[hogcowboy]

Electric motorcycles - Category - Motorbike Writer

Catch up on the latest developments in battery technology, government subsidies and other news about electric motorcycles. We have also ridden and reviewed several electric motorcycles.

motorbikewriter.com

 

[Unkle Krusty]

Tesla recently bought a battery company, might be Maxwell, that has some interesting high tech knowledge.
A while back a Chinese company bought a US battery company. At the time they were working on batteries for a college team building a battery car. They suck the batteries out the back door. A team from Victoria BC won that years event.

 

[johnnyvee]

This article featuring a collection of electric bicycle reviews from 2019 will give interested parties a good cross section of the current marketplace: Here is every electric bicycle we reviewed in 2019 - Electrek

 

[johnnyvee]

This article might give some insight into what physical hazards might be associated with E-bikes: E-bikes show distinct pattern of severe injuries

I think it's interesting that they include data on pedal powered bicycles as a baseline. Without seeing any numbers, regarding numbers of units in service, I'd be willing to wager that the incidence of serious injuries associated with E-Bikes and E-Scooters are much higher "per machine mile" or "per machine minute" of use, vs. traditional bicycles. There just aren't that many E-machines out there yet.

Here in Chicago, the E-Scooters only showed up a few months ago, and I've yet to see a single E-Bike in use, vs. plenty of privately owned bicycles, and a fleet of rentable bicycles distributed throughout the city. I'd like to see somebody get one of those Divvy bikes up to the 20 mph that an E-bike can reach! Divvy: Chicago’s Bike share Program | Divvy Bikes They are heavy duty machines.

 

[TriPlay]

I built an electric bike this winter, Its a standard 15 speed bike which I transformed via a kit. The kit includes wheel with motor and all the control hardware. Cost on the kit itself was $149 and was pretty easy to install. I went with a huge battery - 48v 30ah which is about the size of a standard shoebox and full of 18640 cells. Approx range is 60-80 miles and top speed is 40mph. For commuting it would be unbeatable. However I also just purchased a Brammo Empulse R which may be better and just a tad faster at 114mph. I am amazed at the number of charge stations around as I can literally ride from coast to coast and always find a spot to top off the batteries. I am thinking the future is now.

 

[johnnyvee]

I built an electric bike this winter, Its a standard 15 speed bike which I transformed via a kit. The kit includes wheel with motor and all the control hardware. Cost on the kit itself was $149 and was pretty easy to install. I went with a huge battery - 48v 30ah which is about the size of a standard shoebox and full of 18640 cells.

Wow, $149 with or PLUS the cost of the battery?
Either way, that's pretty interesting, can you share some source information?, I'd like to try building one.

 

[TriPlay]

I just checked on eBay and it looks like the price has increased since fall to $205 - just go to eBay the search "electric bike kit"
I would go with a smaller battery than what I used which will run about $279 in addition to the kit.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

You can buy a Chinese made 2 stroke motor for your mountain bike. Cost about $150. some can do 50 to 60 mph. UK

 

[johnnyvee]

You can buy a Chinese made 2 stroke motor for your mountain bike. Cost about $150.

Even cheaper than that, you can get the whole kit, including the gas tank and the sprocket that you attach to the spokes with baling wire for around $100. You should start a thread about those cheap, chinese two stroke bicycle engines.

 

[TriPlay]

Yes but they are noisy, not very efficient and vibrate like crazy. One of my sons built a couple and they ended up at a garage sale. Electrics are much superior

 

[johnnyvee]

Yes but they are noisy, not very efficient and vibrate like crazy. One of my sons built a couple and they ended up at a garage sale. Electrics are much superior

I agree, two strokes are definitely going in the wrong direction, towards the past. There's no torque, have to pedal it up to at least 5mph before you let out the clutch or it will bog or you'll burn your clutch. Here in the big city, where I'll spend just as much time sitting still at the stoplight as I do motoring, holding in the clutch at stoplights gets old fast. The fumes alone are enough to make me not want to deal with it. I never ran a break-even analysis, but when UK starts his thread about the "Wonton Whizzers" I'll calculate how many miles you can go, buying gas and oil, before you've payed the extra cost of the electric rig.

I can go 60 on my mountain bike now, even without any engine or motor, .... just have to start at the top of the right mountain.