FAQS

The price starts at 9500 Euros + VAT and shipping.

The standard model of Frikar ebike includes a battery with an estimated range of up to 80km (battery combined with pedal power), left side mirror, summer tires, cup- and cellphone/ tablet holder inside, USB charger, front lights, back lights and indicator lights. For more details about equipment and pricing, read this blogpost.

We are still working on the list of optional equipment. This list will be rather extensive as we try to cover many of the needs of customers all over the world. Factors such as climate, terrain, age, family situation, usability etc. necessitate a wide range of options. Some examples are:Window wiper (manual), window washer, various canopy coatings, different colours and decoration, winter tires (studded and studless), different ventilation systems, extra battery capacity, spare batteries, trailer hitch/ towbar for a bike trailer, extra lights, child seat, vehicle elevator (for easy access and vertical parking), extra theft protection, fabric covers, sound system, BT handsfree, and more to come. The pricing is not finalized. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated!

You can pre-order here: I really want a Frikar ebike!

1) Podbike Reservation. Thank you for your reservation of Podbike Frikar ebike! You have secured an estimated priority for delivery of Frikar ebike for your country and region (zip code). We will inform on our website www.podbike.com about which countries and areas that are prioritized for delivery. By giving us this trust, you help build a green, economical and fun ebike that we believe the world really needs.  2) Date of reservation. This reservation is considered valid from the payment of your reservation. 3) Booking. You are pre-ordering a product that will be produced for you in the future. It is important to emphasize that this reservation is not an order or sale of a Frikar ebike. The reservation gives you an estimated priority for delivery…

The Frikar ebike will be available in all European countries. Availability outside Europe will depend on demand and country regulations. 

The current plan is to have the first commercial e-bikes on the market late in 2022. We plan to start delivery in 2022 to pre-order customers in Norway and Germany followed by the rest of Europe. Our patient pre-order customers in Europe will get delivery after a priority list (based on location, date of order & paid pre-order fee).Once we have determined the order of delivery, we will update the FAQ (podbike.com) and update you through our newsletter. Availability outside Europe will depend on demand and country regulations. 

This is not a Trike, it is a quad.  Quadricycles like Frikar are only allowed without electric assist in some US states. Some US states do not allow quadricycle with e-assist like Frikar. We still hope Frikar e-bike will be available, but US legislation for electrically assisted human powered vehicles are quite clear that only bikes with two or three wheels can be classified as e-bikes, see “Public Law 109-319” here: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ319/pdf/PLAW-107publ319.pdf So with the current legislation, our vehicle is only legal on the street in the US without battery, on pure “bread power” since it has more than three wheels and is thus classified as a car. We have thought of making a three wheel ebike for USA &…

By replacing your car with a Frikar weatherproof e-bike you will save money, get daily exercise and avoid being stuck in the car traffic and struggle with parking. And you will contribute to a healthier environment. We have focused on bringing practicality, design and joy into our Frikar e-bike.

Per Hassel Sørensen (a Norwegian engineer) has developed the Frikar ebike concept and his main focus has been on how to improve a velomobile for making it more suitable for the masses. A lot of design principles are discussed in his master thesis in Sustainable Energy Technology (2015, University of Stavanger/ Norway). The motivation is the ongoing and escalating climate change primarily caused by excessive human consumption of fossil fuels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2Nhp4l2c5A

CARS CAUSE PROBLEMS – They cost a fortune to run with their diesel and petrol engines. They produce poisonous emissions and greenhouse gases and consume massive amounts of limited resources. BICYCLES ARE MUCH BETTER – Both for you and the environment. Unfortunately, few use them for personal transport. The challenge is how to get more people to use cycles instead of cars. Traditional bicycles have been available for over a hundred years but lack weather protection and high-speed capability and offer zero crash protection. Electric assisted bicycles, or pedelecs, remove the burden from pedalling up steep hills or in strong headwind. But they do not remedy the problem of lack of weather protection, nor do they offer any crash protection.…

