If a battery exists that is even just half the weight of existing batteries and can provide enough charge for say a 50 mile round trip, electrics would rule the roost. But in reality for ease of use and confidence a gasser wins hands down.
I have to agree with Simona on this one. There is no question that if batteries were better electric bikes would be awesome. Some people love the look and sound of a motor bike. I'm not one of them. I built an electric push trailer for my bike and it worked great. It was so quiet! It pushed me 21 mph on flat ground and I thought it was the cats meow.
But there is definitely more complexity in a good electric bike... from charger selection to battery chemistry to safety relays and current/voltage displays. If you get better battery chemistries you are also looking at better charging systems to balance the batteries. And even with the best batteries, there is the occasional bad cell that doesn't last as long as the others and brings down the whole pack necessitating a time consuming repair... not for the novice. None of these things like rain or road salts and as soon as you start increasing battery voltage, the risk of short circuits and getting zapped increases dramatically.
And surprisingly... electrics can't yet compete with the economy of a small gas engine like those rack mounted on bikes. It may only cost pennies a day to re-charge but at some point you have to replace those batteries. Even if you get the best LI-POs with an expected life span of up to ten years, you have to use them for that long to get the payback you need to make them economically competative with these little gas engines. Can anyone say where they will be in ten years? Do you really know that you will ride your bike that long? You just cannot leave the cost of batteries out of the equations.
** sigh**
I don't want to write this stuff. I really wanted an electric bike. But I couldn't get my head around the economics.
It was economics that made me look at bikes in the first place.
I have a GEBE bike. I probably spent $1000 all total to put it all together with a new Schwinn bike, heavy spoked back wheel, a 32cc Tanaka GEBE kit, lights, better kick stand, helmet, fuel bottle, bike lock, tube slime, air pump, baskets... maybe a few other things. It do add up.
Now I have over 500 miles on it (about 100 miles a week) and it just works. Period. And I'm told by others that the engine is potentially good for tens of thousands of miles. I carry a spare belt but the one I have looks great and I know not to over-rev the engine without first pedalling it up to moderate speed. No big deal.
20mph is leisurely... 30mph practical... 40mph pushing the safety margins on a bike. Some are doing it but I would never recommend it. You've got to be on your toes above 30mph. If you have a relaxed grip on the handle bars and hit an unexpected pot hole, even with front suspension, your hands can pop right off the bike. "Constant VIGILANCE!!!"
Now that I'm going 30mph I don't think I could ever go back to 20mph on my electric bike. I would have to over-volt the motor further and change the controller and on and on and on... you get the picture?
One last thing... I re-fuel at home. My engine is 2-cycle so I pre-mix a 1.5 gallon gas can and use that to re-fuel. The plastic gas can has a spring-loaded nossel that must be pressed into the fuel tank to open the fuel valve and allow gas to come out. I love it. It takes no more than 30 seconds to re-fuel my engine when I get home... start to finish. You can't even get your debit card read at a gas station that fast!
I can live with the noise of my bike engine. It's reliable. It just works.
My two cents...
Regards,
Ross
