Last summer I acquired my Lithium-Ion powered Bionx system. (see photo). It has a 36V Li-Ion Battery pack and 350 Watt motor and fits on any regular bicycle. I use it to get to and from work which is 38 km round-trip. Altogether I've put 1300 km on my bike since I got it - most of it commuting to/from work. (I was off 4 months on parental leave through the fall so I didn't use it then). Occasionally, I drive the Prius to work but only when it's frosty. My normal cruising speed is between 30 and 34 km/hr. My best time going to work is 32 minutes and coming home 38 minutes. (Going home is uphill). My Prius, since we have owned it, has a weighted fuel economy average of 4.89 L/100 km or 57.79 mpg (imperial). So I figure I save about 2 Litres of gas when I bike. Anybody interested in getting one of these - I say go for it. It's great.
how many amp hours is the battery? So it's a 350W motor, that's pretty damn good. That's better than TdF cyclists, isn't it? So 350W/36V = 9.72A. That's how that works right? Is is the battery about 9Ah? Or is it less. Can you regenerate electricity while costing (or peddling) downhill? Do they have more of a road bike version? Great ride! What took you so long to tell us about it? :boink:
Not sure how to calculate the number of amp hours. I almost deplete the battery using level four on my 19 km commute. Good thing I can charge the battery at work. The battery comes off the bike easily so I can charge it at my desk. It doesn't regenerate electricity when coasting but it does when breaking. Or if you are going down a long, steep hill you can put it into a regen mode (again levels 1-4). And you can install it on pretty much any bike, any style. You buy the bike and the bionx kit separately.
Brilliant! How much does it cost? Can you supplement it by peddling or do you either pedal or use the motor? Glad to hear that it can regen.
It either automatically assists as you pedal or you can employ a throttle so you don't have to pedal. Of course your range pretty limited if you don't pedal. There is a little computer attached to the handlebars that is a speedometer, odometer, controls the settings and has a little throttle lever. In assist mode, it automatically senses how hard you are pedaling and provides a certain amount of thrust depending on what level you set it. In this mode, the motor goes on and off and/or varies its power output as needed as the elevation, terrain or headwind changes. I use level 4 (the most assistance) on my commute. It really flattens the hills and keeps my speed up on level ground. I still pedal pretty aggressively the whole way. Without the motor, I'd be moving way, way slower on average. The cost is big but for me it meant not needed a second family car. The kit cost me $1900 installed. I bought the PL350 - the most expensive option. See the details on the Bionx website
Yikes! That ain't cheap. Did you have someone install it then? OTOH, I could see something like this really saving somebody a lot of money on petrol if the conditions were right. It's not feasible for me, but for a lot of folks, esp in urban areas, this could be a very handy thing.
Your model has a 9.2 Ah battery according to the specs. Looks like the low end model costs about $950 US and the top end that you have is $1595. That doesn't include the cost of the bike, of course. Seems that the one you got is the best choice, given the price range. Pretty cool. The only thing that concerns me is the life cycle of the battery. They rate it at 400-500 cycles. I suppose that's deep cycles so if you can keep the SOC above some amount then the battery might last considerably longer. I've heard that LI batteries have a shelf life that's independent of their use.
I would love to ride my bike to work. I used to do that in Kansas where there were lots of sidewalks but the route I travel in northern Virginia is extremely hazardous to bike riders.
The bike shop that I purchased the bionx kit from installed it for free. Yeah it ain't cheap, but for some people it is or would be a quick, healthy, and clean alternative to driving. The motor makes the pedaling very easy. And if your commute involves slow-moving, heavy traffic when you take a car, you might get where you are going in less time by bike because you can ride alongside the curb while all the cars are crawling or parked on the road. I love passing the cars on the highway into work. I do it all the time Heh heh. Like anything, the price should come down if volume of sales goes up. Anybody even slightly interested in commuting by bicycle should check the Bionx or similar systems out. Not all electric bikes are as good as the Bionx though. The bike part of my system is easy and cheap to maintain - it's just a regular bike. And I can pedal it just like a regular bike if I run out of juice too. If you run out of power with one of those scooter electric bikes you're not going to be able to pedal it very far, if at all.
Stafford (610 HWY) to Fort Belvoir and back. One of my plans before the Prius was to take the VRE to Lorton with my bike and ride the rest of the way in. I didn't understand at the time that US 1 was suicidal for bike riders.
Just FYI, In Japan, a battery assist bike is very popular. The latest one was just introduced from Sanyo and it has regenerating capability. ŽO—m“d‹@ÂbÆ’jƒ…Â[Æ’XÆ’Å Æ’Å Â[Æ’XÂbÆ’Å Æ’`Æ’Eƒ€ƒCÆ’Iƒ“ƒoÆ’bÆ’eÆ’Å Â[‚É‘–Âs’†‚ÉÂ[“d‚ª‚Å‚«‚é “d“®ƒnÆ’CÆ’uÆ’Å Æ’bÆ’hŽ©“]ŽÔÂuÆ’GÆ’iÆ’Nƒ‹SPAÆ’VÆ’Å Â[Æ’YÂv‚ðâ€Ââ€â€ž Ken@Japan
Here are the two routes I take. You might need to zoom out once the page loads to see the whole route. Gmaps Pedometer Gmaps Pedometer BTW, isn't this pedometer website cool?