Frikar e-bike uses series hybrid propulsion with no direct mechanical linkage between pedals and wheels. All energy transfer from the rider to the wheels is done via electric wires. The vehicle uses one 250W motor for electric assist, and one 250W motor for series hybrid propulsion. The battery is a core component of the FRIKAR. It needs to be light, energy efficient, and reliable.  We have chosen an 877 Wh battery. Range: 30 - 60 kmWeight: 5 kilos You can add a power module that can carry up to two battery packs. The batteries don’t require the same level of charge to work well together. Even if they are charged to different degrees, they will still function properly as a single, harmonious source of…

Due to aviation regulations, only LI-ion batteries smaller than 100 Wh are allowed on a plane, and only as hand luggage. Other restrictions may also be present. Therefore, please ask your airline for their indiviudal regulations.

The batteries can be charged inside the vehicle or separately (outside), and they are charged from a regular ebike charger which is included with the bike.

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Podbike dealer. In the beginning, Frikar e-bike will only be available through podbike.com. However, we might be interested in dealers later on. Please register your interest here.

There is plenty of room for one adult + luggage or one adult and less luggage and a child. Child seat (optional equipment) fits a child up to six years or 22 kg (whatever comes first). For bringing more than one child, you can add a trailer hitch (optional equipment) for attaching a bicycle trailer. If not bringing any child (and child seat), Frikar ebike has approx 160 litres of luggage space (so our current vehicle is also a small cargo bike:-).

The full spec is yet to be finalized but here are some preliminary spec (may change): Size: 2360 mm long, 839 mm wide, 1190 mm tall (ride height), 1500 mm tall (raised) Weight when empty: approx. 90kgMax weight when loaded: 210 kgOccupancy: has room for 1 adult + lot of luggage, or less luggage and a childChild seat (optional): Up to six years / 22 kg (whatever comes first)Towing hitch: Yes (optional)Absolute top speed: 60 kph (downhill)Max assisted speed: 25 kphAir & rolling resistance target: Max 100W for 30 kph, about the same as a racing bikeFrikar ebike is designed to be an EPAC/Pedelec within regulations as defined for EU; i.e. max assisted speed 25 kph, max continuous assist power…

2.36 m long, 0.839 m wide, and 1,19 m tall (ride height), 1500 mm tall (raised). You feel like you are sitting inside a sports car with large windows. Fun fact: It is 50 mm higher than a Lamborghini Miura and 50 mm lower than a Volkswagen XL1. Mirrors can be tilted in to get through openings of at least 84 cm. Podbike Frikar size. Weight when empty: Approx 90 kg. Max weight possible with rider and luggage: 210 kg.

The vehicle platform is designed for future semi-autonomous control system that will enable specially equipped Frikar ebike to park and charge itself. The bike has been designed from the ground up to be an ultra-light vehicle platform for both augmented and autonomous mobility. We hope to enter joint-ventures enabling autonomy in future versions, the first step will be limited to self-docking into a special charger/bike-lock. The next step is to make the Frikar ebike perform self-parking in the carousel garage as seen on our webpage. The simple self-parking autonomy functionality has currently higher priority than augmented reality.

The small frontal area combined with a low drag body result in less air resistance than a racing bike.

At the moment our focus is on getting the Frikar ebike (Pedelec version) ready and on the market. Currently, we do not have any plans about making a S-Pedelec. Pedal cycles with motor assist having assist speed above 25 km/h (S-pedelecs) are not allowed on existing bike infrastructure (a couple of countries have exceptions like Denmark that allow L1e-a on bike paths outside city limits). However, the Frikar ebike is more aerodynamic than a racing bike and it will not be a problem to achieve higher speeds than the assisted 25km/h. As the speed might become very high, especially downhill with the help of gravity, we have speed limited to 60km/h for safety reasons.

We will follow the law’s minimum guarantees in Norway to the Norwegian customers. Then we will consider having it as the standard for the whole of Europe, where imposed warranty liability is normally much weaker than in Norway.  We will update this information when we have more details.

