Xiaomi makes probably everything that you can think of. The brand has made phones, laptops, shoes and even toothbrushes, but now it’s eyeing a whole new segment which is electric bikes. With most countries looking at alternatives to fossil fuel, electric bikes are turning into an economical source of transportation.
And Xiaomi is the latest name to venture into this space with its Himo T1 electric bike. The company has launched it in China, but it would likely bring them to India. It’s priced around Rs 31,000 (in Indian currency equivalent), and Xiaomi claims the Himo T1 can run up to 120 km on a single charge.
It’s not as if there aren’t other options, but pricing and quality has been a challenge to meet for many existing manufacturers. With Xiaomi, the industry could get a big boost.
Speaking about the electric bike, as you can see above, it has all the traits of a typical Xiaomi product. Clean and simple design, with functions that’ll be easy to operate. The bike carries a 350W brush-less permanent magnet motor and gets powered up by a start button.
The handle of the scooter is complimented with an electronic display, which will show details like kilometers covered, your riding speed and possibly time as well. It houses a bright headlight, LED unit most probably and 90mm wide tyres are supported by hydraulic disc and rear drum brakes for safety while riding.
Its power support is handled by a massive 14,000mAh (or 14Ah) rechargeable battery but we don’t know how long will it take to fully charge.
What might be worrying is that Himo T1 weighs merely 53 kg, and even if the bike goes at a top speed of 25km, the brakes can tend to be slightly overwhelming for its feature set. This bike, however, in China will be available through a crowdfunding model, costing 2,999 Yuan (Rs 31,000 approx) and goes on sale from 4 June onwards.
Clearly, electric bikes like these are the future, and even though it costs more than a conventional two wheeler, its long term gains are worth taking note of. India could surely do with some of these in the coming years and we’re hopeful Xiaomi brings it to our shores sometime soon.
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