Yesterday I visited the workshop of Aerorider because I wanted to know more about this interesting vehicle.

Aerorider is located in in IJmuiden (next to Optima, a manufacturer of recumbent bicycles), and owner Bart de Wert kindly took some of his scarce time to tell me everything about this interesting vehicle – for which I want to express my thanks!

The Aerorider is a hybrid velomobile, which means that it’s a single-seat vehicle which is propelled by a 600W electric motor, supported by the rider pedalling. It is designed for commuting, because commutes are often relatively short distances for which people often use a car.

The design of the Aerorider is a graduation project of a TU Delft student. The entire project was done in cooperation with a.o. Optima, and the Aerorider has been in small-scale production for five years now. The starting point of the design is a very aerodynamic fibreglass body which rests on three wheels. The rear wheel is driven by the electric motor and – if desired – by the rider pedalling. Both front wheels are steered by two side-mounted steering handles, which reminded me a bit about steering a tank. The upper part of the cockpit hinges upward, making entering and exiting the Aerorider very easy.

The Aerorider is a moped by (Dutch) law, and as such has been electronically limited to a speed of 45km/h. Within the built-up area the Aerorider has to be driven on the main road, which I think can be done without much problems. The electric scooters I have driven can also ‘only’ reach 45km/h and at that speed you can usually keep up with the cars. Outside the built-up area you may/must drive the Aerorider on the cycle path. I’m curious how that would work in practice: when compared to a cyclist this vehicle might be a bit big and fast. But maybe it can be done without any problems.

I had my doubts about the option to pedal, but Bart explained to me why it exists. For starters: it can dramatically extend the range. Also: to avoid boredom (much to my surprise). De Aerorider is designed for distances which might take half an hour or longer and he thinks riders might get bored. Pedalling keeps you busy and should make the ride seem shorter. And finally: exercise. Instead of just sitting passively you are working out, at a level of your choice, and that’s something many people could use!

I was allowed to drive a nearly finished Aerorider. The only missing parts were the windows, but because it was great weather that wasn’t a problem. Getting in is very easy, after the large canopy hinges upward you get seated like in a glider airplane. As it is a sealed moped there is no need for either a helmet and seatbelt. After sitting down the canopy can be closed and it feels like you’re in some sort of cocoon. Not locked up, more like ‘nice and safe’. The windshield, when mounted, is fixed but the side windows and glass roof can be removed, which sounds lovely in summer. The seat is very comfortable, there is a curve in the backside and there is even a headrest. After closing the canopy the parking brake can be released and after a twist of the left side lever the Aerorider start to move in nearly complete silence. Steering with the levers takes a bit of getting used to, but after a few minutes I could operate it confidently. Acceleration seemed brisk enough to keep up with city traffic, although it was certainly less than some electric scooters I’ve driven. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise because most scooters van a 1,5 or 2kW motor (against 600W in the Aerorider) and there’s a large difference in weight. Acceleration can be increased by pedalling. The Aerorider has a notched belt drive, which sounds a bit like a tram or subway at low speeds. At higher speeds the sound is lost in tyre- and windnoise. Overall, the Aerorider is much quieter than a car or (conventional) scooter. The hydraulic brakes feel powerful yet controlled. It is possible to move the vehicle by pedalling alone, without support from the electric motor, but you must that you don’t have to cover much more than a few hunderd meters because it’s quite heavy work. It’s only practical as a basckup to move to the nearest power socket when you’re stranded with empty batteries.

In pictures, the Aerorider seems higher (or shorter/narrower) than it is in reality. That made me doubt its stability in corners, but that was unfounded. It’s lower than I thought and the center of gravity is quite low. At no point during my test drive was I scared that it would turn over. The ride is very comfortable, even on the uneven road in the IJmuiden harbour area the suspension smoothed the bumps in the road. The steering is very direct and at medium and high speeds very light. Only at low speeds some force is required to move the handles. The view is excellent all around because of the large glass area. Wing mirrors are mounted on both sides, giving a good view to the rear.

My test drive and my talks with Bart made me even more enthousiastic about the Aerorider than I was before. If you’d have a commuting distance of about 10-20 km (or maybe even more) this would seem an ideal vehicle to me, especially if there are many traffic jams on your route and/or there’s no good public transport. You just buzz past the traffic jams and crowded trains in a small and efficient vehicle which brings you to work for less than 20 cents. Also, solar panels and electric vehicles such as this seem to be made for each other!

