own an Electra Townie 21 bicycle on which is mounted a Wilderness Energy hub motor.
The motor is rated for 36 volts maximum of 35 amps and with this setup
the maximum speed achieved was 18-20 miles/hr and the maximum range
could be 30 miles or more per charge. With this bicycle my normal
commute can be achieved using 0.3 kilowatt-hours of electricity and a 45
minute travel each way. The amount of energy required is ridiculously
low when compared with my electric motorcycle, which requires 2.0
kilowatt-hours for the same trip, my gas motorcycle, which requires 0.1
gallons of gasoline, or my gas car, which requires 0.5 gallons of
gasoline. There is however a tradeoff of time for miniscule energy use,
the 45 minute travel time is much larger than the other vehicles
require and a modern busy lifestyle doesn't seem to have time in it for
longer commute times.
This podcast is a look at my bicycle as I begin converting a new bicycle. I recently bought a Crystalyte hub motor kit and over the next few podcast entries will be showing the process of converting an electric bicycle.
The battery pack is a Lithium Iron Phosphate pack, 36 volt 20 amp-hours, sold by PingPing. It is less than half the size and weight of an equivalent lead-acid battery pack. This is due to energy density advantages of lithium chemistry batteries.
The bicycle has a Cycle Analyst
display unit for a dashboard, it shows speed and several types of
measurement of electrical usage. It is an excellent unit which gives
much useful information.
Electric bicycle conversions are very simple especially with hub motors. Using a hub motor kit
the conversion process simply requires removing one wheel, replacing it
with the hub motor, wiring the controller to the motor, and wiring a
throttle and battery pack to the controller. There is little more
required than that and as said above, over the next few podcast entries I
will be converting a bicycle using a Crystalyte hub motor kit.
Technosanity #21: Electric bicycle conversion kits
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