Green Wheel for Eco-Cyclists

Reported August 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Now-a-days going green is where it's at, but when it comes to transportation, many are not able to give up their cars. Now a green wheel could have you peddling to work, not only gas free, but sweat-free.

"I just use my bike to get around everywhere. It is so much faster than public transportation,” Erin Huelskamp told Ivanhoe.

Faster, but when you're headed to work, working up a sweat may not be on the top of your to-do list. But this bike may be the answer!

Architect and civil engineer Michael Lin created the Green Wheel. It has two things most other bikes don't, a motor and a high performance lithium battery. The Green Wheel simply replaces the rear wheel of any standard bike.

Before you even get started, you can program how much speed assistance you want, up to twenty miles per hour.

"I liked it," Huelskamp said. "It was fun. I was kind of surprised by the way the motor kicks in. I could imagine biking over the river and not having as much of a problem."

New battery technology charges the Green Wheel in 25 minutes and has a range of about 20 miles.

"It's exhilarating to get that extra little push," cyclist Greg Elliot explained. "It's similar to a motorcycle and an actual bike. It's a really nice feel."

A Green Wheel for a nice and easy ride!

Soon, you'll be able to link your green wheel to your Smartphone, which will recognize the biker's personal settings and track information like calories burned while biking.

The The Materials Research Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.-USA, and the American Society of Civil Engineers contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Ryan Chin
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(617) 253-6828
rchin@media.mit.edu

Materials Research Society
Warrendale, PA 15086-7573
(724) 779-3003
http://www.mrs.org
webmaster@mrs.org

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IEEE
Pender McCarter
IEEE http://www.ieee.org
IEEE-USA http://www.ieeeusa.org
p.mccarter@ieee.org

The American Society of Civil Engineers
Leikny Johnson
Reston, VA 20191-4400
(703) 295-6413
http://www.asce.org
ljohnson@asce.org

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