Could the Copenhagen Wheel kick start an electric bike revolution?

Every now and again an invention comes along that stops the bike industry in its tracks. The folding bike, the mountain bike, free-wheel hubs, speedometers; these have all redefined the way we use bicycles. A new invention from Denmark may soon join that list of innovations.

This week it was announced that the Copenhagen Wheel has reached the final of the James Dyson Desgin Awards.

Developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the wheel enables any bicycle to be transformed into an electric bicycle within minutes.

Unlike conventional electric bikes, this device requires no wiring installation, relying instead on Bluetooth mobile phone technology to control gear changes.

The device, which will be on sale in 2010, comes with an electric motor and batteries, a 3-speed internal hub gear, a torque sensor, a GPS unit and a sensor kit that monitors noise, pollution, relative humidity and temperature. The data picked up by the sensor kit is monitored by an i-phone application.

The wheel is so named because it's intended to help Copenhagen become the world's first carbon neutral city by 2025.

The Joint Local Transport Plan has set Bristol and its neighbouring counties the target of 15% of all journeys to be made by bicycle (known as modal share in transport planning circles) by 2020.

That means a lot more of us are going to be using bicycles a lot more often. Did I hear somebody say "finally, a solution for all the hills!"?