March 10, 201115 yr With work progressing on a standard for electric car charging standards: Cenelec - Charging of electric vehicles Mandate officially handed over to the European Standards Organizations it occurs to me whether electric bike manufacturers will start to produce bikes that could be plugged into these? The ability to do this could transform electric bike use by reducing range anxiety and make them more practical for longer journeys. That is, of course, once there are sufficient charging points available; see:Bristol leader launches first electric car charge points | Bristol24-7
March 10, 201115 yr Perhaps someone will come up with an adaptor which can convert the output for different bikes... could be a new market there for someone.
March 10, 201115 yr Author Perhaps someone will come up with an adaptor which can convert the output for different bikes... could be a new market there for someone. That's a good idea. Problem with bikes like mine (Kalkhoff Pro Connect) is that you have to take the battery off to charge it.
March 10, 201115 yr A relatively simple solution - add another circuit to the feed and lockers to store the chargers and batteries under charge (as people will have to bring along their own charger). there would need to be some seperate space for each bike to prevent risk from trailing leads, maybe security against vandalism/abuse/sabotage. Perhaps put the 230V supply on BS546 sockets, with 6A RCD protected breaker? should be enough for any legal UK e-bike I would have thought/ As these are still in use in the Commonwealth it should be easy to supply leads with 5A plug one end and IEC the other... Although Swindon's bike park wasn't 100% perfect security wise, maybe something expanded along these lines. I think this could be deployed even where e-car charging points aren't practical as it needs a fraction of the leccy for one thing...
March 10, 201115 yr Since countries like Holland which have gone mad on e-bikes don't have charging points for e-bikes, I rather doubt we'll see them here. At least with an e-bike the battery can be charged in one's workplace and many have a second charger for that purpose. .
March 10, 201115 yr Since countries like Holland which have gone mad on e-bikes don't have charging points for e-bikes, I rather doubt we'll see them here. . They do, but not as many in towns (where people would charge their bikes at workplaces and/or remain within the single range of the bike) - they appear to be more commontly found on leisure routes/places outside the main range of an ebike and/or in cafés etc (which makes perfect sense to attract customers on such machines) Oplaadpunten in Nederland http://www.oplaadpuntennederland.nl/ Edited March 11, 201115 yr by Alex728
March 11, 201115 yr Author Since countries like Holland which have gone mad on e-bikes don't have charging points for e-bikes, I rather doubt we'll see them here. At least with an e-bike the battery can be charged in one's workplace and many have a second charger for that purpose. . I can see that there may not be much of a market for charging points to serve only e-bikes. Charging points for electric cars are going to become more commonplace using a standard connector which I think has yet to be agreed on in Europe, see: European 'standard' e-car power connector details emerge • reghardware. Once a standard is available then it seems to me that it should be available for all types of electric vehicles, including e-bikes. The proposed connectors look like they are not really designed with bikes in mind but e-bike manufacturers could presumably develop something that could enable bikes to accept it.
March 11, 201115 yr Charging We have many customers who charge there battery at work I understand there are government grants for installing them it is also part off company's carbon foot print we will being supplying 2nd chargers Free as we found that travailing on the bike every day shook the charger to bits and its not fair to say its your fault You MUST always ask your employer if you can charge your battery or it is THEFT off electricity Instant Dismissal I hope that as E bikes become more common and people start asking can I charge my battery then pubs restraints shops like Morison provide locking storage for prams they need to fit mains sockets in them all part off there carbon footprint Frank
March 11, 201115 yr It's a shame that the charger can't be built into the battery - I suppose it could but it wouldn't look pretty...
March 11, 201115 yr Hi the problem with fitting the charger in the battery is the environment the e bike is in it is very aggressive vibration from road surface pot holes Hot Cold the extra Weight If the charger fails your battery is useless you wold have to carry a mains lead Sorry to GO on to many no no Frank
March 11, 201115 yr Hi the problem with fitting the charger in the battery is the environment the e bike is in it is very aggressive vibration from road surface pot holes Hot Cold the extra Weight If the charger fails your battery is useless you wold have to carry a mains lead Sorry to GO on to many no no Frank Talking about batteries I am glad to see you have moved from lead acid to lifeo4's as the extra weight and low power range is not worth the saving!