Frikar ebike as a sharing service is something we absolutely have thought about. But, it will not be relevant with the first version of the Frikar ebike. Possibly a topic in a few years.

We use three motors/ generators, two that acts as electronic transmission and one that acts as assist motor/electronic brake. The power to the assist motor is limited to 250 W continuous output and 25 KPH speed limit, while the other motor output matches the pedal generator input thus acting as the human powered transmission. This motor works beyond 25 KPH. However, when you use the electronic brake that can be triggered manually, for example by pedalling backwards while going forward, or automatic, when reaching max downhill speed, both wheel motors brake the vehicle. The assistance to speed from the battery is limited to 25 KPH. However, the pedal generator is not. So by continuing to pedal and thus supplying manmade…

Maximum speed is 50 km/H downhill (by automatic breaking system).  Currently we are focusing on Frikar ebike as a Pedelec, meaning el-assist up to 25 km/h +/- 10%. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLLfG0V-pZI Frikar is a velomobile and velomobiles are quite efficient and the streamlined body will help maintaining speed somewhat faster than regular bikes: Our vehicle has approximately 35% of the air drag compared to normal e-bike with rider. With your own pedal power it should be possible to reach more than 30 km/h but we will test this on our test bikes and update information on our website when we have more test data available. Prelim specs: Max speed: 60 kph (downhill). Automatic brake – and recuperation. Max assisted speed: 25 kph …

Uphill the speed is slower than an ordinary e-bike due to larger mass. Due to the advantage of four wheels, it is, therefore, more stable than a regular cargo bike with two or three wheels. It also has a good electric automatic gear that is integrated with the motor solution. This makes it easy to keep a high speed on the pedals even in steep hills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o66ndpZrH9Q Riding Frikar uphill Downhill the speed is faster due to the heavier weight and low air resistance. On flat ground there is faster speed due to low air resistance. Maximum speed is 60km/h downhill (by automatic breaking system).

Many ebike motor suppliers provide torque data for their ebike assist motors. For the torque to be a useful metric to compare assist motors, it must be measured the same way on the ebikes.  However, some ebike motor manufacturers measure the torque not on the motor but on the output gear of the motor drive. While others measure the torque on the output of the bike’s gear system (on the driven wheel. Then the torque measured is only valid in the lowest/lightest gear position.  In addition, different wheel size makes a direct comparison of torque invalid to quantify the level of assist provided by a specific motor solution. For example a torque of 100 Nm gives 40% more assist power…

More technical info in Product Developer Per Hassel Sørensen’s  Master Thesis: “Velomobile: redesign” (2015) from University of Stavanger is available for downloading here.

Yes, we do have IoT plans for the Frikar ebike. If you are interested in reading more about the technical solutions we recommend looking into “Velomobile:Redefined”, the master thesis by Podbike Founder Per Hassel that laid down the design principles for the vehicle. Click here to read the master thesis.

We designed the vehicle to be low noise and at 25 km/h and faster there should be less noise at speed than from a regular bike due to less wind exposure. And due to no chains and softer body the internal sound level should be less than in a standard GF/CF velomobile body. The sound comes mainly from the three synchronous belts and only the one for the pedal generator is inside the cabin. The belts are covered to reduce noise. The bike also has electric fans but they run only when needed so that sound should not be intimidating.

The materials for the Frikar e-bike are selected with recycling in mind.Primary structural components are made of corrosion protected aluminium. Some safety-related details, like the roll-over protection, are made of stainless steel. The body and canopy are made of UV stabilized thermoplastic. For volume production the body panels will be made of fiber-reinforced thermoplastic. That is the same material as used in lightweight and expensive suitcases. Body in thermoplastic and frame of aluminium sandwich is strong and light and can be fully recycled. The bicycle base plate is made of aluminium sandwich of same type as used in some racing cars and is light and stiff. The cover consists of a clear canopy attached to the two doorblades, where everything…

Protective zones to absorb and distribute impact energy in case of collision.

