General
February 14, 2019
7 minutes read

GM Begins Taking Pre-Orders For New Electric Bikes

The Ariv Merge, a new folding electric bike made by General Motors image : General Motors If you remember, in…

The Ariv Merge, a new folding electric bike made by General Motors

image : General Motors

If you remember, in November, GM launched a naming contest for two electric bikes – a compact one and a folding one – it planned to begin offering to customers. The company is back with a crowd-sourced brand name – ARĪV – for the electric bikes and has begun taking pre-orders for both. The two bikes – the Meld, a compact bike, and the Merge, a folding bike – are launching first in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, with GM citing the popularity of lithium-ion battery-powered electric bikes in those markets as reason.

According to GM, specs of the new e-bikes include :

Approximately 3.5 hours full charging time, with up to 64 kilometers range on a single charge.

Safety components like rechargeable front and rear LED safety lights for increased visibility, and over sized brake rotors to increase stopping power.

Speeds of up to 25 kilometers per hour.

Four levels of pedal-assisted power.

Bluetooth compatibility (to provide metrics like speed, remaining battery level, motor assist level, distance traveled and more) via a smartphone.

Quad Lock mount (to attach a smartphone to the bike).

A USB port that allows for charging on the go.

The Ariv Meld

image : General Motors

The Ariv Merge

image : General Motors

GM designed and engineered the eBikes at its facilities in Michigan and Ontario, Canada. It says the battery designed for the bikes were subject to testing standards similar to that of its electric vehicles. The bikes also make use of a motor that was built from scratch specifically for them by GM.

In Belgium and the Netherlands, the Ariv Meld and Ariv Merge goes for 2,800 Euros and 3,400 Euros respectively, and 2,750 Euros and 3,350 euros respectively in Germany.

More on General Motors :