March 11, 201115 yr I've topped my battery up in the charging network known as "Starbucks" on a few occasions
March 11, 201115 yr Hi the problem with fitting the charger in the battery is the environment the e bike is in it is very aggressive vibration from road surface pot holes Hot Cold the extra Weight If the charger fails your battery is useless you wold have to carry a mains lead Sorry to GO on to many no no Frank That's what potting compound is for! Does raise the issue of heat dissipation though. The charger on the Whisper has a cooling fan, while the Cyclamatic is passive, being in a sealed enclosure. If you are expecting the charger to fail then you could modularise the design so that it can be easily swapped out and there is no reason to not still allow external charging as well. The weight would be negligible for switched mode. Again, the cooling requirement could be tricky. Most of the weight of the Whisper charger is the case. The Cyclamatic charger weighs next to nothing. As for carrying a mains lead, that could be provided at a charging post. Say a kettle lead (IEC C13).
March 11, 201115 yr I've topped my battery up in the charging network known as "Starbucks" on a few occasions Perhaps we should encourage cafes, restaurants and hotels to have a few more accessible 13A sockets. And petrol stations.
March 11, 201115 yr Perhaps we should encourage cafes, restaurants and hotels to have a few more accessible 13A sockets. And petrol stations. Sounds like a great idea... The government needs to get organised on this and launch some scheme where they subsidise the cost and make a national scheme any businesses can join..common sticker in the window type of thing.. that would be great if we started seeing outlets like that popping up everywhere and an online map.
March 11, 201115 yr Charging posts would be great but I shan't hold my breath waiting to see them around. It'll be many years before we see any kind of national network for electric cars so I doubt if bikes will get a look in. Indalo
March 11, 201115 yr Charging posts would be great but I shan't hold my breath waiting to see them around. It'll be many years before we see any kind of national network for electric cars so I doubt if bikes will get a look in. Indalo Perhaps we could organise one ourselves? ;-)
March 11, 201115 yr it would be great to see in city centers enclosed secure bike parks for manual and electric bikes with secure bays or lockers for indivual bikes with standard plug points. An an entrepreneurial opportunity for someone
March 11, 201115 yr it would be great to see in city centers enclosed secure bike parks for manual and electric bikes with secure bays or lockers for indivual bikes with standard plug points. An an entrepreneurial opportunity for someone Yep I totally agree. If the industry continues to grow there's going to be tremendous opportunities for new and existing businesses in many areas to service the special needs of ebike users. The ideal situation as you suggest would be secure storage and charging combined.. and also convenient charge points all over the UK... and dare I say it, some battery exchange scheme subsidised by the gov. Edited March 11, 201115 yr by morphix
March 11, 201115 yr It's a shame that the charger can't be built into the battery - I suppose it could but it wouldn't look pretty... Some used to be built in, the original Giant Lafree with a lead acid battery had it's charger integral, but it was a big heavy bike. .
March 11, 201115 yr Sounds like a great idea... The government needs to get organised on this and launch some scheme where they subsidise the cost and make a national scheme any businesses can join..common sticker in the window type of thing.. that would be great if we started seeing outlets like that popping up everywhere and an online map. This is precisely what they appear to have done in NL, although I'm as yet unsure how much public sector subsidy is involved. Bear in mind I struggle with delving into Council type documents and procedures in English, so it will take me longer to unearth this sort of info in Dutch. Although Frank makes a good point about robustness, for an e-bike I don't think its that much of a bind carrying the charger in your pannier bag, even the comparatively large Wisper charger is no worse than the sort of PSU the laptops of the late 80s/early 90s used. when I go to my friends who live near the Norfolk border I just put the charger in the bag and it survives the 26 mile journey on what is not the best of roads..
March 13, 201115 yr Author This sort of service in the UK would be ideal: Google Maps adds electric vehicle charging stations — Autoblog Green Would still need bikes that can use the connector though.
March 14, 201115 yr Author I took a ride today to Hillers: A H Hilllers - Quality local produce farmshop garden cafe display gardens in Warwickshire. A nice little places with a farm shop, gift shop, cafe and gardens. I rang ahead and asked if they were ok with me charging my battery while I had lunch at the cafe. They were agreeable and very happy to accommodate. They arranged for me to plug it in in a little locked back office. I wonder if there is some means of creating a list of businesses that we know of that are happy to charge batteries? Sounds like a win-win. For a very small cost they get more custom and we get batteries charged for an increased riding range.
March 14, 201115 yr Looks a lovely place. I havent found any problems with people agreeing to a quick charge whilst having lunch/coffee etc. The first place I asked was a farm cafe on the left halfway between bridport and abbetsbury, and although a bit startled when I asked, I assured them it used very little electric and they let me plug it in right next to our table ! I think a list of places, preferably with people better than me at remembering the name of the place would be a really good idea and free publicity for the businesses. Is there some way of organizing a list quite easily for members to add to on the forum ?
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