With the unveiling of the ebii e-bike today, Acer takes a significant left turn in its product lineup.
The Taiwanese business, best known for its PCs, notebooks, and peripherals, touts ebii as a city bike with AI features that learn riders’ particular preferences and adjust gears based on road conditions.
Ace Is Making E-Bike
It weighs approximately 35 pounds, making it lighter than other e-bikes. According to Acer, it has a top assist speed of 20 MPH and a range of slightly under 70 miles on a single charge.
The ebii is lightweight, weighing just over 35 pounds (16 kg) and benefiting from a single-sided fork for the front tire.
According to Acer, it can accommodate most riders between 4.75 and 6 feet tall (145 to 185 cm), but extremely tall riders are unlikely to find it comfortable. The bike will also not break any speed or distance records, with a top speed of roughly 15 mph and a range of 68 miles.
The bike is described as “AI-driven,” which says more about the current state of “AI” as a buzzy omnipresent marketing term than it does about the bike’s capabilities—the ebii app claims to “[adapt] to the rider’s pedaling power, riding conditions, and preferred level of assistance, learning over time for a more personalized experience.”
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Ebii Urban Commuter Price
The ebii also uses your phone’s app for proximity-based locking and unlocking, and the bike contains GPS tracking so you can find it if it is stolen.
According to Acer’s release, the ebii has a “smart LED display” that shows the battery level and remaining range. However, it isn’t shown in the company’s photographs, which instead show a smartphone positioned between the handlebars.
The ebii lacks a built-in screen to display charge level or other features, while some photographs show that you can access that information using the app.
There is no price announced yet, but the costlier components and unique design will almost certainly raise the price over the $1,500-$2,500 direct-to-consumer e-bikes we see launched multiple times a week.
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