Electric bikes are becoming incredibly popular among urban city dwellers for their ability to get people around crowded city traffic with ease. Not only are they usually quicker than pedal bikes, they’re also far easier, letting your tired legs rest without sacrificing commute time. To help promote their efforts in electrification, many automakers partner with bicycle makers to craft electric bikes for their customers. MINI is one of the latest to do so, according to Electrek, partnering with French brand Angell Mobility.
The bikes haven’t been made yet, so we don’t know what they’re going to look like. However, they will likely be ready by the end of the year. you can imagine they’ll be similar to Angell Mobility’s current bikes. Angell is a fairly new bike maker, so it fits with MINI’s new approach to electrification. Especially since Angell’s bikes are pretty tech-forward and even have some automotive-like features, such as turn signals and built-in anti-theft.
MINI’s parent company BMW isn’t really new to e-bikes, as it’s been making electric bikes for a while now, with various different partners. BMW’s most recent adventure into electric bikes came with partner 3T, who helped make the Exploro Racemax Road Boost, a lightweight, trail-ready bike that features an electric motor made by Mahle.
BMW and MINI are far from the only brands to offer electric bikes, though. Every premium brand from Rivian to McLaren makes e-bikes, as they’re becoming immensely popular. Plus, EV customers seem to like getting electric bikes that match their cars, keeping their lineup of electrified vehicles pretty uniform.
Since the MINI bikes haven’t been revealed just yet, there’s no word on pricing or specs. Don’t expect it to be cheap, though. The aforementioned BMW e-boke collab with 3T wore a price tag of $8,999, which is shockingly expensive for a bicycle, regardless of how light and high-tech it is. Angell Mobility’s bikes are also rather expensive, with some of them costing 2,999 euros. As for specs, there’s just no way to know what sort of motor, battery, speed, or range the MINI bikes will have. However, Angell’s bikes are pretty impressive, with ultra lightweight aluminum frames and tons of tech. So it’s likely that the MINI bikes have some impressive specs.
MINI will likely prefer to debut the upcoming e-bike closer to the reveal of its upcoming electric Cooper hatchback. So expect to see the MINI e-bikes later this year.
[Source: Electrek]
