TechnoSanity #37: Electric bicycle test rides part 2

At the most recent chapter meeting of EAA's Silicon Valley chapter, ELV Motors sponsored a test ride event of electric bicycles. They brought several bicycles and allowed the attendees to ride them, providing evaluations.

The evaluation data wasn't very conclusive in pointing to one or another bicycle as being preferable over others. I think this may be because ELV Motors has done a good job of picking out high quality bicycles.

They handed me a video camera and asked me to do some man-in-the-street style interviews. This is part 2. See TechnoSanity #36: Electric bicycle test rides for part 1.

TechnoSanity #37: Electric bicycle test rides part 2

Links:  http://elvmotors.com
Links:  http://eaasv.org
References:  TechnoSanity #36: Electric bicycle test rides

TechnoSanity #36: Electric bicycle test rides

At the most recent chapter meeting of EAA's Silicon Valley chapter, ELV Motors sponsored a test ride event of electric bicycles. They brought several bicycles and allowed the attendees to ride them, providing evaluations.

The evaluation data wasn't very conclusive in pointing to one or another bicycle as being preferable over others. I think this may be because ELV Motors has done a good job of picking out high quality bicycles.

They handed me a video camera and asked me to do some man-in-the-street style interviews. This is part 1, see TechnoSanity #37: Electric bicycle test rides part 2 for part 2.

TechnoSanity #36: Electric bicycle test rides

Links:  http://elvmotors.com

Links:  http://eaasv.org

References:  Electric bicycles

References:  Electric bicycles, scooters and motorcycles at Best Buy.. oh my

Technosanity #22: First steps to installing a hub motor on a bicycle

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Continuing from Technosanity #21: Electric bicycle conversion kits I'm taking the first step to using a hub motor to electrify a bicycle. This is to put together the hub motor with tire and inner tube and mount it on the bicycle.

A hub motor kit replaces one of the wheels on the bicycle and for the most part is the same as a normal bicycle wheel. It is later steps, where the motor is wired up, and it begins to diverge from being a normal bicycle modification project.

Technosanity #22: First steps to installing a hub motor on a bicycle

Technosanity #21: Electric bicycle conversion kits

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

Technosanity #9: 36th Annual Silicon Valley EV Rally

The Silicon Valley EAA Chapter has done a yearly rally for, now, 36 years and I have been attending for 10 years or so. Back the major car companies showed up, the most impressive being GM's presence with the EV1. They'd arrive with one or two tractor trailer trucks with 4 EV1's and make them available for test rides. I got to test drive the EV1 a couple times due to this, and other car companies showed up back then as well. Needless to say, since GM axe murdered the EV1, that the major car companies did not show up today. But there were still a lot of people attending anyway.

Car companies in attendance included:-

AC propulsion: http://www.acpropulsion.com/

Green E Motors: http://greenemotor.com (since defunct)

Green Rides: http://greenrides.com (since defunct) -- BTW in the podcast episode I only mentioned the EVT4000. They also had on display a kitcar conversion they're getting ready to sell. It's a kitcar version of the old Spyder sports car, and converted to electric drive they're claim it will cost $50,000.

Electric Bikes: http://electric-bikes.com

Green Vehicles: http://greenvehicles.com (since defunct) -- I wrote a piece about their Triac on V is for Voltage

Electric Motorsport: http://electricmotorsport.com -- I wrote a piece about their GPR-S motorcycle on V is for Voltage

Technosanity #9: 36th Annual Silicon Valley EV Rally

Links:  http://audio.davidherron.com/technosanity/e000008.mp3