Tag: affordable

Affordable, easy to use and slick looking!

Yura

The Propella 7S electric bike is many things. It’s lightweight. It’s good looking. It’s affordable. The one thing it isn’t, is overly complicated. This e-bike is as simple as it gets and that is part of what makes it so attractive as a commuter e-bike.

If you remember our review of the Propella SS 4.0 last summer, you’ll already be familiar with the most important aspects of the Propella 7S.

The SS is simply the single-speed version of this bike, and otherwise is mostly identical.

While I enjoyed the SS as a great urban e-bike for flat cities, the 7S model adds a 7-speed transmission that is sure to be praised by commuters living in hillier areas and that want the ability to downshift for hill climbing or upshift for flat land speed.

You can check out my test riding of the Propella 7S in my succinct video review below. For an even more detailed analysis, though, keep reading afterwards for all of the details.

Propella 7S e-bike video review

Propella 7S tech specs

  • Motor: 250 W (400 W peak) Bafang rear geared hub motor
  • Top speed: 30 km/h (18.5 mph)
  • Range: 32-64 km (20-40 mi) depending on pedal assist level
  • Battery: 36V 7Ah (250 Wh)
  • Charge time: 2.5 hours
  • Weight: 16.8 kg (37 lb)
  • Frame: Aluminum alloy
  • Brakes: Shimano mechanical disc brakes
  • Tires: CST XPEDIUM 700C x 35
  • Extras: LCD display with speedometer, battery gauge, PAS level indicator, odometer, tripmeter, 5 speed settings, mounting points for racks/fenders, alloy bar ends, metal pedals, compact charger
  • Price: $1,249 (but sometimes on sale for $1,099)

Everything you need (almost), and nothing you don’t

When it comes to the Propella 7S, you have to go into this e-bike knowing what it’s for and what it isn’t for.

This is an urban-oriented e-bike, which means it is meant to be light and efficient. Tipping the scales at 37 lb (16.8 kg), it weighs significantly less than many other urban e-bikes we’ve seen.

It isn’t a powerhouse since it has a relatively small 250 watt motor, but it still puts out a peak of 400 watts to give you the extra power you need on acceleration or hill climbing.

But this isn’t some motorcycle in an e-bike’s clothing. This is the epitome of an electric bicycle designed for pedaling. It’s a Class 1 e-bike, meaning it lacks a throttle and operates only on pedal assist. You get five levels of pedal assist to choose from ranging from Level 1, where you’re doing most of the work, all the way up to Level 5, where you basically just have to lightly spin the pedals and let the motor do the work for you.

At full speed it will get you up to 18.5 mph, which might sound like an odd figure but is likely there because it translates to 30 km/h. I would have loved to see them give us that extra 1.5 mph allowable under Class 1 e-bike laws, as 20 mph would have

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Stellantis: Vehicle marketplace could collapse if EVs really don’t get more affordable

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A person of Europe’s major automakers warned soon after a deal to stage out combustion engines that the field is doomed except if EVs get less highly-priced.

Stellantis is aiming to slash the value of earning electrical cars 40 p.c by 2030, Main Production Officer Arnaud Deboeuf said Wednesday.

The producer of Fiats, Rams, Jeeps and Peugeots, among other people, programs to manufacture some parts in-house and also tension suppliers to cut the price of their products.

If EVs never get cheaper, “the marketplace will collapse,” Deboeuf reported at the company’s Tremery manufacturing unit in France. “It can be a big challenge.”

Stellantis is scheduling to introduce far more than 75 full-electric powered versions this 10 years and completely transform at least some of its French motor vehicle vegetation to make EVs. Though the firm is paying out massive on the rollout, it is pledging to retain robust returns, relying on additional earnings from software package and products and services as well as some high quality cars.

EV rates are going up rapidly. Tesla lifted selling prices as considerably as $6,000 per car this month, pursuing related hikes before this 12 months from Rivian, Hummer and Ford. Climbing raw-materials fees are rendering some battery-run types unprofitable, Ford Main Money Officer John Lawler stated at an trader meeting before this thirty day period.

