The electric bicycle may seem like a recent idea, yet Dutch maker Gazelle brought the Electro to market with Philips in 1937. It was more than a drawing: 117 were sold. That small number shows the scale of an early offering, while the sale itself shows that electric assistance reached buyers long before today’s urban e-bikes.
The Electro’s figures reveal the limits of its era. It weighed about 50 kilograms, had a stated range of 40 kilometres per charge and took a full day to recharge. The arrangement promised help on the road, but its weight and charging time made everyday use more demanding. The story of the e-bike is about battery weight and convenience as much as the presence of a motor.
Production soon stopped amid economic difficulty and the approach of war. The Electro did not lead in an unbroken line to modern models: Gazelle returned to electric bicycles only decades later. Even so, the 1937 machine shows how old the wish for easier pedalling is, and how much time the technology needed to become practical.