November 3, 2014

JWX-2 20 inch by Yamaha Motors is an electric unit assist for children’s wheelchair

by Shruti Shree

Yamaha has developed a 20 inch electric assist unit for wheelchair called the JWX-2 which can turn an ordinary wheelchair into a powered wheelchair. The 20 inch model specially made for children is smaller than the conventional 22 or 24 inch models. The new JWX-2 can be mounted on any normal manual wheelchair, the buttons on the side will enable the user to turn on or off the assist, and the user will also have the option of adjusting the power depending upon the steep or the gentle slope they want to climb. The software “JW Smart Tune” for JWX-2 has the ability to measure the propulsion abilities of the wheelchair user, let’s say if the right hand is weaker than the left hand, the software can compensate the balance; which in turn will enable the user to move in a straight line.

The assist wheelchair comes with two types of batteries – nickel metal hydride and lithium ion. It takes 2.5 to 3 hours for the nickel hydride battery to charge and it gives a continuous mileage of 20km. The lithium ion battery takes 4 hours to charge and it gives a mileage of 40 km. Weight of the assist wheelchair JWX-2 is 15 kg, it can carry a person weighing up to 80 kg. JWX-2 20 inch model will be released by November 7th. The suggested retail price for the nickel hydrogen battery type is ¥ 327,000 and for the lithium-ion battery type is ¥ 396,000 (tax).