Chargeride
Well-Known Member
And do you have any funny replies?
Question..how many times do you get asked if the bike charges while you pedal?..
- Thread starter Chargeride
- Start date
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Many people have asked about regenerative braking (to which I had to patiently answer the concept was tried and dissapointing, so it is not generally used). More people were surprised my e-bikes had no throttle and I had to pedal them to ride. The "battery range question" was the most frequently asked. (My answer for Vado SL: 'It is 36 to 126 km depending on how you ride it' was not convincing to anyone).
fooferdoggie
Well-Known Member
fairly often on our tandem.
Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
In a year and almost 2,000 miles on my ebike, I've never been asked anything about it. No negative comments, either. But this place is crawling with them. In fact, the unmotorized bikes are the oddities now.
DaveMatthews
Well-Known Member
I've only been asked about regen once in 4-5 years. More often the questions revolve around range and weight.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
When I get that question, I smile and say "Too much..." then they press me to get the answer and are shocked to hear it.
I was getting most of questions when my previous Vado incarnation carried a number plate
"Is it required to register bicycles now?" and so it went.The weight, yes. When I ride my Vado SL without the Range Extender, people cannot guess where the battery is on that e-bike
PedalUma
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Petaluma, CA
It depends where I am. It is the second most frequently asked question after 'how fast does it go,' that is among those who do not know about electric bikes. The third is range. It is almost as if they want to go 75 kph for eight hours while regenerating. Otherwise the bike is less than. Those people are not really interested in getting an electric bike anyway.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Which is true on a traditional bike with a dynamo!
Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
According to Wilson & Schmidt, Bicycling Science, workable ebikes like that have been made but never caught on. Don't recall why, but diesel-electric locomotives and haultrucks (giant mining dumptrucks) use a similar concept: The diesel engine drives a generator which powers the electic motors driving the wheels. More efficient than it sounds.
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
Questions that may seem silly to you often spark a train of thought.
I started thinking of a bike that charged a battery from pedalling on the flat, that you could use to help you up a hill.
Probably not worth it till we get the magic solid state batteries.
I started thinking of a bike that charged a battery from pedalling on the flat, that you could use to help you up a hill.
Probably not worth it till we get the magic solid state batteries.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
This is not because of the efficiency but torque and controllabity. A diesel engine cannot provide enough torque to move the train from the dead stop; the diesel engine works well in a narrow range of its RPM. To directly use a diesel engine in a locomotive would require using the clutch and gearbox, which is impractical. The diesel engine produces electricity by a generator, and the electric current is sent to electric motors that actually drive the locomotive. The locomotive electric motor can have its maximum torque at RPM = 0, so the train can be moved from the dead stop easily; no clutch, no gearbox, easy speed control.
However the diesel locomotive has no regen. When a diesel train is to slow down or stop, the electric drive motors act as generators, and the whole kinetic energy of braking is lost to heat by a network of resistors on the locomotive roof.
Necessary to mention newer electric locomotives do have the regen: the traction motors acting as generators on a slow down or stopping send the inverted electric power back to the electric traction line, making them very efficient for the commuter trains.
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Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Such e-bikes based on supercapacitors are already made in France. I think it is yet another idea, with which the Hell is paved
This French company has designed an e-bike that doesn’t need a battery
The brainchild of French entrepreneur Adrien Lelièvre, the Pi-Pop e-bike uses a supercapacitor to store energy rather than rely on batteries.
www.euronews.com
I have visualised riding a Pi-Pop. It would feel as a 20 kg e-bike pedalled without any assistance on the flat with additional leg power lost to electricity generation, all to be able to make a 50 m elevation gain assisted... My Vado SL is 17 kg, I can pedal it unassisted whenever I like without any extra leg power lost and when I need to make a climb, I just press the + on the handlebar remote. All without any supercapacitor!
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Tom@WashDC
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Loudoun County, VA.
First Question: Is that an ebike?
Second Question: How fast will it go?
Third Question: How far will it go?
Fourth Question: Do you have to pedal?
Never asked about regenerative braking
Second Question: How fast will it go?
Third Question: How far will it go?
Fourth Question: Do you have to pedal?
Never asked about regenerative braking
Would the little generators for powering headlights produce a useful charge for ebikes? I'm thinking probably not, as I seem to remember that they create noticeable drag on an acoustic bike. But maybe, if it were engaged while going downhill, to give a little boost for the next climb.
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