European Union nations around the world this week endorsed a force to eliminate carbon emissions from new cars by 2035. With EU lawmakers in favor of giving up fossil fuels in the automobile sector, it’s really probably that most brands will have to change to creating EVs in minimal additional than a ten years.

When Stellantis will comply with the determination, coverage makers look to “not treatment” regardless of whether automakers have enough raw elements to underpin the shift, CEO Carlos Tavares explained Wednesday.

Bigger demand from customers for EV batteries among 2024 and 2027 — a time period in advance of extra European ability is owing to come on-line — will profit Asian producers and “set at possibility” mobile output in the West, Tavares claimed during a manufacturing facility stop by in Metz in northeastern France.

Stellantis is developing 5 huge battery factories throughout North The us and Europe to produce 400 gigawatt-hrs of cells by 2030. He included the enterprise will never rule out acquiring a mine to safe uncooked-substance materials.

Stellantis is also thinking about to what extent it could possibly deliver its individual electricity to buffer growing costs in scenario of offer disruptions as a result of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We have major places the place we could put photo voltaic panels,” Tavares stated.

The executives were being speaking for the duration of a trip aimed at showcasing how the automaker is transforming some of its French combustion-engine and transmission vegetation to make EV pieces. Tavares provided no guarantees that all European factories will make the transition, expressing that is dependent on no matter if the over-all automobile marketplace holds up.

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British isles vehicle creation slumps to most affordable amount given that 1956 | Automotive industry

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The least expensive variety of cars and trucks rolled out of British factories past year due to the fact 1956, as the marketplace warned that rising strength expenditures and further shortages of computer chips will plague its restoration.

Car or truck manufacturing slumped throughout the United kingdom and the entire world in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, but lots of in the market had anticipated a rapid enhancement. As an alternative, the disruption brought on a world wide lack of semiconductor chips, foremost to an even worse 2021.

Whole United kingdom auto output fell by 6.7% to just less than 860,000, according to the Modern society of Motor Companies and Traders (SMMT), the business foyer team. Its chief government, Mike Hawes, described it as “a dismal year”, with output down by more than a 3rd on 2019.

Jaguar Land Rover’s output for the yr fell by a 10th as opposed with the calendar year right before, but the carmaker managed to regain its title as the UK’s greatest maker, just after briefly shedding out to Nissan in 2020.

Hawes explained the business had managed to cope with the extra charges of Brexit, despite the fact that he added that executives had been viewing new delays at the Dover Channel crossing.

Having said that, Hawes warned that electrical power rate will increase that have also hit homes had been established to add further more to Uk carmakers’ troubles. He explained the industry urgently needed “measures to mitigate the escalating strength prices which are threatening viability,” and warned that higher prices could feed by means of to higher selling prices.

Factories are braced for cost increases of up to 70% when outdated contracts expire. Electrical power is commonly carmakers’ third-best expense, following resources and labour, but the sector is lobbying to be specified as an energy-intensive field in get to qualify for further federal government aid.

However, Hawes explained the business was approaching 2022 with “a large amount far more optimism”, notably as the source of semiconductors rises to meet demand following previously investments by chip brands. He stated he envisioned the industry to return to 1m cars and trucks created each year on a steady foundation – even though he additional that a return to the extra than 1.7m vehicles designed in 2016, the yr of the Brexit referendum, was unlikely without having new suppliers picking out the Uk.

The SMMT did highlight £4.9bn in expenditure announced through the 12 months by the automotive marketplace – whilst that integrated the speculative announcement of £2.5bn by Coventry council in a battery manufacturing unit job that is however to draw in a lead investor.

The selection of battery electric vehicles with zero exhaust carbon emissions created in the United kingdom rose by 72% in the course of 2021, but it remains only a 12th of over-all British isles output.

The UK’s van business carried out considerably much better than passenger automobile makers, with generation up 24% on 2020 and

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