Jeep’s Super Bowl ad teases a powerful off-road electric bicycle
Companies are tripping over themselves to hawk electric vehicles at the Super Bowl, but they aren’t all cars. Jeep has posted a Super Bowl ad that’s primarily meant to pitch the latest Gladiator, but also includes a brief glimpse of the company’s first electric bicycle, simply called the e-Bike. You hardly see any of it (Bill Murray mainly uses it to take a groundhog on a ride), but don’t worry. Jeep’s partner on the e-Bike, QuietKat, has published a splash page shedding more light on what the two-wheeler will entail.
It’s billed as the “most powerful” off-road mountain bike yet, and there are some specs to back that up. The machine mates a 750W motor with chunky 4.8-inch tires that (along with Fire-Link suspension) should handle rougher trails. You can also expect up to 40 miles of range. Electrek suspected that the motor is actually a Bafang M620 unit capable of up to 1.6kW, but it might be toned down to avoid destroying the bike chain or tossing riders. It also appears to have high-quality disc brakes from either Magura or Tektro.
The e-Bike won’t go on sale until June 2020. It’s not certain how much Jeep intends to charge, although it’s clear from the choice of components that this won’t be cheap. It’s intended as a companion vehicle for Jeep owners who fully intend to go off-roading, and that kind of ability seldom comes cheap.
(11)
