ORIGINAL ARTICLE FROM FEBRUARY 2005.
The Panasonic Will has been out of production for some years.

We’re often told that folding electric bicycles are the next big thing, but the technology always seems to be just around the corner, in a container on the high seas or being re-evaluated somewhere far away. In other words, it just isn’t ready.

Why would anyone want a folding electric bike? Sad to relate, there is growing demand – we kid you not – for electric folders that can be carried to the local park in a car boot and toodled around, giving the rider some virtual exercise. A frightening vision of the future if ever there was one: herds of doddery greys ripping up the ozone layer for a bit of fresh air.

But every new technology has its frivolous applications. Somerset is big country and some towns are relatively inaccessible without a car. If we wanted to get to, say, Radstock (not that we ever do), we’d take a folding bike 18 miles on the train to Frome and cycle the remaining eight miles. Actually, Sustrans is working on a level-ish path, but otherwise, think serious hills. An electric-assist folding bike would make a lot of difference.

Similarly, for someone living in the South Hams of Devon, or just about anywhere in the Peak District, this sort of technology would make a Home Counties-style train/bike commute more practical. It sounds easy, but to get our business, and break into the touring/folder, commuting/folder markets, the bike would have to outclass an enthusias- tically-ridden Brompton or Birdy, and to date, there’s no sign of this happening.We’ve seen nothing that can be swung easily onto the train, and/or manage our archetypal 16- mile round journey, but year on year they improve.

WiLL-Power

State-of-the-art in early 2005 is the Panasonic WiLL. Actually, the WiLL has been around for a while, and is  in any event based on the older Porta-Ranger model that was already knocking on a bit when we tested it in 2001.There aren’t many similarities though.The staid Porta-Potty frame has been replaced with one of the prettiest alloy designs you could hope to make the acquaintance of, complete with strangely unmatched wheel sizes – 20-inch rear and 18-inch front.

The power unit is lithium-ion, but this isn’t new either, having first made an appearance in Japan in December 2003, arriving in Europe on the Swiss-made Biketec six months later. Significantly (or perhaps not), Giant came very close to upgrading its Lafree to the lithium system in 2004, but changed its mind. Just to recap, lithium-ion batteries are light, but they need some clever electronics.The Panasonic system has two battery options, one of 160Wh (about the same capacity as the Lafree, but at 1.6kg, less than half the weight), and a smaller unit of 80Wh, weighing just a kilogram. In other words, the weight of the battery is of no real significance in the greater scheme of things.

Panasonic has made the bigger battery available to other manufacturers, but its own folder comes with the one-kilogram job, so don’t expect to go very far.

On the Road

First impression on the road is that the Shimano SIS 7-speed derailleur is missing at least one gear at the top end.This is quite common with Japanese folders, which leaves you wondering how they ride ‘em over there. Do all cyclists wobble along at 12mph? Or is it just the folding bikes that get left in the gutter when bicycles, mopeds, car and trucks roar away from the lights? We’d love to know.

The result of limited gearing is a strictly limited top speed. You can cruise at around 12mph, but even in a knee-spinning emergency, you won’t go much over 14mph with a 61-inch top gear. This is seriously debilitating stuff and leaves the Panasonic floundering in the wake of all but the humblest unassisted folding bikes on the flat. We wouldn’t even attempt to storm the rolling Somerset downs with gears like this. More usefully, bottom gear is low too. At 28 inches, it would be low by any standards, but on a crank-driven electric bike, a gear like this will climb any hill South Somerset can produce, albeit at a snail’s pace. Again, we’re confused. Are Japanese suburbs very, very hilly?

Rolling resistance is acceptable, rather than exciting.The 40psi Cheng Shin tyres are a ‘trad’ design, so don’t expect sparkling performance. Actually, they roll quite well at 50psi, hitting 13.3mph on our test hill, but this is a big bike, and these days we expect 20-inch machines of this size to coast a good 1mph faster than that.

The 107cm wheelbase and handlebar height of 97cm are acceptable, but at 79cm – 94.5cm (plus another centimetre or two for the daring) the saddle height is a shade low. The general impression, from the low saddle, uninspiring gear ratios and lethargic tyres is that the Panasonic would be blown away by most unassisted folders in the traffic light Grand Prix. Not a very good start.

Power Assistance

In common with all the best electric bikes, the Panasonic drive system is almost invisible. The motor is part of the bottom bracket, and more or less hidden by an oversize chainguard. The tiny battery sits above it, but you could mistake it for a bit of frame tube or a water bottle.

The power switch is on the handlebars, offering two levels of assistance, or nothing if you prefer.The ‘Off’ setting leaves you with a typical, under-geared folding bike as one might expect, and ‘Lo’ is too Zen-like to be worth discussing. It sort of whispers encouragement. ‘Hi’, on the other hand, offers quite  perky acceleration, as a torque-sensor engages the motor to match your pedal strokes.This feels exciting, but it’s all over very quickly. Above 10mph in top gear, the motor begins to run out of steam, and by 12mph, your legs are whizzing a shade faster than most of us would prefer, and you’re on your own. Progress continues thus until you confront a steepish hill, which the bike saunters up in one of its higher ratios, only dipping into the 300 watt peak power reserves on the steepest bits. Our meanest, cruellest gradient is 17% (1:6) and the Panasonic rasped gently up in 2nd gear – we never found an opportunity to use 1st in anger.

