Chainless Drives

[shemozzle999]

http://www.bike-eu.com/sales-trends/nieuws/2017/10/next-generation-e-bike-drive-systems-arrived-10131621

 

[MikelBikel]

750w motor but limited to 25km/h, mmm. Seems a waste, only legal there, y, n?
Isn't a mechanical connection between the pedals and wheel also required. And an s-pedelec can already go faster, i thought.
Generating "300w" from the pedals at 60rpm, mmm, seems optimistic..have to see if its been independently verified and what rider effort is required to produce it.
These self gen bikes keep popping up, full marks to Denmark for trying

 

[anotherkiwi]

A professional racer produces 400 W an ordinary mortal 100-160 W tops.

 

[Gubbins]

If it's set to a countries legal speed limit there will be no way of exceeding this no matter how hard or fast you can pedal.

 

[Gubbins]

I like the idea of generating the power to drive the wheel. I have always wondered why there isnt a car version.. A small motor driving a generator with a battery to take up the slack., after all they did it with the diesel electric trains..

 

[flecc]

I have always wondered why there isnt a car version.. A small motor driving a generator with a battery to take up the slack.

The first generation Toyota Prius and other non-plugin hybrids are virtually that.

Some plugin ones are not far removed either, the Chevrolet Volt, Chinese BYD, Mitsubishi PHEV and the auxilliary petrol version of the BMW i3.
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[rich_r]

Yes - there are several hydrid cars using an engine that doesn't drive the wheels directly (or only does in some situations). I quite like the idea of having a small but very efficient constant rpm engine driving a generator to replenish the battery.

And that engine should run on propane, not diesel or petrol. Far better for the environment and can be generated from non-fossil sources such as algae (eventually in the quantities needed). Not that I'm biased because my 3.0 litre Subaru runs on LPG.

All very achievable, and I suspect something we might see in the next 20 years or so.

 

[Gubbins]

Technology is moving forward and sneaking in without most of us noting it. My car for instance doesn't seem to have a mechanical connection between the accelerator pedal and the engine. In Eco mode pushing the pedal doesnt have an immediate response in that the power floats in gently after a short delay whereas in Drive or Sport modes reaction is instantaneous.
Having said that I doubt that the car industry is fully comitee to the future of e-cars.
Head in the sand an all that.

 

[flecc]

Having said that I doubt that the car industry is fully comitee to the future of e-cars.
Head in the sand an all that.

I don't think it's just head in the sand, there are some fundamental problems. They need a network of dealers for car sales, but those car sales cannot support the dealers and their premises. They are reliant on the income from servicing and those very expensive large profit margin spares.

Trouble is e-cars are too reliable, they need far less servicing and spares. The only really large ticket item is the battery, and all the pressure is on getting the price of those acceptably low to achieve more e-car sales, meaning low profit margin.

And then there's the fuel stations. The few minutes fast charge problem hasn't been solved, so e-cars will only charge at home or work. That will leave the fuel stations just having trucks etc, meaning most will close since they run on a shoestring already. So those who do need liquid fuel might have very large distances to go to fill up.

For these reasons and more the motor industry is more favourably inclined to short e-range hybrids at present, rather than true e-cars.
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[topographer]

You just need every parking spot to have charging.

 

[Woosh]

You just need every parking spot to have charging.

power supply will be the first obstacle - a Leaf for example will need 7KW feed to power the charger. Multiply by the number of parking spaces, the problem will scale up very quickly.