Xiaomi have unveiled a new, $400 USD electric bike named the Mi Qicycle; the second product it has produced under the iRiding brand.
If you thought Xiaomi producing a drone was an odd business decision, wait until you get a load of this: the company, under the name of its iRiding startup, has released the Mi Qicycle – a fully electric bicycle.
iRiding produced its first electric bicycle earlier this year, named the Qicycle R1, which retailed for a whopping $30,000 USD. Now, Xiaomi has applied its branding to the startup’s newest product, which adopts the Mi moniker previously reserved for the company’s line of smartphones and drones.
Read: Xiaomi‘s Mi Band 2 launches with a $22 USD price tag
The Mi Qicycle weighs a total of 14.5kg and can be folded into half its size for convenient storage. The bike further comes with a 3-speed hub and a 250W electric motor, which can run for 45km on a single charge.
The Mi Qicycle is a smart bike, meaning that it can connect to a companion Bluetooth app for convent updates on the bike’s status, ride stats and GPS navigation. The bike further comes equipped with a handle-bar mounted heads-up display that can depict the time, speed, distance, dynamic power and battery charge.
The Mi Qicycle can further be toggled between four modes; ‘Fitness’, ‘Power-saving’, ‘Balanced’, and ‘Extra Power’. For the safety conscious, the bike further includes a front and rear brake light.
Consumers will be hard pressed to purchase the bike outside of its native China, though Chinese citizens can contribute towards the bike’s crowdfunding campaign.
Read: Xiaomi‘s Mi Box is a 4k Android TV set-top box
What are your thoughts on the Mi Qicycle? Could you see yourself riding an electric bike such as this in South Africa? Be sure to let us know your opinion in the comments below!
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithsa
Source: Xiaomi Newsroom
