There is a wide variety of powered add-ons available to buy for use with manual wheelchairs. This first in a three-part series will look at some of the less conventional powered add-on options which are available. The powered add-ons compared to each other in this piece will be from two categories: wheel powered add-ons and hybrid manual/powered add-ons.

Let’s start with wheel powered add-ons – essentially battery-powered replacement wheels for a manual wheelchair. There are two major manufacturers producing these for the UK market at present – Alber (via Invacare) and Sunrise Medical. Their current flagship products are, respectively, the E-Motion DuoDrive (pictured above) and the Empulse M90. Let’s compare and contrast these two models via a few key specifications.

The Most Important Specifications

Considering, of course, that the powered add-ons compared here are intended for use on lighter, self-propelled wheelchairs, weight is important. As the above shows, the newer model (Empulse M90) has a reduced weight relative to the more established DuoDrive. That said, the lighter weight does come at a cost in power, meaning that the maximum user weight for the M90 is 8 stone less than for the DuoDrive. The range per charge and gradient are virtually identical on these two products.

Hybrid Options

Hybrid powered/manual wheelchair add-ons are currently the specialty of one particular manufacturer – Triride. An unconventional choice, they are currently available to buy from Lifestyle & Mobility in two variants. These are the on-road and off-road options for the Tribike Hybrid Plus. These operate in the same manner as electric bikes. That is to say that they use power-assisted pedalling for users who need that bit extra to take them where they want to go.

As always, thank you very much for reading, and look forward to seeing you again for Part 2!