Hi! I am not part of the project itself but part of a publicly funded project aiming at making its production easier. Had lot’s of reads and discussions with protagonists of the vhelio.

Vhelio is part of a group of projects funded by the French government to develop alternative vehicles. Some bikes, some electric cars, some things in between.

No one says the vhélio will by itself solve the transportation needs. It is seen as a puzzle piece to fit in a precise niche (urban and suburban trips in flat areas). The motor is too weak for slopes and we really want to make the laws around the power limitations evolve. Anyway, you can have a bigger motor but then the vehicle enters a different category: it is not an electric-assisted bike but closer to am electric scooter.

The part that I find great in the vhelio is that it is open and friendly to modifications. We may be able to circumvent power limitation by putting two motors, someone I know would like to make a version where the pedals only ever charge the batteries and the vehicle is always motor-driven, so that you can pedal at a constant rhythm, much healthier.

The design will have to evolve, several parts are unsafe (notably it has a lot of hard corners and if you hit into a wall at high speed the driver breaks both legs). Another friend thinks it has far too many screws and could be simplified, the vhelio team is working on a soldered frame.

I think it is better to see it as a platform than a single product.