Canyon Unveils Velomobile Concept Vehicle
German based manufacturer Canyon is best known for making high end carbon fibre bikes for road racing and mountain biking.
But on Tuesday 1st September the company made a pivot to also embrace micromobility. They released two relatively conventional commuter ebikes, the Commuter:ON and the Precede:ON and released concept designs and images for something much more radical.
The Velomobile is designed to bridge the gap between a car and a bicycle. Large enough for one adult plus a child sitting behind, the enclosed vehicle would be 830 mm wide, only slightly wider than a typical mountain bike’s handlebars. It would weigh about 95 kg
It would be powered both via pedals and two motors
Seated at the rear of the chassis will be two 1,000Wh motors offering a combined 150km range. Between the pair, one will power the vehicle up to 60km/h, which places it firmly in the automotive segment. The intention is that on outer city roads the vehicle will be able to chip along at a reasonable pace alongside other traffic, covering longer distances.
Flip a switch and the velomobile changes its tune, with the alternate motor adhering to the e-Bike legislation for the given region. That, says Canyon, means that the vehicle can hit inner city traffic and shift over to the cycle lane.
Of course such a design would have many regulatory hurdles to jump before going into production. Canyon is predicting a two to five year timeline before product release.
Information for this article came both from Canyon’s original media release and an article published in Cycle Industry News.