Swytch Technology has introduced a new conversion kit that can flip any bike into an electrical bike, with a hub motor, pedal sensor and battery.
Based in London, Swytch first debuted a conversion kit in 2017, elevating $500,000 on Indiegogo.
It then re-launched with the same electrical bike conversion kit in 2019, which was mentioned to be the “smallest and lightest” obtainable on the time. Swytch says it offered 9,000 of those in 2020.
Officially launching in May, Swytch’s newest conversion kit tops this declare with a “pocket-sized” battery mentioned to be across the identical measurement as a smartphone and with a claimed weight of 700g.
This battery powers the hub-based 250Wh motor constructed into the entrance wheel, with a pedal sensor then used to detect if you find yourself pedalling.
“The new Swytch kit is an improvement in every way on the previous version of the kit, offering improved performance, design, functionality and significantly reduced size and weight,” says Swytch’s Elannah Boyce.
Power and vary in your every day commute
Cycling can play a key position in lowering carbon emissions, however the prospect of biking to work – or wherever you might must go – isn’t all the time interesting.
Swytch was based in 2017 by engineers Oliver Montague and Dmitro Khroma, who recognized a spot out there for power-assisted, sustainable metropolis transportation, with the idea that transport shouldn’t be prohibitively costly.
This new kit, and significantly the battery’s measurement and weight, is designed to attain that purpose.
The battery is claimed to weigh 700g and supply 250 watts of energy for as much as 15km (9 miles), which Swytch says can be sufficient for a lot of quick city commutes.
Swytch additionally claims the battery can be charged in an hour, and it can be faraway from the bike when you have to cost it.
![](https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/21/2022/04/Swytch-ebike-conversion-kit-in-pocket-27ecdec-e1649142119258.jpg?quality=90&resize=618%2C413)
There is a bigger battery with a claimed 1,100g weight, which is claimed to offer 30km (17 miles) of vary.
Both new batteries are lighter than the earlier Swytch kit’s battery, which weighed a claimed 2kg.
The new battery is ‘flight-safe’, which means you can take it in carry-on hand baggage.
By permitting prospects to up-cycle an current bike and make it electrical, Swytch says the kit will assist to scale back waste, one thing some riders would possibly discover interesting contemplating the comparatively excessive life-cycle emissions of an electrical bike when in comparison with non-assisted bikes.
The model additionally says the kit prices round 4 instances lower than the worth of a new electrical bike – though it hasn’t supplied BikeRadar with precise costs for the new kit on the time of publication.
How does the Swytch conversion kit work?
![](https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/21/2022/04/10-Swytch-eBike-Conversion-Kit-How-it-Works-and-Components-9f1f55e.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413)
Swytch makes use of a powered entrance wheel to transform a non-assisted bike into an electrical bike.
The conversion kit contains of a battery pack, battery mount, pedal sensor and motor wheel.
The motor is hid contained in the entrance hub and powered by the battery pack, which inserts into the mount and can be fastened to completely different areas on the bike.
The system is pedal-assist, so it offers energy as you pedal. The pedal sensor detects if you find yourself pedalling and a motor controller within the mount attracts energy from the battery for the motor.
![](https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/21/2022/04/Swytch-eBike-Conversion-Kit-Action-Shot-of-Lady-Riding-Swytch-Bike-dd94c92.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413)
This system does require your bike to have a entrance wheel constructed with the built-in Swytch motor. This is a service provided by Swytch, and it says the motor wheel can be constructed to order to any measurement, together with the smaller wheels usually discovered on folding bikes.
Once you’ve swapped within the entrance wheel and linked the related bits, Swytch says your bike can be able to go.
Availability
The new Swytch conversion kit will launch in May and is predicted to be obtainable for pre-order quickly after.
Switch will proceed to inventory the earlier model of the kit till “late summer 2022”.
“Customers wanting to get their hands on a Swytch conversion kit without the pre-order wait time associated with ordering the new one are advised to order [the existing kit] from Swytch’s eBay, Amazon, web store, or contact support@swytchbike.com to check availability in their region,” says Boyce.
Swytch additionally says the new battery design is backwards-compatible with the motor and pedal sensor from the earlier kit. Existing prospects will be capable of order an ‘upgrade kit’ that comprises the elements that match to the handlebar – the battery and mount – to pair with the motor and pedal sensor they have already got.
Latest offers on earlier Swytch eBike Conversion Kit
A rising market
![](https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/21/2022/04/6-Swytch-electric-bike-rider-street-bf399e8.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413)
There’s little question the electrical bike market is increasing and Swytch presents a robust case examine of that development.
Since it started working in 2017, Swytch says it has seen gross sales quantity develop at a fee of almost 300 per cent per yr and that it has grown from six workers in 2019 to greater than 50 in 2022.
In 2020, Swytch offered greater than 9,000 conversion kits to the UK market. Based on obtainable information for whole electrical bike gross sales from market analysis firm Mintel, Swytch says its gross sales are more likely to characterize over 5 per cent of all the UK electrical bike market.
The model now has distribution centres in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia, and in March 2022 it opened its first workplace in New York to service the US market.
Swytch says its prospects have ridden greater than 1.5 million miles on bikes fitted with its kits. Swytch estimates this has saved 17,000 tonnes of C02e, because of the emissions related to up-cycling an current bike in comparison with buying a new one, plus the emissions saved by biking as a substitute of driving.
While Swytch began on Indiegogo, behind this development lies some severe cash. Swytch Technology says it not too long ago closed a £3.8 million funding spherical, which can be used primarily to extend manufacturing from 20,000 models to 50,000 after which to 100,000 as demand will increase.
This funding spherical follows £800,000 of seed funding in 2018 from angel buyers.