petrol generator powered bike

[Toby woodman]

I was thinking about building an E bike. I can buy a 750watt motor wheel for cheap and that would be plenty of power for me. however the batteries are expensive. I can buy a small battery for cheap that would likely give me about 5 miles of range, I have a small 1000w generator pictured below. the only question i have is, will an e-bike battery charge while the bike is moving, or is there another way to power an ebike motor directly off the generator.

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

I was thinking about building an E bike. I can buy a 750watt motor wheel for cheap and that would be plenty of power for me. however the batteries are expensive. I can buy a small battery for cheap that would likely give me about 5 miles of range, I have a small 1000w generator pictured below. the only question i have is, will an e-bike battery charge while the bike is moving, or is there another way to power an ebike motor directly off the generator.

Hybrid cars now use the electric drive motor to charge the battery when using gas power only.

There's been past builder whom used electric motors to assist gas engines. What they've done is use 2 hub motors. The front one acts as a generator while the back one is a drive motor. With a little electronic know how in building a controller, one could use the front generator to either charge a battery or switch up to provide power for the real drive motor.

 

[Toby woodman]

I was thinking about using an induction motor from a drill press that is about 500watts, however im not sure if it would have enough startup torque to get a bike going as indcution motors have low startup power. could a drive a DC motor directly from a gnerator?

 

[Sidewinder Jerry]

I was thinking about using an induction motor from a drill press that is about 500watts, however im not sure if it would have enough startup torque to get a bike going as indcution motors have low startup power. could a drive a DC motor directly from a gnerator?

This thread is suggestive of building a small portable gas powered generator to provide power for an ebike.

 

[Toby woodman]

i was thinking i could use the generator to directly power the motor without the need for a battery to act as a buffer

 

[Chainlube]

Hybrid cars now use the electric drive motor to charge the battery when using gas power only.

So does golf carts.

 

[michael whiteman]

I personally like the modified car alternator concept. If only the batteries weren't so damn expensive.

 

[SirLurksAlot]

I've toyed with the idea of modifying a harbor freight (or honda) 2kw inverter-generator to power a 1kw hub drive. The weight being the main impediment, imo. That, plus deciding precisely what generator mods would be required...

Probably impractical, but it sounds like there's a potential beyond wasting a bunch of time and money there

 

[Wrench]

@bike4life tried something like

what you folks think about running an inverter gen at a 30 to 40 degree angle.

i am trying to make a hybrid ebike and the inverter gen will sit in the frame... however, it will sit on the downtube, which is obviously angled like idk 30 or 40 degrees to the ground... thoughts! should be okay right? i will have to modify the frame a tad so it will fit...

motoredbikes.com

 

[cloakedvillain]

Bakaneko did this.

Its more efficient just to drive the wheel directly but then you miss out on pedal assist.

The easiest way is going to be rectifying the 120vac out of a portable generator and using a high voltage controller. The rectified dc should be around 76 volts iirc.

No more range anxiety, right? Ask adventure motorbike riders, gas never seems to go far enough despite the recharge time being the time spent filling the tank. Not uncommon to see giant jerry cans strapped to a motorbike that comes stock with a huge gas tank.