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Rivian's TM-B electric bike

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188 points hasheddan | 2 comments | 22 Oct 25 18:00 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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dreamcompiler ◴[22 Oct 25 19:10 UTC] No.45673731[source]▶
808Wh battery and 100 miles of range. These two numbers track with each other and are roughly believable.

OTOH, with a battery this big, a generator powered by the pedals, and regen braking this thing has to be heavy. I'd expect it to weigh at least 80 lbs. More likely 100. The fact that their "specs" say nothing about weight suggests they're embarrassed about the weight.

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jeffbee ◴[22 Oct 25 21:22 UTC] No.45675314[source]▶
Regen braking is how you can tell this was designed by a moron. The energy balance simply does not favor regenerative braking on a bicycle, especially a bicycle that flippantly ignores aerodynamics like this one does. A bicyclist loses roughly all of their energy to air resistance. It's not a truck. There is not substantial potential energy to be recaptured going down hills.
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1. mvkel ◴[22 Oct 25 22:01 UTC] No.45675706[source]▶
Boosted Boards have regen, and in typical use, it extends range by about 10%. It was an incredibly intuitive system; instead of brakes, you regen your way to a stop.

I don't see how this would be any different. Or, it's certainly not "moronic"

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2. jeffbee ◴[23 Oct 25 02:22 UTC] No.45677488[source]▶
The Boosted board imbued the word "moronic" with layers of meaning that it previously lacked. In particular its regenerative brake, with its penchant for sudden disengagement, literally killed riders.