A U.S. company hopes to expand micromobility access across the globe with an ultra-cheap tool to put pedal-assist on analog bikes, and an innovative battery swapping scheme to keep them powered — two moves that, together, they say could expand the fundamental definition of what an "e-bike" is and how many people it can serve.
At a buzzy Innovation Award ceremony at last weekend's South by Southwest festival, Brooklyn-based mobility startup CLIP announced the launch of the BOLT, a low-cost version of the company's flagship product that clamps onto any bike's front wheel and delivers riders an electric boost.
The original CLIP was already a standout in the crowded e-bike conversion field, combining a battery and a friction-drive motor into one simple device that can be attached and removed in under a minute without any tools, and without significant wear on the bike's tire. The BOLT builds on the concept by adding a swappable battery to that quick-install design, and will be sold in bulk to businesses who want to rapidly electrify a fleet, rather than to individuals who want the flexibility to take their personal bikes from electric to analog.
The BOLT can also travel 20 miles on a charge, compared to the original models aimed at downtown office commuters in Western cities, which ranges between four and 12 miles.
Those changes will allow the BOLT to be sold in the U.S. and Europe for just $250, including two power packs that can be traded out between charges; in developing countries, the base device will drop to a rock-bottom $100, plus a $5-per-month battery subscription service.
"The mission is to democratize access to the e-bike," said Clément de Alcala, CLIP's co-founder and COO. "It’s a great technology, but it’s too expensive and too complex to be deployed quickly. And when we say 'quickly,' we mean 'globally;' we think it’s urgent to reduce emissions not just in the US and Europe, but also in emerging countries."
Where the CLIP fits
According to CLIP CEO Som Ray — who co-founded the company with de Alcala — e-bike access could use democratizing in the U.S., too.
Just as most drivers don't really need a full-blown SUV to complete their daily commute to work, Ray started his company based on the belief that many riders don't really need a full-fledged e-bike for most of their rides, either. Moreover, he argues many would-be riders just aren't able to store, haul, or finance a heavy e-bike that's designed to go long distances — even as they're also daunted by riding a bike without an electric boost at all.
Frequent cyclists, meanwhile, might be hesitant to give up analog bikes they use to exercise on the weekends, but don't have space for a second, electrified cycle to get them to work sweat-free — and so they drive for their daily commutes instead.
"Almost nobody is really riding an e-bike 20 or 30 miles in one go," Ray adds. "So big batteries, big motors, big frames — to take all of that [along] is a bit of an overkill. ... If you're riding to six to eight miles to work, a CLIP makes sense. You just take it off when you arrive, you put it on your desk and charge it, and then you ride it home at the end of the day."
The original CLIP, though, still costs between $499 and $599 — plus the cost of an analog bike itself. While the founders point out that's still only a fraction of the cost of a permanently electrified bike, which averages around $2,000, they recognized that they needed something new to help the e-bike revolution scale, especially in low-income countries where many workers already depend on bikes for basic transport.
Ray says that 30 BOLTS take up the same shipping volume as a single e-bike, and the manufacturing footprint to produce one is roughly five times less than a full e-bike, too. He also argues that the company's larger product line might be a more efficient use of the e-bike subsidies being handed out by state and local governments, and that some of his customers have already secured them.
"There are already, like, a billion bicycles in the world; there is no need to replace them all with e-bikes," he added. "We can just upgrade them. ... For a lot of the population, the bicycle is a means to a livelihood, not just a pure commute. So the ability to do more with less effort is a really big motivator."
De Alcala says the company is already in talks to launch the BOLT in several of those developing nations, where it would be a particular boon to bike rickshaw drivers, maintenance workers on cargo-trikes, and countless other people who make their living in the saddle. The companies are also exploring partnerships with college campuses in the U.S., who like the flexibility of simply removing the motor from a shared bike for maintenance rather than taking the whole vehicle out of service; the benefits for deliveristas, whose work has been scourged by battery fires in some cities, aren't hard to imagine, either.
"We want to expand the definition of what an e-bike is a little bit," her added. "[We want it to be] something that can be deployed anywhere in the world, that offers performance for lots of people on lots of short-leg journeys."
Putting CLIP to the test
Both de Alcala and Ray acknowledge that the CLIP isn't a replacement for a traditional e-bike in all use cases — and after test riding CLIP's "Explorer" model myself, I agree.
The friction-drive motor delivered just enough of a boost to help me up a basic hill, but it didn't have quite the same oomph as the integrated e-bikes I've tried, and required holding down a button continuously to reach its top 15 mph speed. Without the button push, the device still provides a marginal assist, but probably not enough to persuade to a rider who gets around well enough without a motor, and not quite enough to reach the velocities I'm used to without breaking a sweat — though it might be just right for a more novice rider who prefers going slow.
The device's limited range meant I also found myself leaving CLIP at home when I forgot to charge it (to be fair, I am exceptionally absent-minded), and it needed to be charged after almost every round-trip. I also left it at home when I needed to chain together multiple short trips across my sprawling Midwest city, which represents, frankly, most of my overall travel; for the countless women and caregivers who disproportionately stack grocery runs with school pick-ups and the daily commute, CLIP won't be as strong a choice as it would be for the white collar worker with a charging port at his desk.
Still, CLIP was ideal for the kind of four or five mile out-and-back journeys for which I'd usually take a car, like biking to my favorite movie theater or visiting the farmer's market three neighborhoods way. And it also solved a sticky problem that's kept me from holding onto the e-bikes I've tried owning in the past: how to store the damn thing when I live in a place with no garage, steep stairs with sharp right angles, and harsh weather that makes me uncomfortable leaving my e-bike to the elements. At 9.8 pounds, the CLIP was light enough to leave on the bike while I hauled it into my home, and popped off easily if I parked outside.
More to the point, though, CLIP isn't meant to do everything a traditional all-in-one e-bike can do — and Ray argues that's okay, because old-school e-bikes can't do what CLIP does, either. As the product line continues to grow, though, he hopes it can be a missing puzzle piece in a micromobility landscape that still leaves too many people reaching for their car keys.
"From an industrial product design standpoint of view, the regular bicycle is perfect as it is," he added. "But if you're bored of that same commute and you want to do a ride that usually takes you 28 minutes in 15 minutes, you can just put a CLIP on it ... If [the bike] is your means to a livelihood and not a pure commute, it could be really compelling. ... These are the use cases and the lifestyle that we are advocating for."
