This Company Makes The Rolls-Royce Of Electric Bikes

The way we move around cities has been changing rapidly in the last three years more than in the decades prior, and more change is coming. Especially in the urbanized areas, where the change is happening faster. The images from around the world of the empty city roads due to the COVID-19 pandemic has raised valid questions on how we have built our cities around the flow of cars and how the roads have taken the centre stage of our city infrastructure. The clearing of air pollution around the worlds cities has added another layer to the debate which brings us to the key question of this article: How necessary is it to own a vehicle – electric or petrol – in an urban environment? 

Living in a city like Amsterdam, where this writer currently resides, gives one a privileged perspective into a functioning urban planning that is designed for the citizens rather than for vehicles, at least in most part of the city. Amsterdam has for many years been in the cutting edge of providing electric charging points, renewable energy solutions, great bicycle lanes (a total of 515km), numerous car and scooter sharing initiatives, and much more. Nevertheless, the amount of cars circulating the city streets has got Mayor Femke Halsema to commit to a reduction of over 11,000 parking spaces by the year 2025, where it currently costs up to €8 an hour to park. The Netherlands is also home to the most expensive petrol (gas) in Europe, with a litre of E95 (unleaded) setting you back €1.60 (at the time of writing). For comparison, in Norway, the litre price is at €1.44. Needless to say that adding taxes, speeding tickets, insurances, maintenance and accidents can make car ownership a costly affair.

I wanted to see how I could potentially replace my car and survive entirely with a bicycle, and the idea of driving an electric bike sounds interesting.

After some research, I ended up testing two bikes from a company called Riese and Muller. There are many others in the market such as Urban Arrow, Cowboy.com, and VanMoof which are cheaper and perhaps more widely used, however I wanted to test the best.

Riese and Muller are a privately owned, high-end manufacturers of electric bikes based in Darmstadt, Germany. They kindly provided me with two bikes to try out: the first one is the dangerous-looking Charger 3 (with an 1125 Wh battery) mountain bike and the second is a modular cargo bike called The Load 75, known here in The Netherlands as bakfiets. 

The Load 75, which starts from €6,400 (tested model costs €8,500) is the top range bike and comes with all the bells and whistles. It is equipped with two 500Wh Bosch batteries taking the range to a an impressive 100km and takes no more than 6 hrs to charge costing peanuts. It has a triple suspension, adjustable modular child seats, 3d moulded seat (you’ll feel the love), a large box for storing anything including two to three children, a carbon belt drive system (goodbye greasy chains), a super-bright spotlight and an outer skeleton safety rims that keep the precious cargo safe. The maximum speed of The Load 75 is 48kmph! That’s 50cc scooter territory. But unlike a scooter, Load 75 is surprisingly nimble and swift around the corners, and is a treat to ride.

The Charger 3 (tested model costs €5000) is a beauty to look at, and a design masterpiece. It is one of the most gorgeous bikes I’ve ever seen, and so many Amsterdammers agree, judging by the number of compliments I got for it. The materials used in Charge 3 are top notch, you can really feel the love and the passion of the engineers who made this. The details and craftsmanship are on point. 

If Batman drove a bicycle it would be this one. 

It looks menacing, strong, fast and unstoppable. And it is all those things. I have yet to find anything, a surface or an obstacle, which could stop it. It just goes. However, unlike The Load 75, the Charger 3 has only one battery and can reach a top speed of 30 kmph with a range of 50km.

The benefits of having an electric bike was beyond what I expected. Everything became better and faster. No matter how bad of a day I had, I just went out with one of these bikes and life started to get better. I was smiling and saluting people.  All typical journeys were halved in time, carrying groceries was an effortless task, and keeping fit was so much fun. 

The benefits of owning an electric bike vs a car are clear: parking is free and available everywhere and unlimited. Bikes have free access to parks, can be left in front of shops and offices etc., which is a huge plus, not even mentioning the obvious health benefits (I ended up biking 20-30minutes every day because it was so much fun, and dropped 4kg in weight over the course of 2 months). 

These are the Rolls-Royce’s of the electric bicycle world.

Sandra Wolf, the CEO, has turned the 450 staff company into a nearly completely sustainable operation. For example, up to 80% of the energy used in-house comes from their solar panels and photovoltaic windows. The roof of their headquarters is covered with green areas for the wild bees, which produce honey for the enjoyment of the staff. Ms Wolff has also eliminated disposable plastics, which is harder to do that one might think. This is a company that thinks sustainability and acts environmentally from the bottom-up, starting from their foundations, therefore creating a future proof mindset towards the greener society, which lead to making great products such as The Load 75 and the Charge 3. 

If one can do all their travels within a city while keeping fit then why should we own a vehicle or even a scooter in urban cities in 2020? 

One reason for the car ownership is the aforementioned weather factor and commuting distances, which in some areas of the world make car ownership the only choice and an understandable one, and another is the infrastructure and urban design which has been built around the vehicle, not forgetting the status symbol a car is in our societies these days. 

 However, many cities like Paris are redesigning their road infrastructure during the COVID-19, to reflect the needs of their citizens and improving mobility and the health of their people.