The workshop started with the topics of testing and certification of batteries, EMC (Electric Motor Vehicle) and functional safety of e-bikes. Proposals for the extended testing of braking systems and the comparison of simulation and trial with regard to the service life of various types of bicycles including cargo bikes followed afterwards.
Some of the findings from the presentations were made literally tangible through the opportunity to make test rides on the cargo bikes made available by cargo bike provider Ca Go and the brake expert Magura, with and without the Integral Braking System. An e-bike with Bosch’s ABS brake was also on the spot. With the presentation “What can we learn from the Babboe recall” Catharinus Helfrich from Accel-Global B.V. gave an inside view of one of the biggest exciters of recent years.
The second day of the workshop focussed on the standards. Presentations, such as on bolted connections or shock loads on handlebar add-on components when bicycles topple over on the side, went into great detail.
Working group conclusion: “With the communicative evening on the first day amidst the historic bicycles in the museum of the Zedler-Institut, the DVM workshop lived up to its claim of promoting the exchange of knowledge within the cycle industry. But the breaks were also used intensively for the exchange of expertise.”
Text: Jo Beckendorff/Zedler-Institut
Photo: Zedler-Institut