Copenhagen Wheel Project

You all really need to check this out : http://senseable.mit.edu/copenhagenwheel/

Seems those crazy MIT guys have come up with a new take on the electric bike, and I thought some of us on here might find this interesting. This may possibly really take off, especially for the commuter market. Not sure how useful it will be in MTBing but for those who like to do a bit of touring, it may be a godsend. Here's what it does in their words :

The Copenhagen Wheel turns the bike you already own, quickly and easily into an electric bike with regeneration and real-time environmental sensing capabilities. The wheel harvests the energy you input while braking and cycling and stores it for when you need a bit of a boost. At the same time, sensors in the wheel are collecting information about air and noise pollution, congestion and road conditions.

It's not really my sort of thing since I ride for fitness, but it's an interesting development nontheless even if the prototype is only shown on a road tyre rim. It looks like it's not actually manufacturing yet or anything, but if or when they do we might see some other versions come out. Either way, it's pretty ingenious.