It's a struggle we all face. There's the urge to bike to work each day, and then there's the realization that you're too huge / lazy / tired to make it on your own. Brilliant minds at MIT understand your frustration, and rather than asking you to drop a few grand on a bona fide
electric bike, they're developing an apparatus that can convert any standard bicycle into one that's juiced. The GreenWheel contains an electric generator, batteries and an electric motor, all of which only need a wheel to be respoked in order to fit in. Under its current configuration, a single GreenWheel (yes, one can be added to each wheel) can propel a bike and your faineant derriere for around 25 miles; start peddling and that range doubles. There's no clear indication of when these things will splash down at your local bike shop, but word has it that Copenhagen and South Africa are already looking to add it to their public transportation systems by 2010.
[Via
DVICE, thanks Scott]
posted February 26th 2009 7:13PM
I wouldn't mind this on my walk to school. Hope it has CAPSLOCK, CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL! I need cool, it gets so hot in texas. Anyways, its unfortunate that biking in San Antonio isn't the best. After all, its all highway and hit weather. >.
You know, I really feel bad for crack babies.
What are you talking about it's not all bad. Then again I Mt Bike so I'm usually off around OP or Salado. True once you hit the streets around here you're chances of getting hit go up to about 98%. People here don't know how to drive....
This would be pretty cool though. I would love to bike to work. Can't you get some kind of credit or right off if you bike to work now?
I hope this goes on sale soon. But I wonder how it's different from the current electric wheel kits.
I'm not familiar will all the setups out there, but it looks a fair bit smaller than any of the ones I have seen.
Personally, I don't see the point in using these electric models when they are so expensive and rely on iffy batteries. A much better setup would be something like this, but inside the circle (center thing) there is a coil of metal, much like the ones in pull-back-release toys. Then when the person is pedaling normally, the spring is wound up at like 1/5 the speed (so that you wouldn't be working too much against the resistance of the spring, and there probably would be some gear ratio differences to lower the amount of force necessary). Then, when you want a speed boost, simply push a release button and the coil unwinds and pulls (or pushes) you for a little while.
different in that you don't have to do anything other then switch the wheel and probably mount a throttle lever some sort ( unless this is auto assist only )/display/controller. The biggest pain in converting a bike to e is usually deciding where to stick the batteries.
the batts or this would have to be crazy small to get 25 miles from such a small space. I also wonder about heating with all that being in one place.
engadget, what exactly does one mean by "standard bicycle"?
btw, you can have a pretty darn bona fide e-bike far less than thousands.
http://ca.itselectric.ca/37V_Lithium_Polymer_10_5Ah_battery_p/37v_lithium_polymer_10.5ah.htm
look at the chart, at 16mph, you get 34 miles, that's 9 miles more than what is said in the news article, lol.
licensing requirements?
In most states this qualifies as a Pedal Assisted Vehicle, witch means that as long as the motor is less than 600W. You don't need licensing, or registration.
in australia if the electric motor is under 200watts no licence is needed.. I think this is a great idea,having everything incorporated into the hub.. & because u can still pedal u can assist the motor when needed.. Personally I like to pedal so wouldn't use this but Pushbikes are the future, there is no doubt about it, & if this gets commuters out of their car & riding to work then I am all for it..
if only there were more bike trails to get to and from work that would be great.
"Hey, is that a Huffy? That's a nice-looking bike, boy."
Sweet bike. Lucky! Ever take it over some sweet jumps? Can I try?
... so how long is it gonna take me to get to work??Cause were just gonna get fatter if it moves at 5mph (at fastest gearing)..cause were just gonna be eating while we bike to work :)
Or talking on a cellphone. Or doing make-up. Or reading a news paper...or surfing Engadget!
What makes this different from any other electric conversion kit?
According to the original article, everything but the throttle is contained within the wheel. Now on the kits I've seen the battery has always been external.
This actually doesn't beat the motorized skateboard i saw in downtown Seattle the other day. That was a sight worth seeing.
There are literally dozens of hub motors available for electric bike conversions now. The problem is battery life and price. Truthfully, all the kits use cheap Chinese hub motors, but the mark up can vary dramatically. Battery technology is the other draw back--if your round trip mileage is more than 14-20 miles, you'll need to augment with pedaling because most of the batteries (especially the packs using lithium ion batteries) won't last that long.
There are also some safety issues--if you have an aluminum fork or a mountain bike with springs on the front fork, you cannot safely mount a hub motor on the front wheel. You'll need to mount it on the back wheel. (That's my predicament--I'd love to put a hub motor on my mountain bike, but it will have to be mounted on the rear wheel. I may break down and buy one this year.)
Here's a link to a web site with a video that shows how fast you can go--I'm tempted to buy from this site since he has reasonable prices. http://ampedbikes.com/
don't you mean that the lead-acid batts don't last long? LiOn/LiFePO batts pack more juice per volume, thus the added expense.
No, if you read about the real world experiences of people who've installed e-bike conversion kits you'll see that the lead acid battery packs have a life span of about 3 years, if cared for properly. LION can't match that. (Guess what technology is used for deep cycle batteries in RVs--lead acid.)
ah, you mean the useful life of the battery, not range per charge.
