Panasonic has a line of bicycles called ECO electric bikes that apparently run on NiMH or lithium batteries.  These batteries, which have 24 to 26 volts in battery packs, can give a rider 27 to 31 kilometers (about 16 to 19 miles) of distance while zipping along on a 230 watt DC brushless motor.

Even though these Panasonic E-bikes carry a considerable battery pack as well as a powerful motor, they are fairly light, weighting in at about 44 to 57 lbs.  of course this is a pedal assisted model, so you can go greater distances depending on how much effort you want to put into your ride.  There are also different models depending on how much assist you want from the electric motor.  You can get a light version that has a three shift gear system all the way up to a seven shift system.

These electric bicycles come with all of the accessories that you would find with most regular bicycles, but there is a special caveat connected with this.  Panasonic is making these electric bikes from high quality materials, like steel for the spokes and if you break a couple of them, the replacement parts can be rather expensive.

The price for these bikes is about the same as other ebikes I have reviewed ranging about $1000 U.S. dollars for the bike and $250 if you want replacement batteries.

To find out more about Panasonic’s E-bikes Click Here:

Electric Bikes by Panasonic

On the other hand, if you already have a bicycle that you like you can easily convert it to an electric one by buying a conversion kit.  And guess what?  You won’t have to pay half of the shipping charges.  One of the more prominent companies that sell these kits over the Internet is a business called AmpedBikes.Com.  AmpedBikes is a company started by a gentleman by the name of Danny Ray.  Like most of us, Danny suffers from a common ailment called “getting older”.

As Danny says,”I’m 38 and not in perfect shape, my body is pretty beat up from being a carpenter for 20 years. I romanticized the memories of all day rides when I was a lot younger, but when it actually came down to it, my body didn’t react the way I remembered it ha-ha…

The hills seemed much steeper than they used to. The wind, which did not bother me as a kid, does now, so I set out to find a solution.”

Danny found gas motored bicycles at first, but found that it they were too loud and he got no exercise at all when he rode them.  He then found electric bikes with electric motors but he knew from experiences with playing around with radio controlled airplanes that brushless motors were the most efficient.

“I went and rode every kit I could get my hands on and the only difference I saw in all of them was the price tag.”

Eventually, Danny wound up taking a trip to China to get a manufacturer to make an electric bike kit that met his standards and specifications. Thus, the online store AmpedBikes.Com was born.

At the store, you can buy three different types of kits.  AmpedBikes sells kits with Lithium battery kits, Sealed Lead Acid battery kits (SLA), and kits without batteries as well as electric bike accessories.  The website has a gallery page that shows you large pictures of the kits and a page that has a very detailed and clear video on how to install them.

All of the kits are engineered as well a designed in the U.S.  The company itself is located here as well and is committed to quality and customer service while placing a 100% guarantee on all of its products.

To see AmpedBikes website, click here: www.AmpedBikes.Com

Here is an AmpedBikes Video:

One of the leaders in the new arena of e-bikes, was Currie Electric Bikes.   Predominantly, Currie had two distinct strains of bikes, the Izip and Ezip lines that were good, stable products in the market.  Today, Currie Technologies is clearly taking the lead in the production and sale of electric bikes and now, you can actually purchase these bikes directly from the company instead of going through a dealer.

Today, the Currie Electric Bike has evolved along with the company, and the Izip Express is a very good example of this.  This is a human assist e-bike (or an electric assist bike,  whichever way you would like  to look at it) that uses  the EVO Assist,  a high torque Currie electric bike motor.  Just to be clear, the electric motor assists you as you pedal, creating plenty of power as you do.  This feature allows you to bike with minimum effort.   This also includes climbing hills and tackling different types of slopes and headwinds as if it were very easy.    This is possible because the Evo Assist 2.0 is a 750 watt powerhouse that is fed electricity byway of a 36 Volt 8 Amp battery pack.

This powerful system will give you somewhere around 20 plus mile per hour speeds (32+ kilometers per hour) and a range of approximately 31 miles for a person that is under the recommended weight of 240 lbs. ( I wonder when they are going to make an electric bike for people over that weight!)