Our driveline uses two motors that are always engaged, one for assist and one as part of the electronic “gear”. And both motors act as brakes. This will recuperate most of the braking energy. This also helps to compensate for low driveline efficiency. In hilly terrain regeneration may increase range with more than 40%.

Two motors, one in each rear wheel, is the only propulsion – no greasy chains. A compact generator propelled by pedals provide human power input. An electronic transmission complying to pan-European requirements for electric assisted cycles. We use a battery pack specially developed for electronic transmission on cycles in Nordic climate.

We use three motors/ generators, two that acts as electronic transmission and one that acts as assist motor/electronic brake. The power to the assist motor is limited to 250 W continuous output and 25 KPH speed limit, while the other motor output matches the pedal generator input thus acting as the human powered transmission. This motor works beyond 25 KPH. However, when you use the electronic brake that can be triggered manually, for example by pedalling backwards while going forward, or automatic, when reaching max downhill speed, both wheel motors brake the vehicle. The assistance to speed from the battery is limited to 25 KPH. However, the pedal generator is not. So by continuing to pedal and thus supplying manmade…

All wheels comes with the same 27-406 rim dimension. The wheels are made of thermoplastic with 60% fiberglass and are very robust. These wheels are also used on heavy-duty cargo bikes that handle twice the total load per wheel. These wheels have not the issues of corrosion and spokes where seen on regular bicycle wheels. The wheels are fastened with a single safety bolt, similar to a Formula 1 car. This makes it very easy and quick to change between summer- and winter wheels. We will offer optional extra winter wheel set with or without studs. With studs the vehicle offers safe travel on both snow and ice.

The speed and torque of the pedals are individually controlled by setting a preferred cadence and load. The cadence has priority: If you pedal slower or faster than the ideal cadence the algorithm will try to keep your ideal cadence by changing load. This is implemented by simulating a standard bicycle gear change so you will experience a step change in load. However, the number of “gears” and the delay before changing “gears” might be adjustable. Also, the pedal load reflects the wheel load so that it becomes easier to pedal when you pass a top and start going downhill.

Frikar ebike uses series hybrid propulsion with no direct mechanical linkage between pedals and wheels. All energy transfer from the rider to the wheels is done via electric wires. The vehicle uses one 250W motor for electric assist, and one 250W motor for series hybrid propulsion, thus it is legal in all EU countries. This may sound like too little, but the vehicle has been designed to be very energy efficient. There are huge losses in the drive train when measured in %, however as most humans can only sustain 50 - 100 W of leg power over some time, the average power loss is small and can easily be compensated with a few hundred grams of extra battery capacity per…

The Frikar ebike is actually a velomobile with fully independent suspension, allowing high air pressure in tires giving low rolling resistance but still offer comfortable ride. The low centre of gravity allow very high lateral forces without danger of overturning so you can maintain vehicle speed through bends and corners reducing the need for braking. The small frontal area combined with a low drag body result in less air resistance than a racing bike. Velomobiles are the best in class personal transport based on energy consumption during production and use. It reduce the emissions from transport by a factor of ten or more compared with electric cars on renewable energy and a factor of at least forty compared with modern…

We have many who want to buy a prototype or test for us in the beginning. In the beginning, the 10 prototypes will be used in Sandnes, Norway and Bergen, Norway to be close to our head office.  Unfortunately, we need to have the test bikes a short distance from us here in Stavanger Norway, in need for tight control of the testing.  During May 2019 all test pilots has been elected and contacted.

We will be at the SPEZI in Germersheim, Germany. Besides that we plan to have testrides in Germany and Norway as soon as the situation with COVID-19 has calmed down. To receive an invite, sign up for our newsletter here. All our pre-order customers will get the possibility to book a time-slot 24 hours before we open up for all.

More technical info in Product Developer Per Hassel Sørensen’s  Master Thesis: “Velomobile: redesign” (2015) from University of Stavanger is available for downloading here.

