Xiaomi launches electric bike that becomes friends with your smartphone
A day after launching its very first VR headset, which has the world abuzz, Xiaomi announced the launch of another novel product - the Mi Electric Scooter - on the MiJia crowdfunding platform, which will be made available only to Chinese users in its first lap. What has the internet excited is the bike's unique, state-of-the-art feature of folding itself in just 3 seconds.
The tech major explains that its most remarkable feature is that, at the mere press of a button, the scooter winds itself up in a matter of three seconds, thus making it handier and easier to store. The scooter is also said to have a body made out of aircraft-grade aluminium, and weighs approximately 12.5 kg. With a top speed of 25 kmph, it runs on an LG 1850 Ev-lithium ion battery with a capacity of 280Wh, and can provide an instantaneous high power of up to 500 watts. The bike also has a dual braking system - the back wheel has a mechanical disc brake, while the front has the E-ABS anti-lock system.
The scooter also boasts of something called a 'Kinetic Energy recovery system', which converts the kinetic energy, the energy gained by movement, to electric energy, which eventually contributes to better battery life. It is also a smart scooter, and can be ‘friends’ with a smartphone, which is to say that it can sync with a device and pair with its app, which analyses one's cycling habits by monitoring the average usage, speed, battery life, and so on.
Priced at CNY 1999, which amounts to approximately Rs 19, 500, the scooter will hit the market in China on December 15. This is not Xiaomi 's first stride in the two-wheeler space. They had also introduced the Qicycle earlier in June, also targeted at Chinese audiences for navigating crowded streets, and the Ninebot Mini, a self-balancing scooter. The Mi Electric Scooter is taking on a lucrative market opportunity, as the country already has more electric bikes than cars plying on its roads.
