California-based startup Morelle plans to launch an electric bicycle in early 2026 featuring a silicon anode battery that can charge in under 15 minutes, the company said, highlighting rapid-charging capability and high energy efficiency as its key innovations.
The e-bike, which is expected to retail from around $3,000, is equipped with a high-power battery system compatible with Level 2 EV chargers and capable of charging at 1000 to over 1500 watts. Morelle attributes the fast-charging performance to its use of a silicon-based anode, diverging from traditional graphite cell architecture, and advanced machine learning algorithms to optimize battery longevity.
“Our technology is very durable, demonstrating the ability to fast charge every cycle for over 1,000 cycles — but we want to make it better,” said co-founder Kevin Hays. “We have developed a proprietary machine learning model that constantly remotely monitors the health of the battery and dynamically provides improvement to battery life based on individual use profiles.”
Co-founders Hays and Michael Sinkula, who previously worked at battery developer Ionblox, brought on veteran bicycle designer Gary Fisher to lead product design. The team focused on creating a lightweight, high-performance e-bike with a top assisted speed of 45 kph, emphasizing a natural ride feel.
“We wanted the bike to feel more like a bike, and less like an e-bike,” Hays told Forbes. “When you’re worried about range and charging times, you end up putting large batteries on the bike, but that makes the bike heavy and cumbersome.”
Sinkula added that the battery platform could serve broader markets beyond micromobility: “Performance-wise, the kind of battery pack we’re putting in the e-bike is almost identical to what’s required for untethered robotics,” he said, noting that the design addresses similar energy density and space constraints.
Source: Forbes.com, newatlas.com