I can tell you of one experience in Shanghai where there is an abundance of electric bikes, scooters, cars etc....

The streets are so quiet, I was nearly run over a couple of times you cant hear the baskets coming!!!

They need to make some noise.....

For road riding there is a limit of 200W if you have a variable throttle, and 250W if you can't fine tune the power delivery. Ebikes are also required to be governed to 25 kmh.

For short trips they are great. I have one for shopping. On a 5 km each way trip it will average 20 kmh without pedalling.

The only problem that I have with it is the customer service from the original seller. Dillenger Bikes, based on the Gold Coast. I had some battery problems arise this time last year, so they told me to send the battery back so they could sort out the electrics. After a few weeks and several enquiries they said they were sending it back. Didn't arrive, so after more emails I went to Qld Fair Trading. First of all Dillenger denied they had ever received it, then promised to send me a new battery. Unfortunately they were out of stock till after Christmas. Hadn't come in Feb, so the complaint was refreshed and a new promise was made for a May delivery. Still not here, so I suppose I should apply to QCAT for an enforceable refund.

They can change they way we travel but our inability both governments and motorists attitudes need to change. As a light weight efficient form of transport they beat all other forms close to cities by traveling faster. I have been riding my electric bikes to work for about 5 years now with a round trip of 50km and can do this on two charges, one at work and one at home. I build my bikes using the best components from around the world and they perform better than what you bu y off the shelf and cost far less. Have never had any issues with law enforcement by riding at safe speeds and wearing all high vis safety clothing. If you live within 20km of where you work and you don't need to carry more than a bag, get an bike.

seanhogan said..
have you guys seen the rayvolt from starboard designer ?
nice machine !!

www.totalsup.com/news/rayvolt-new-e-bikes-venture-starboards-sup-designer-mathieu-rauzier/

Very nice indeed. And only $3360 odd. In Spain.

shi thouse said..
Would also appreciate knowing what your thoughts on electric engines are as well Handcarve. Such as: what the wear life is like on an electric motor, preferred engine location i.e. set into hub of wheel or propelling chain that leads to rear hub, and potential battery issues such as amount of recharges, cost of replacement and repair.

I have built both chain drive and hub motor and have settled on hub as it's silent and maintenance free. I use my bike for transport and need absolute reliability so each component was sourced based on this requirement. Your basic Chinese hub motors are very reliable these days but I still put quality hall sensors in just as a precaution although speed controllers these days do both sense or senseless. My current bike has done well over 20000 km with broken spokes and worn tyres the only real problems. I use only chrome Molly frames with no suspension as aluminium can fail without notice and steel feels better to ride. Hookworm tyres give plenty of comfort but also give positive grip when wet. For batteries I build my own packs from A123 2.3ah cells and I should get about 10000 cycles as I never discharge more than 50% and charge to only 90%, currently I have done over 2000 cycles with little loss in capacity. Get on endless sphere web site for the best info one bikes and parts.

shi thouse said..
Seems to me there are more and more of the them on the road nowadays. Electric engines are the future (and present) and the industry for everything electric motor based (including skateboards) seems to be going through a massive growth phase. Thought I would Google "Electric bicycles" and see what came up and everyone from motorbike to vacuum cleaner companies are getting on-board.

It made me wonder just how well set up we are for this revolution in road use. Streets conditions and attitudes to cyclists are not going through the same level of revolution and I am wondering how well policing matters are going to dealing with the capabilities of these electric engines. I saw a number of engines producing in excess of 5000 watts of power. Surely the speed they are capable wouldn't put them in the realms of "cruising" along a footpath.

Would love to hear others experiences and purchases along this line and just where we think it is all going.

Got a few colleagues that ride to work on these and I've mused the same question - where do we go from here. They have fairly cheap electric bikes, that are heavy and not powerful and they don't really go any faster than conventional bikes, so probably not an issue having them on bike paths, but the more powerful electric bikes can get up to speeds close to 100km/hr. They obviously can't go on the bike paths, but they can't be ridden on the roads either.. It's definitely the way of the future, just how we can integrate them into daily life is the question. Public transport is pretty inefficient and traffic is hideous, at least in Perth, so we need an alternative solution.

FormulaNova said..

arancini said..
I can tell you of one experience in Shanghai where there is an abundance of electric bikes, scooters, cars etc....

The streets are so quiet, I was nearly run over a couple of times you cant hear the baskets coming!!!

They need to make some noise.....

I had a recent experience with a Prius with its headlights off in the dark. Its a sobering experience after nearly getting hit.

Maybe they could legislate they have to put a couple of playing cards in the spokes with a clothes peg to make some noise..