This Company May Soon Have The Fastest Charging E-Bike On The Market
California start-up Morelle is aiming to release the fastest-charging e-bike in 2026. While most e-bikes can take several hours to charge, Morelle’s e-bike will take just 15 minutes. How is this possible? Morelle’s e-bikes will use a different type of battery than most of its competitors — one that has a different material and more charging capacity.Â
However, there were some challenges Morelle had to overcome to make this battery work, which battery scientist Kevin Hayes and tech development specialist Michael Sinkula were prepared for when they founded the company.Â
A quick glance at Morelle’s e-bike reveals that it’s quite thin compared to other e-bikes on the market. It has the sleek and simple appearance of a traditional road bike, and the battery is barely visible, and that’s by design. “We wanted to shrink the battery to get to a point where you’re not carrying around all this excess battery,” said Hayes to Forbes.Â
“We wanted the bike to feel more like a bike, and less like an e-bike.” In other words, competitors are putting larger batteries on their bikes to ensure the e-bike’s range and charging times reduce “range anxiety,” but the result is “heavy and cumbersome” designs.
Here’s how the Morelle e-bike battery charges so fast
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The Morelle battery can reach full capacity in 15 minutes because it has a charge rate of 1,500 watts (utilizing Level M2 and M3 chargers), while most e-bike batteries have a rate of 100 to 300 watts (Level M1). How is that possible? The bike’s 350-Wh downtube battery uses a silicon anode instead of the usual graphite anode, which gives it 10 times the usual energy capacity. So, why don’t other e-bike companies do this?Â
In the past, silicon batteries were avoided due to their shorter lifespan — while in use, they continue to swell and shrink, which damages materials. Companies have been trying to fight this by creating silicon batteries with materials that can withstand this constant movement, allowing electric-based startups like Morelle to embrace this technology with fewer issues. This is one of the many examples of the booming battery revolution.Â
Morelle’s e-bike battery could also lead to further innovations in technology as this new battery is explored. “Performance-wise, the kind of battery pack we’re putting in the e-bike is almost identical to what’s required for untethered robotics,” said Sinkula. This is due to humanoid robots having restrictions on weight, making this smaller battery perfect for the future’s robot inhabitants.
Is the Morelle e-bike battery any good?
Right now, the self-funded Morelle startup’s e-bike is still a bit of a mystery performance-wise. However, the company has shared some promising figures that should keep it aligned with its competition. The lightweight battery should safely last for up to 1,000 full charging cycles, maybe more, as most e-bike batteries last for 800 to 1,000 charges. That’s just one of the many things to know before buying an e-bike. Each one of these cycles promises a range of two hours.Â
Morelle also embedded hardware and software into the charger that will run diagnostics on the battery to give riders a better understanding of its health and how to optimize its cycle life. If your e-bike battery does start to struggle to hold its charge, you can replace the battery. The Morelle e-bike is currently available to reserve for $50 — the full purchase price will be $3,000. Deliveries will should start in early 2026.Â
