By Chuck
The self-charging electric bike: fact or fiction?
We often have customers ask about electric bikes that recharge as they are ridden. Regenerative braking is marketed as the holy grail of electric bikes these days as people dream of infinite battery life. Theoretically, an electric bicycle with a regenerative mode could be ridden down hill to recharge itself without the need for a charger being plugged into a wall outlet. But, while it is true regenerative braking can extend your range by up to 10 percent, the reality is that you would have to ride 200 miles downhill just to charge the battery enough for a 20 mile ride. Of course, it is a little hard to find a 200 mile stretch of continuous, steep downhill! I would argue that the additional effort expended riding a bike in regenerative/exercise mode is harder on the planet than plugging in to recharge. Think about all that energy used to produce and package the food you eat to provide the calories need to overcome the resistance of regen mode! I’d love to hear your comments!
Page 1 of 1
Comments
Ten percent is better than nothing. It will extend the range of the ride by perhaps 3 miles on a typical 30 mile range.
One could also design a bike that charges when peddling, while the motor is not assisting. Reserve the motor for the difficult sections.
As for the food part, people without e-bikes eat the equivalent of that 200 miles, and do not charge a battery. Nothing is for free, but each solution contributes to solving the energy problem.
Currently, I wish I could just find an electric bike that works. The one I purchased last year went kaput after about a dozen rides. Now the power gauge says it’s got a full charge, but it acts like it’s out of juice. Did I just get a lemon or is that the nature of electric bikes?
Kevin,
What bike did you buy? Did you buy your bike from us? We will certainly stand behind anything we sold. If not, come in and look at the Kalkhoff bikes - they are the #1 electric bike in the world and for a good reason - they just don’t break down and they are a mid-drive versus a hub drive.
Chuck
Your comment
Question: what is ‘mid drive vs hub drive’ mean exactly?
Also, can you ship to Montreal?
Regarding the ‘regenerative braking’ issue, it seems that people are not very efficient in making power out of food, and that you actually do the environment a favour by charging your batteries through an outlet (particularly at night when demand is low) instead of through your own muscle power.
Pieter -
‘Seriously doubt that it’s more efficient to charge a battery than eat food & do muscle work. Be fun to see the numbers on that… many, many aspects to it, including of course what food we eat, and where our electric power originates, etc., etc..
Mid-drive means the motor is working through the bicycles transmission system, so it has all the advantages of gearing. Thus, there’s a considerable increase in efficiency. That translates into better climbing, better cruising, and/or better battery life. A hub drive on the other hand is effectively “fixed” in a given gear ratio. You probably appreciate having gears… so does an e- motor. There certainly are such things as “internally geared hubs”, so it might be that someday someone offers a hub motor with internal gearing. I’d love to see that, personally, as a hub motor is otherwise a “clean” design.
pax,
Karl
*——->
I’ve not built it yet, but I’m working on a trailer mounted solar array that I can hook to an extra battery. While this rig sits at camp and charges in sunny weather, I should get at least 1/2 of my battery charged per day. Not exactly free energy, but one way of doing it.
I can’t belive people that have never done something like this is a expert on the subject, and know how much can be gotten out of it. I have bolth of these things and a self recharging electric generator, batteryless electric bike and recharger.