Frikar is an e-bike with four wheels, providing weather protection. You need to pedal for the assistance to kick-in. You will have electric assist up to 25 km/h. Higher speed needs to be based on your pedalling, as well as wind and gravity. When the speed goes above 50 km/h (only possible downhill) the electric motors automatically starts to gently brake the vehicle. Max speed is around 60 km/h (only possible downhill). The Frikar e-bike seeks to mate comfort and practicality from cars with low environmental impact and healthy life-style from cycling. It will be made from easily reusable materials that together with high efficiency results in personal transport with minimum environmental impact. Frikar e-bike is similar to a velomobile.…

Per Hassel Sørensen (a Norwegian engineer) has developed the Frikar ebike concept and his main focus has been on how to improve a velomobile for making it more suitable for the masses. A lot of design principles are discussed in his master thesis in Sustainable Energy Technology (2015, University of Stavanger/ Norway). The motivation is the ongoing and escalating climate change primarily caused by excessive human consumption of fossil fuels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2Nhp4l2c5A

CARS CAUSE PROBLEMS – They cost a fortune to run with their diesel and petrol engines. They produce poisonous emissions and greenhouse gases and consume massive amounts of limited resources. BICYCLES ARE MUCH BETTER – Both for you and the environment. Unfortunately, few use them for personal transport. The challenge is how to get more people to use cycles instead of cars. Traditional bicycles have been available for over a hundred years but lack weather protection and high-speed capability and offer zero crash protection. Electric assisted bicycles, or pedelecs, remove the burden from pedalling up steep hills or in strong headwind. But they do not remedy the problem of lack of weather protection, nor do they offer any crash protection.…

The wheels are special for Frikar ebike so theft is not very likely. However they do use standard unbrako, or recessed hexagon similar to DIN 912, so everyone with a fitting allen key can potentially remove the wheels. If you want to protect the wheels against theft one available solution is Hexlox, we recommend this type.

The ebike has a canopy that can be locked. But it is a cycle for pedalling so it has to be made of light materials. Those materials will not keep a determined thief away. With the Frikar ebike you will get a key. To open the ebike, you must first unlock the back door and then insert your arm and pull a rope to unlock the canopy. In addition, there will be another ribbon onside the ebike that hang on the rope used to open the ebike. At the end of the belt there is a thin metal plate with a magnet. It will be possible to stick a strap out if you want to be able to open without having…

Information for persons with disabilities in relation to the use of a FRIKAR e-bike. Reduced function in arms:  A person who has reduced or no function in one arm will need to have a more customized FRIKAR E-bike. Currently, we do not offer such customization options, but we have a goal of being able to achieve such adaptations in the future. The steering does not necessarily require both arms, but the issue arises with the need to operate both brakes and the different functions in the left vs. right joystick that serve different functions and the opening and closing of the lightweight canopy.   Custome Pedals or Pedal Pendulums:  If you are currently using special pedals or a pedal pendulum, the…

Minor maintenance costs due to robust and maintenance free propulsion system with no chain nor gears, only pulleys and synchronous belts. Regular maintenance: Replacing the tires when they are worn. Maintain correct air pressure in the tires.There might be wear on brake discs (same brake pads in the front and in the rear).Fill washer fluid tank (if you have this equipment).

We will offer a high visibility flag with a long pole as an option for the riders who want this but we would like to warn that it might give false security: “I tried once to ride with a long orange rod with flag to see if that gave any benefits. But even if car drivers could see the flag behind hedges etc, exploiting my increased visibility did not make sense. So the air drag slowed me down and the flag pole was obstructing low passes. And I actually felt less secure. It seemed some drivers assumed a child on a bike at low speed when seeing the flag and not expecting a velomobile at speed.” – Per Hassel Sørensen.

The Frikar ebike is made to fit people from 1,5 to maximum 2 meters.

Please see this video to see how easy entry and exit is with the Frikar ebike:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqozqTGbOxk The elevator will be available for purchase as additional equipment.

