The winner of the "Future City Mobility" competition in London was a new energy generating concept bicycle that doubles as an exercise bike as well as an electric scooter.

The concept bike sports a generator built into the pedal system and a battery that stores kinetic energy generated from pedaling.

The bike operates in 3 modes: Normal mode in which the rider is pedaling and generating energy at the same time; Exercise Mode - where the rider is generating energy by charging the generator while stationary; and Scooter Mode - in which the rider is using the battery to ride the bike as an electric scooter.

The bicycle wheels also contain clear solar panels to aid in charging the battery using solar power. 

While only a concept, the bicycle is a leading indicator of technology that we can expect to see more of in coming years. Solar powered devices are becoming more common, and crank-powered devices such as flashlights and radios already make use of batteries to store power generated mechanically. It's only a matter of time before we see bicycles like this one rolling off the assembly line.

Comments (1)

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written by Sunny Galia, January 01, 2010

This is an excellent idea and hope that it will be developed further to make it a commercially viable option.

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