Originally Posted by
livedarklions
I'm as far from being an engineer as an adult can be, but the fact that the demo had to be plugged into a wall socket instead of running off a battery suggests that it has to be constantly under power to keep the bike in gear.
Engineer here. I doubt that it needs constant power. The video shows that changing the gears involves turning a screw. There's no reason that power would be needed to maintain the rotated position of a screw.
There could be many reasons why the prototype needed external power.