Rain: Windscreen wiper is on our optional list. It will be manual, as in old cars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmEy8EsiELM Dew/mist on the window: Jet wind is led through the ventilation duct along the inside of the windshield during cycling. Electric fan creates air circulation when the bike is stationary. Heater that preheats ventilation air during cycling. In addition the ventilation has large capacity and can be further enhanced by optional electric fan/ demist option. Heat and sun: We have put much effort into trying to solve cooling in best possible ways. We plan to use both IR reflective coating on the surface and IR filter in the material of the canopy. We also plan to offer a removable internal sun shadow made of light fabric…

The Frikar e-bike has fully independent suspension, allowing high air pressure in tires giving low rolling resistance but still offer comfortable ride. The low centre of gravity allows very high lateral forces without danger of overturning so you can maintain vehicle speed through bends and corner. The small frontal area combined with a low drag body result in low air drag.

The bike accommodate riders between 150 and up to 200 cm. This is made possible by: a) adjusting position of pedal generator, b) adjusting rake of seat, c) adjusting steering position. All these adjustments can be done in seconds without any tools. The Frikar seat is a reclining seat, just like on a recumbent bike. Providing great comfort for hours. And maybe it is just a city bike trip, for bringing some cargo or simply yourself.

It can be parked in areas for bike parking and at free parking areas. It can be stored on its rear end to minimize required parking space.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OEIxsdy_TU A special parking solution (garage) is on the road map (see the conceptual design here: Parking Garage) One garage has room for four bikes (parked vertically), locking functions and charging via solar power. Two garages have room for eight bikes and will fit well into one single car parking place. On our road map: future functionality with autonomous operation for storing, locking and charging.

A Frikar ebike is allowed wherever you are allowed to ride a regular bike/ ebike. That means at the bike paths, bike lanes and in the car road. A Frikar ebike is approximately the same width as a regular bike trailer (as is 80 cm). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5knkydp5Wik

The vehicle does not require registration nor a drivers license. It is basically an electric assisted pedal cycle camouflaged as a microcar. That gives you full access to all cycle-infrastructure in cities and suburbs, while saving cost. Type approval is not needed on Pedelecs since it is not classified as a motor vehicle. Frikar is legal as an e-bike across Europe.

There is plenty of room for one adult + luggage or one adult and less luggage and a child. Child seat (optional equipment) fits a child up to six years or 22 kg (whatever comes first). For bringing more than one child, you can add a trailer hitch (optional equipment) for attaching a bicycle trailer. If not bringing any child (and child seat), Frikar ebike has approx 160 litres of luggage space (so our current vehicle is also a small cargo bike:-).

We will offer a high visibility flag with a long pole as an option for the riders who want this but we would like to warn that it might give false security: “I tried once to ride with a long orange rod with flag to see if that gave any benefits. But even if car drivers could see the flag behind hedges etc, exploiting my increased visibility did not make sense. So the air drag slowed me down and the flag pole was obstructing low passes. And I actually felt less secure. It seemed some drivers assumed a child on a bike at low speed when seeing the flag and not expecting a velomobile at speed.” – Per Hassel Sørensen.

The low profile of velomobiles has often been mentioned as a major issue both due to low eye height for the rider and the low visibility. The Frikar ebike is 1100 mm high, and you will feel like you are sitting inside a sports car with large windows. But 1100 mm is 50 mm higher than a Lamborghini Miura and 50 mm lower than a Volkswagen XL1. We agree that there are benefits of raising eye level on the vehicle. That is part reason why we will offer an option to raise the rear end of the vehicle. So the rider eye level can be raised to get better overview. But only when going slow. As the elevated vehicle’s higher…

The Frikar ebike will have lights in the front and behind in addition to the turn signals on each side. This is redundant lights, supplied from two power supplies both front and rear. In case something goes wrong, there is still light. The body will also be equipped with reflectors as required to be street legal in the country it is configured for. That include “Z” marked reflectors for Germany.