[Peakoil] When is a bike not a bike? When it's electric

[Antony Barry]

On 17/06/2008, at 12:10 PM, Alex Pollard wrote:

> This means changing the law would probably involve the national  
> council of
> ministers or somesuch and take months. Of course, the ACT govt  
> could just
> go it alone. Or just break the law and not get caught!



I've been using an electric bike for a few years. The one I have can  
be rewired to 400 watts. The chances of being caught if you rewire is  
zilch but it cuts the range down so after trying it I switched back  
to 200. But then it's a very heavy beast (40kg) with lead acid  
batteries. Something lighter with lithium or metal hydride batteries  
it would make more sense.

The Canadiens have the right idea. Their regulations are for the  
motor to cut out at 30kmph which is the sort of speed an unassisted  
fit cyclist would get by muscle alone. The only time an old bugger  
like me (67) really needs the motor is on bad hills and 200 watts is  
a bit of a help but not much. Two hundred watts does make WALKING a  
bike up a VERY steep hill easy though!

The big advantage of electric assist is it substantially cuts your  
travel time as your average speed is substantially cut by hills.  
There is even at least one bicycle electric assist system (Bionx)  
which offers regenerative breaking which makes a heap of sense in  
hilly terrain.

Tony

phone : 02 6241 7659  | mailto:tony at Tony-Barry.emu.id.au
mobile: 04 3365 2400  | mailto:tony.barry at alianet.alia.org.au
http://tony-barry.emu.id.au