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another option is something like a honda scooter or "madass" motorcycle. they are < 2000 and get maybe 100mpg? i think the madass should go about 40mph.. the 125 a bit faster.
No, electric bikes don't recharge while moving, even on a downhill. Electric bikes need far more power than what could be charged by the bike while going downhill. Most bicycle hub powered generators put out 3 watts at 6 volts, enough to light a small light. Most good quality electric bike motors run on 36 volts, and some use 48 volts. That means they need a string of (heavy) 12 volt sealed lead acid batteries or about $400+ worth of lithium ion or lithium potassium batteries with a high tech charger that won't burn up those expensive lithium cells.
My electric bike is 48 volt, and actually it does have regenerative braking. I have a digital voltmeter connected to it and I can watch the voltage jump 2 or 3 volts every time I hit the brakes. Just coasting downhill will not regenerate the batteries, but a significant amount of energy is generated when you brake and kick in the generators. Mine is the 700li made by xtreme. The lithium batteries are very expensive and when they were brand new I would get about 30 miles of range.
Is anyone else driving electric transportation daily? My work commute is only 8 miles round trip, but I am driving a lithium powered motorcycle and absolutely love it. 16 months so far, and over 3000 miles. 800+ miles per gallon at the equivalent cost of 3 dollars per gallon, and absolutely zero emissions. I am running Lithium Magnesium, but they now have Lithium Potassium which are supposed to last longer. Does anyone have any experience?
The zero emmisions part is not quite accurate as emmisions are likely created in the production of the electricity used to charge the lithium battery.
More than a decade later, and it's looking more and more likely that electric vehicles whether bikes, mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, private cars, taxis, trucks, passenger trains, or freight trains are moving heavily and quickly taking over a massive variety of vehicle use cases.
There was a lot of uncertainty in 2010 about whether or not this would be the case. Sure, there are a lot of tried and true pathways to converting energy sources into electricity, but were they going to be renewable? Solar panels were so insanely expensive! And for electric vehicles, how was that going to work in 2010 with big and extremely expensive batteries that the battery *alone* would need to weigh and cost the price of a luxury ICE vehicle to get similar range and usable room? The Nissan Leaf debuted that year with 73 miles of range (on a good day) cost about as much as a BMW 3-Series did, had fairly little hp and the charging was incredibly slow even at its "maximum speed". With such little range, there were going to be a lot of situations where public charging was going to be necessary--but there were almost no public charging stations. Want to do a road trip that's greater than 70 miles? Well, looks like you were going to take a several hours long break charging from a friendly stranger's wall outlet every 70 miles. Even with all that, Nissan was producing these vehicles at a loss per unit!
It's 2022 now and a Tesla Model 3 for about the same price as a BMW 3-Series and dominates it on performance and with the performance and long range versions of it having more range per "full tank" than the performance versions of the 3-Series. There's more usable interior room. And yet the cost of operations per mile are a fraction of that of the 3-Series and Tesla has one of the highest profit margins in the industry. What's changed?
The energy density of batteries have increased greatly since then.
The cost per kWh of battery capacity has dropped about an order of magnitude.
Charging has improved in speed and ubiquity faster than almost any other metric for EVs.
Demand for battery materials have made EV batteries profitable to recycle versus raw mined materials.
Inverters have gotten smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more efficient. Motors, too.
A proliferation of different motors and battery types have come out finding their way into vehicles of all types whether it's weird single wheel contraptions or massive freight trains and everything in between with adoption rates fastest among two and three wheelers.
Solar and wind with levelized cost of electricity is the cheapest source for new power generation and solar's efficiency is markedly improved while its prices have dropped an order of magnitude.
Combined cycle fossil fuel plants are incredibly efficient now for generating electricity.
HVDC lines are now one of the cheapest ways to move massive amounts of power with minimal loss.
The supply chain for EV production being under constant scrutiny as well as massive efficiency improvements in the batteries and powertrains themselves means that a Lucid Air land yacht with extreme performance capabilities can better the overall emissions of an entry level compact ICE vehicle within the span of a lease period let alone the lifetime of a vehicle.
It's interesting to look back on something just 12 years ago with the launch of what was perhaps the first mass market highway capable EV, the Nissan Leaf, and see just how massive those changes are.
Last edited by OyCrumbler; 06-22-2022 at 10:42 AM..
I have greatly reduced my ice vehicle driving but.. have the special circumstance of being a retired snowbird so am always in mostly good weather.
I have a class 2 electric bicycle with a 20 mph boost limit and under 750 watt motor. The speed and power limitations allow the ebike to be used nearly the same as a regular bicycle regarding licensing, insurance and access. I spend a lot of time doing around 15 mph.
Mine has a direct drive motor which I like because there is zero noise from the motor and it allows for regen braking which puts about 270 watts back into the battery during braking. It also saves on brake pads as I often just use the regen to control my speed going downhill. On a bike you dont start and stop as much as a car (where regen makes a larger difference) but I do like it for the above reasons. The longest ride I have taken is 32 miles on a single charge but Im guessing I could have extended this by another maybe 10 miles.
However you get the electricity, I once calculated that the cost per mile was something like 30 times cheaper on the ebike compared to my gas car. Cant remember the details, I think it was based on 3 bucks per gallon gas and .15 buck per KWH. Regardless, the ebike is very efficient compared to a car.
Next car will be a plug in hybrid. We have seen what even a fairy small reduction in world oil supply has done to the cost at the pump and everyone involved has no incentive to fix the supply problem because it has resulted in record profits. This isnt the last time we will see this happen and when it does, I will just use electricity. Use gas for when I want to take a long trip.
I like my neighbors setup.. His garage has grid tie solar on the roof and two Tesla's get charged in the garage. He pretty much never buys gas.
Heck, I was thinking if it is only 8 miles round trip and someone is that concerned about emissions, they should be walking to work.
Walking "Only" 8 miles would take about an hour each way - on an electric bike, maybe 10-12 minutes, about the same as a car - but at less than the cost of a few pennies - totally makes sense. It is more about speed and convenience than emissions. I have an e bike - I use it to go to the store sometimes - retired so not commuting.
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