I think one of the cool things about the Currie Electric Bikes that are on the market today is that they have a device called a Cadence Sensor, which automatically detects human power and adjusts itself according to your needs.  So imagine you are starting to ride out of your driveway and your wife starts to chase you because you didn’t wash the dishes like she told you to.  No problem, just start pumping your legs and the EVO Assist on the bike will take you briskly to the bowling alley, adjusting to the amount of effort you put into the system.  (Not that this has ever happened to me.)  There is even a power boost built into the system to get you out of those real tight situations.

The Izip Express also carries other high quality features such as double wall alloy rims, stainless steel spokes, tires that are double shield puncture – protected, and a host of other high quality features too long to list here.

To find out more about the Izip Express and the entire line of high – quality Currie Electric Bikes, go to this link:

Currie Electric Bikes

This site has all sorts of cool electric gadgets that you ride on and use that will impress your friends.  Not only does the site have ebikes and escooters, but it also carries gas powered ones that a pretty cool too.   The site is actually for everyone young or old but the site design is pretty cool displaying graphics that would interest any younger person that is interested in alternative methods of transportation.

The company carries also wide variety of alternative vehicle products that can range from around $1000.00 to much cheaper models.  Not only do they have electric bicycles but also the conversion kits that can help you convert your regular bike into an electric one.  Urban Scooters has been around for awhile and it would seem to still be a very popular site.   If you are interested in taking  a look at a fine site that is loaded with all sorts of electric bikes as well as electric scooter products, then you really need to take a look at this site.

By utilizing carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires, scientists at Sanford have been able to coat a sheet of paper with ink made of the nanotubes. The end result was a storage device that is highly conductive and low cost, not to mention high performance.

Now, before anyone gets too confused on the difference between batteries and capacitors I need to explain the difference:

1. 1. Batteries are great for storing and holding energy for long periods of time until you use them.
2. 2. Capacitors can store the energy also, but they hold the energy for shorter periods of time, while having the ability to discharge the energy much faster!

According to Stanford studies conducted by assistant professor of science and engineering Yi Cui,  the university researchers designed and created the nano-batteries by using the nanomaterial that easily sticks like ink to fibrous material.  This property makes the batteries far more durable while allowing the batteries to charge and discharge (40,000 charge/discharge cycles) far better than the current state of the art batteries, lithium-Ion.

Some of the benefits of creating these batteries border on the incredible. For one thing, because this material is so thin and durable, you can easily fold the batteries and or crumple them into any shape that you want to.  They have even been soaked in basic solutions or acidic solutions while keeping the performance of the batteries intact.

Of course there are obvious applications for these batteries, especially in the realm of electric types of vehicles like electric scoters or even electric bikes. Because the batteries are so light and thin they could easily be pasted to the frame of and e-bike or electric scooter and this would increase electric output while taking off the extra weight caused by the usual storage batteries.

Here is a clip of the new paper batteries:

Now for some tips on how you can save energy and reduce the battery output of your electric bicycles charging system.

Here are several basic ways you can add power and recapture energy with your electric bicycle

1. Pedaling – There are some models of electric bicycles on the market that allow you to charge the batteries while pedaling.  The concept is pretty basic, as you pedal the e-bike the power is generated and sent back into the batteries.  Of course, this means that you will be pedaling and that while you are charging the pedaling may become harder because of the drag due to a heavier bike and the generator creates more drag as well.  However don’t despair, because if you get to a hill you can use the second method of generating electricity for your electric bicycle which is ….
2. Coasting – Some ebikes have systems that can recharge while you coast on an ebike. The downside to this method, however is that you can’t generate very much electricity using this method because you obviously need to climb a hill to be able to ride down it and generate the electricity and the amount of energy you will spend as well as the slope down will determine how much electricity is generated and stored into the batteries.
3. Regenerative Breaking – Now, believe it or not, one of the best methods of charging your batteries outside of plugging the darned thing into the wall is by regenerated breaking. Quite simply, this method stores electricity into your batteries by using the breaks.  Some of the electric powered cars of the 1990’s had this option, but since the electric car pretty much got squelched, some of the advancements in the technology got shelved and was not improved upon.  Once again, there is a downside to this system and that is you don’t normally ride on your breaks.  So, once again, there is a limited amount of energy that you will be able to create using this method.
4. Motor Generating-Last, but certainly not least, is the system of recapturing energy by doing so while the motor is running.  However, this method of generating electricity is in the experimental/ development phase right now.  Hopefully, by the end of the next decade we will have something like this to look forward to.  If it becomes a reality, then the electric bikes and scooters will be greatly enhanced and electric biking and electric scooter use will be something that will be very desirable in most households.

