Re: Cordless drill powered bike

Jim Wilkins · 2018-09-04T12:11:17+00:00

When I worked for Segway I experimented with how they fit into lifestyles. They might be fine for urban apartment dwellers in ice-free climates but anything less than a car doesn't work if you have a house in the suburbs. For me the minimum is a smaller SUV with a roof rack to carry lumber and roofing panels. I just brought home a compact refrigerator in it. Bicycles and motorcycles are nearly useless in northern winters. I attended an electric vehicle show that a local college hosted and test-drove the BMW i3, which is a blast to drive though impractical for my use, with its EPA-rule-limited tiny gas tank. They can travel 3 to 4 miles per KWH which brings them into the range of practicability to recharge with a rooftop solar array. The cost per mile using grid power is ~2/3 of my gasoline Honda's. The initial cost for a new one is ridiculous but off-lease ones were reasonable. I already recharge most of my batteries (except NiCad/Nimh) with solar power and home made charge controllers. Lead-acids are easy. Lithium isn't too difficult but you need to know and strictly observe the voltage and current limitations of the batteries you have. When NiCads are too dead for their dedicated charger they can be partially charged and restored to service. If you can't design circuits this does the job, though it may hop below the maximum power point and draw Isc short-circuit current at low voltage from the panel. A linear regulator is more stable. -jsw

Sep 04, 2018 40 Replies

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because there aren't chargers on every other street corner. But he conveni ently forgets that 95% of driving is local where you have to make a stop an d handle a dirty, smelly gas pump hose to fill your tank. At home I just p lug in my car and never worry about charging for local trips.

etty fun and actually had some people talk to me at chargers. Once was a c ouple with a Model 3 (two of them actually) who I talked to for an hour whe n I was planning to get a bite. I had to order to go and eat at the hotel, lol!

bably the best part of the trip was realizing that with the regenerative br aking I don't have to baby the accelerator to get good mileage. The awesom e acceleration lets me merge into traffic so much easier and I don't need t o worry about shortening my range. What does shorten the range is higher s peeds just like in a gas vehicle. If I stay under the speed limit it goes further than the expected range and when I hit slow traffic the range exten ds even further! Yesterday I was trying to skip a charger and make it 220 miles with about 260 miles starting range. I hit some patches of traffic o n the way and ended up with about 60 miles on the battery when I stopped to eat and recharge.

pull off the highway at any exit and charge as much or as little as you ne ed. You will also have a lot more choice in the type of establishment you stop at.

The acceleration of this thing is truly amazing. I tried it in ludicrous m ode a few times, but I never drive with that enabled. It feels like the ac celeration is limited by tire traction. It seems like it hunts left and ri ght as the traction control kicks in to prevent the wheels from spinning... all four of them. Simple sport mode is more than enough to get me in trou ble. Lol, when you turn on ludicrous mode it has an option to warm up the batteries for better power output.

I had a BMW R90S that was a real rocket sled (even if it coudn't keep up wi th a Kawasaki 750 triple) but I think this thing would beat them both. Jus t for fun I might take it to a drag strip and see how it does.

Rick C.