Mr. Qinghua Wang delivered a speech: “We are pleased to be the first company in China to receive the UL 2849 certificate for mid motor. Bafang’s goal is to produce innovative, high-quality products for our customers and offer a comfortable riding experience. We will face up to every challenge, strive to develop new and innovative products, and set a new benchmark for the industry.”

• LEVA-EU launches Wechat account

  16/02/2021 16:39 Comments Off on LEVA-EU launches Wechat account

  On 17 February 2021, LEVA EU launches its official Chinese Wechat (the primary social media platform in China) account, with the goal of bridging the information gap and sharing LEVA EU updates with Chinese contacts.

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  “We have been cooperating and working with our Chinese members and partners very actively from the start of our association“, LEVA EU Manager Annick Roetynck says, “but with the help of this Wechat account, we hope to bring our relationship and communication even closer. We know a lot of our European members also use this tool when working with their Chinese partners, and we hope they can share the channel with their Chinese network, who can surely benefit from the information we will publish.“

  LEVA EU China Affairs Director, Dennis Hu, explains “the Wechat account will share related information on a monthly basis, with a mission to create a closer and deeper connection between Chinese associates and members, and the European market.” He added the invitation, “Please do follow our account and we hope to interact with you all soon!“

  You may scan and follow LEVA EU’s Wechat account as below.

  

  

• Taipei Cycle D&I Awards Highlight Most Innnovative Products

  16:21 Comments Off on Taipei Cycle D&I Awards Highlight Most Innnovative Products

  Taipei Cycle online will take place from March 3 to 31. During the exhibition, numerous events will be held to highlight the latest developments in the global bicycle industry.

  Taipei Cycle d&i award-winning products will be on display at the Innovative Design Award Pavilion. This year, d&i awards were bestowed on a total of 38 products, six of which won a gold award. The complete list of winners will be announced at the pre-show news conference and awards ceremony on February 24, 2021.

  There were nearly 110 entries from all around the world for this year’s d&i awards. Of the five categories in the competition, the fiercest competition was in parts, components and cycling accessories. The other categories were complete bicycles, e-bikes, drive units and smart cycling services.

  Most judges expressed surprise at the large number of innovative product designs this year, in spite of the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that the integration of individual components into the design of complete bicycles was more comprehensive than in the past and that overall product design was more detailed. In addition, the pandemic has powered the bicycle industry’s growth, countering the trends seen in other sectors.

  For more information on Taipei Cycle, please click on this link.