Panasonic's newest electric bike features 97km assisted travel range

We’ve shown you countless electric bikes over the past months, but there’s one feature that makes the RX-10S [JP, PDF], Panasonic’s newest model, stand out: it boasts an assisted travel range of a a whopping 97km (60 miles) in “eco-mode” – on a single charge.

Panasonic says that the bike’s motor (see picture below) gets juice every time you hit the brakes, for example when driving down a hill or decelerating (only half the amount if you use just one of the brakes on the left or right).

Powered by a 26V-10Ah lithium ion battery, the bike boasts an assisted travel range of 56km in “automatic mode”, while the “power mode” will get you 48km (one charge takes 5.5 hours).

Panasonic started selling the bike in Japan yesterday (price: $1,900) in white, black, and brown. No word yet on international sales plans.