E-Bikes: Markets, Technologies & Outlooks

Mr. Nick Rothman, Co-Founder of Green Gears Inc.

Nick Rothman, Co-Founder of Green Gears Inc., discusses the growth of electric bicycle markets in Asia, the U.S., and rest-of-world, and compares ebike technologies by Chinese, Japanese, European, and American makers.

The session also addresses the use of lithium ion versus lead batteries for ebikes and explores various alternatives to personal transportation, including the outlook for vehicle sharing.

Nick has been involved in the growth of alternative transportation since 1995, specializing in vehicle efficiency and advanced battery technology. An expert in hybrid vehicle repair, Nick co-founded Green Gears in 2007 to push smart transportation technology to the consumer as efficiently as possible.

He currently coordinates all the installations and provides customer support for A123 Systems plug-in hybrid conversion systems and is the lead tech on Toyota Prius PHEV conversions for PG&E, Google, San Francisco City and County, UC Davis and many others. The company has performed about 70% of all the plug-in hybrid conversions in the U.S. In the ebike space, Nick founded Extreme Green Machines, a large electric bicycle and gas scooter retail shop in San Francisco, and currently directs maintenance activities for Blazing Saddles Bike Rentals in S.F. He teaches battery technology and hybrid vehicle technology at City College of San Francisco and is principal author of “The Electric Bicycle Handbook” (2011) and sole author of “The Homemade Plug-In Hybrid” (2011).

Immediately following the session, we’ll have a short-networking reception from 5:30 – 6:15PM. This is the seventh session in the US-Asia Technology Management Center’s autumn quarter weekly series on “Green Technologies in Transportation: Recent Developments from Asia.”

Presented by the US-Asia Technology Management Center in Stanford’s School of Engineering, with additional series support from SunBridge Partners and The Miner Foundation.

Stanford University * Gates Building, Room B1 Hewlett Packard Auditorium
Thursday, November 15, 2012
4:15PM ~ 5:30PM