This steady, but rather tedious progress continues for about three miles, at which point the first of three ‘fuel’ warning lights flicks off (the separate battery gauge still showing four out of five lights, incidentally). At seven miles the second instrument light is extinguished, with the battery still displaying two out of five. Rather disturbingly, the battery meter then goes from half to empty in less than a mile, and by 7.8 miles, both gauges are flashing, indicating reserve. It then changes its mind, and does another three miles before conking out at 10.8 miles. Average speed is a woeful 10.6mph.

This sounds rather dismal against electric bikes that can run for twenty miles or more at 17-18mph, but at 17.3kg, the Panasonic is the lightest electric bike on the market. Not that long ago, we were testing conventional folders weighing that much, so it’s quite a good performance all things considered. And in hilly country, 10.6mph is better than it sounds.

Charging is excellent. Lithium-ion batteries need clever technology to stop them going pop, and the same mysterious electronics give an uneventful and rapid charge of about one hour 40 minutes – the fastest we’ve seen (Panasonic suggests 40 minutes longer). Mind you, it’s also the smallest battery we’ve seen. Efficiency, both charging and running, is similar to the NiMH-powered Lafree. Power consumption is a nominal 7.4Wh per mile, or 10.7Wh if charging losses are taken into account, as they must be, unless you have your own solar/wind/hydro power plant. Just for the record, there are few powered vehicles (except of course, for the traditional bicycle) that can beat that.

Accessories

Strangely, for a machine with a state-of-the-art alloy frame, and lithium-something-or-other battery, the WiLL is equipped with some frightful accessories. The brake blocks, callipers and cables are cheap and profoundly ineffective.The front manages a best stop of 0.54G, which is tolerable, but even with a mighty heave, the rear brake only scrapes up to 0.22G. If you’re wondering how to interpret these G-force readings, 1.0G is the force of gravity, which is a bit difficult to achieve horizontally. A good stop is 0.7G, a reasonable one 0.5G, and 0.22G is pathetic. In practical terms, the WiLL comes with one functioning brake.

The bottom-of-the-range Shimano derailleur we’ve already mentioned, there are no lights or rack, but the WiLL has a little stand, and a bell. Mudguards are those floppy plastic things, which prove better than nothing, but not much. All a bit disappointing on a machine costing £1,200, give or take an exchange rate fluctuation.

…Why, oh why, oh why, do manufacturers never listen?

Folding

Remarkably good. The electrical bits cause no complications, so folding the WiLL is much the same as any other 20-inch job.The handlebar stem has an elegant catch, rather like a convex version of the Brompton U-clamp (a round bar, in other words). Once released, the handlebars fold down and clip into place, something that always gets top marks in our book.The mainframe hinge is a bit trickier, and you need strong fingers to push back the safety catch, heave the lever, and winkle the locking bar from its lair in the frame. Once done, the bike folds in a trice, and with the attractive MKS FD6 pedals folded (best accessories on the bike), it’s done. As usual, one of the folding pedals is superfluous, so they could have saved a few quid there, and in contrast to the handlebar stem, the frame doesn’t clip together, so the package continuously falls apart.Why, oh why, oh why, do these manufacturers never listen?

Folded size is 41cm wide, 69cm tall (or 67.5cm with the useless saddle stem rear reflector removed), and 88cm long. Folded volume is 249 litres or 8.9 cubic feet.That should be acceptable on all but the busiest trains, but it’s a little bulkier than the Dahon Roo/Sparc and much bigger than Honda’s little Compo, formerly the WiLL’s sworn enemy, but now apparently withdrawn.

Conclusion

We don’t think £1,200 bicycles should have rubbish brakes and indifferent tyres, but the Panasonic WiLL is also the lightest electric bike around, and it narrowly outperforms the other two super-lightweights: the Dahon Roo and Honda Step Compo.

With another gear, lighter, more effective tyres and brakes, and a bigger battery, the WiLL would weigh about the same but go nearly twice as far at a sensible speed. It’s not for us to tell Japanese multinational corporations how to run their affairs, but those changes would make it a jolly interesting machine.

Specification

Panasonic WiLL £1,200 . Weight Bicycle 16.3kg Battery 1kg Total 17.3kg (38lb) . Gears Shimano SIS 7-spd . Ratios 28″ – 61″ . Batteries Lithium-ion . Capacity 73Wh . Range 10.8 miles . Full charge 1hr 40m . Fuel consumption Overall 10.7Wh/mile . Running costs 8.8p per mile . Manufacturer Panasonic of Japan . UK distributor Electric Bikes Direct tel 0870 345 0775 mail info@electricbikesdirect.co.uk web www.electricbikesdirect.co.uk