Finally: I think it’s a thing of beauty. There’s no accounting for taste of course, but I love the design. It’s both futuristic and stunningly simple. When compared to vehicles like te Twike or the CityEl the Aerorider scores the most beautypoints with me, by far. This design is much more recent than the Twike/CityEl designs. With the Aerorider you are indisputably driving something unique.

Unfortunately, there are some potential drawbacks. First and foremost, the achilles’ heel of all electric vehicles: the batteries and thus range. De Aerorider is availabel with several battery options: one or two lead-acid batteries, or one or two NiMH batteries. Depending on the chosen option, whether or not the rider pedals, temperature, wind and driving style the range varies from 20 to 80 km. Depending on your commuting situation this might be enough, although at lower temperatures the battery capacity and range diminish somewhat.

Then, the price. De base price of the Aerorider is € 7500,-. For this amount of money you get the standard edition with one lead-acid battery, giving a range of 20 km. I you need a larger range a second lead-acid battery can be installed (+ € 300,-) or you could go for one or two NiMH batteries (costing € 600,- or € 1400,- extra, respectively). When confronted with prices like that, my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat. For € 8900,- you get a vehicle costing not much less than some compact cars, but is less flexible in many areas. Of course, the running costs will be much lower, although it’s hard to predict exactly how long the batteries will last. Replacing them is not cheap, but still the total costs per km will probably be much lower than those of a conventional car. Or course, it’s not fair to compare an Aerorider to car directly, it’s in a very early stage of development, practically hand-built and it has some interesting properties a car does not have.

The high price is mainly caused by the fact that the Aerorider is hand-built in small numbers. That’s a frustrating chicking/egg situation: the price could come down if larger numbers could be sold, but larger numbers will only be sold after the price has come down! During my talks with Bart it was evident this was heavy on his mind. It seems like the only way out of this vicious circle is some kind of government subsidy on clean vehicles like this (but this seems unlikely) or some investor who’s in it for the long run, who is willing to finance te starting of larger scale and more automated production. In Bart’s opinion both the time and the technology are ready, and I agree.

A range of 80 should enough for most drives by far, I’ve read somewhere that something like 50% of all car drives are shorter than 10km, and most of these drives will see only one person in the car. For these ind of drives the Aerorider would be perfect; quiet and clean transportation with low variable costs and in which you’re still protected from the elements. It would make cities much more livable; no emission of exhaust fumes (at least not at the location of use), hardly any sound, there’s much less parking space necessary and because its relatively low speed and mass traffic accidents would likely claim fewer lives. Finally moving a light vehicle like the Aerorider takes far less energy than moving a 1200kg car. That efficiency appeals to me.

There was a four year old Aerider in the workshop for maintenance, and it still looked fine. I could hardly detect any wear anywhere when I compared it to the new Aerorider I drove. A broken windshield wiper had scratched the windshield, that was the wordt wear I could spot.

Here are a few pictures of the Aerorider I was kindly allowed to drive around the harbour of IJmuiden:

Photo 1: Overview photo of the Aerorider, as I mentioned earlier without windows. The exquisite streamline of the vehicle draws the eye.

Photo 2: Front view. The frontal area is very small, which, in combination with the excellent streamline, results in a very low air resistance.

Photo 3: One of the steering front wheels with the hydraulic brake. The Aerorider is delivered with moped tyres because that’s mandatory for the type rating, but many users choose to replace them with bicycle tyres because this lowers rolling resistance.

Photo 4: The cockpit. In the front of the picture the comfortable seat. This can be easily adjusted to suit all body lengths. On the left and right the steering handles. The left handle doubles as ‘gas’ handle (accellerator) and it also has the brake handle for the rear wheel which also doubles as the parking brake. With the right handle the rider can operate the gear change and the brakes on the front wheels. Vooraan de comfortabele stoel. Deze is eenvoudig verstelbaar voor diverse lichaamslengtes. Links en rechts de beide stuurhendels. The ‘box’ in the center mounts a simple dashboard with switches for lighting, the windshield wiper and ventilation. Also the speedometer is mounted here, and, all the way in the front, the pedals.

Only time can tell if the cricle of low numbers/high price can be broken. I really hope to see more Aeroriders on the road soon. I really think the product is ready, all it needs is a market.

This short movie shows the Aerorider in action, and it gives a nice impression of how the vehicle can be used.

Aerorider can be contacted here:

Aerorider
Bart de Wert
Industriestraat 3b
1976 CS IJmuiden
Tel: 0255-524636
www.aerorider.com

I have reserved a test drive in a Twike in three weeks, and I also get to drive a CityEl. This will hopefully give me some valuable comparison material between some electric vehicles.