Interesting. I've done quite a bit of reading about e-bike and never read that.
It does look smaller than those on the market. Some communities do have licensing requirements for motorized vehicles. I don't think a battery for a bike falls under most. That being said, there is bound to be a brainless town council somewhere in the States where they lumped it all into one category. When the pocket bikes made the scene here in my city, Rochester, N.Y., we had to literally draw them a picture of the difference. Many other towns through just plain ignorance outlawed any motor assisted device. This led to the elderly being ticketed for their motorized scooters. Our media had fun with that one.
The general thought in the US on this type of device is that it is legal as long as it doesn't go faster than 15 m.p.h. Any faster, and some type of regulation is required for safety devices, and the insurance industry wants a cut on the action too.
Beyond that speed, it is considered a moped.
I didn't make those rules, I just report what I know.
Nice. According to the article, it uses a throttle on the handlebar connected via bluetooth and it has an expected life of 40,000 miles. Top speed is 30 mph.
Please do not give credit to MIT for this. This has been done many years ago and this company has been selling these hub motors for ages . Check this company out http://www.goldenmotor.com/
everyone trust this guy. he's a doctor.
The difference is that, that is just a motor, while this is the motor + battery + dynamo.
pretty neat. but i feel guilty enough when i ride a geared bike, much less a motorized one. ill stick with my fixie for now.
Why would you feel guilty riding a geared bike?
i dont know, it almost feels like cheating. there is something so satisfying about bomb up or down a hill, or even flat ground, on a fixed gear that you just dont get with a geared or freewheel bike. when you get to the top of a big hill on a geared bike, you feel pretty good about it, on a fixie, you feel amazing.
@ Wiigee
That's probably from a lack of oxygen being delivered to your brain...
Sorry, I don't get the fixie craze, but whatever you like... I ride MTBs, cruisers, and I love my Fisher Simple City 3-speed. Haven't owned a car for 15 years. Anything (like this hub motor) that gets more people onto bikes and more funding for bicycle commuting is a good thing!
i definetly think its a good thing, we need more bikes out there!!!! i was just sayin i personally wouldnt get one.
Neither did i till i started riding one, i used to think they were just a stupid hipster thing, but man, once you start riding a fixie you know. they are so addictive.
I felt pretty damn amazing after I finished the full Central Park loop w/o standing on that one egregiously long ascent.
Would it feel better on a fixie? Maybe...but shifting just kills your momentum on that hill anyway.
It does look fun to do that balancing thing at red lights, tho.
ive found fixie to be easier uphill (well most hills) than geared, in fact last time i was out with friends, going up a rather sizable hill (jackson st in seattle) i had to stop/slow down to let them catch up a few times and they were on geared bikes. If i, and many others can survive the hills of seattle, fixie can be done anywhere.
that's an 18 speed bike in the pic btw. 10 speed is long gone. sorry for being a stickler.
oops that's just what the sticker says on the chainstay. notice now that there's only one chainring and can't tell how many cogs on the wheel from this side. the rear der is about to snap off tho.
How exactly does adding an electric motor to a bike make it "green" ?
One reason: if used then it replaces carbon based ways of getting to work like driving to work, taking the bus etc.
"...start peddling and your range doubles."
Actually, if you peddle your bike, you will have no range because your bike will have been sold.
However, if you pedal it, chances are, your range will indeed double.
MIT is not inventing anything, what a scam article. MIT truly deceived the news gatherers. System as such are already in place, and if anything will make them better, its battery technology which is developed by battery companies. The technology is widespread especially in Canada, British Colombia. Give it 4 years, and the technology will be affordable widespread; I once had an obsession looking into this kind of technology. The 25 mile range exists, so does the recharging of the pedals, but your looking at about a grand for the system, and with frequent use the batteries would have to be changed every years and they so happen to be the most expensive part.
Wow, you have to be such a tool to use one of these...
thus, are you qualified?
dvice is sooo popular mechanics, beyond tomorrow, or yanko design -nifty ideas that will likely not ever see the light of day. *if* and until i comes out, it's not worth my time. the article made it look like you can get it now; but, you can't even buy it -so why all the hype??
You can get these now
This is just a marginal improvement on an already existing product
They merely combined the battery and the motor , so you have "only one thing to install"
"Can't wait to get one of these myself" So simple anyone can be up in running in a very short time...W. Hunter http://www.electricbicyclemotorskits.com/
Thats a big damn improvment. It lightens your bike by a good 10lbs, or whatever those honking batteries weigh, rids the wires running along your bike, making things cleaner, and conceals it all, so your not a huge target for laughter.
I would deffenitly buy one of these to place on my old hybrid and take it to work daily. I always wanted to get an ebike, but whats on the market has always held me back. This looks sleek enough and easy enough that Im interested. I cant wait to buy it (providing its not over $700 or something.)
None of you realize that the batteries, motor controller, and receiver electronics are all within the hub. That is the real innovation here.
not true at all, you are incredibly naive; unaware. Here's an example where you are incorrect; note it is only one of many.
www.bionx.ca
What we are hoping china will deliver is cheap good batteries: e.g. right now lithium are expensive as hell, but if you get them from china...
Any word on this being used to store energy that can be used later for something else besides propelling your fat ass?