We have only to wait and look forward to the future!

in high quality hub motors, batteries, electric scooters and they even sell an electric car kit!  Actually the electric car kits are for smaller types of cars like golf carts or ATV’s.

As for the electric hub motors they sell one conversion kit called ” The Magic Pie”  This ebike conversion kit is their top of the line electric bicycle conversion which can not only with a hub motor in the back of your electric bicycle but also add one to the front on what Golden Motor calls a”dual hub system”. Golden motor touts itself as a manufacturer of super thin /high torque motors that can give n ebike enthusiast the power and

performance that you would want without draining  your wallet.

There are three different hubs that have different power levels 24, 36 or 48 volt systems.  You can see the different hub

motors at  Golden Motor by clicking here.

I got an email from them and they have stated that they are having a sale of some of the e-bikes that they have had custom built for customers and for some reason the sale did not occur.  Now, 50 Cycles is located in England and they sell all sorts of wonderful electric bikes through their Internet site, and I am not sure if they sell internationally outside of the UK.  If you are from the U.S.  you may want to visit their site and see if you can purchase one of these bargains and have it shipped to you.  I’m not sure how much international shipping would be from the UK but 50 Cycles may have a sister store here in the U.S.  Either way, it would probably be a good idea to at least look into one of these gems if they are a really good deal.

Here is the link to the 50 cycles site: 50 Cycles They also have a pretty good 50 Cycles Blog as well.

ELMO

The Electric Scooter Site and Electric Bike Site

A person like myself can only question and ponder if electric bike enthusiasts and electric scooter fans alike will be represented at this summit. It would be great if there were at least a few electric scooter or electric bike models were present at this important summit. One of the electric vehicles that were talked about at the summit is an electric car that could go about 300 miles on a single charge.  This was featured on the  CNN site and you can see the clip here: Electric Car at Dubai Summit

As I have stated before, I don’t think humans are heating up the environment I believe that the Earth is probably going through a warming cycle right now and it will probably go through a cooling cycle someday, but I don’t know when.  However, I do think that this energy summit is very important, because I don’t like being dependent on oil and I do like to live in a clean environment.  So, I guess you can say that I am somewhat of a tree- hugger.

My question is this: If you can get a car to drive almost 300 miles on a single charge, how far can you get an electric scooter or an electric bike to go?  It seems to me that over the last four years, batteries have taken a leap forward.  Here is an article from Technology Review on a battery breakthrough.

Apparently, there is a Texas company named EEStore that has created a battery that can out perform lithium – ion batteries.  The batteries can outperform acid based batteries by almost 10 times, or so the company claims. From what I can see, there is quite a bit of controversy about whether the batteries and the capacitor storage syste can do what they say they can do.

I tried to find out more by going to EEStore’s site, but the site is currently down.  Apparently their site is being renovated and will be online very soon. You can find out more about this company from Wikipedia.

Anyway, I am very enthusiastic about the possibilities behind all of this green technology and being an electric bicycle and electric scooter enthusiast, I am very excited to see fine companies pouring the energy into creating products that help us get away from our dependency on oil.

ELMO

Electric Bikes and Electric Scooters Site

KTM the Austrian sports motor company, is planning on unveiling and  producing an electric motor cross bike this year.  The company which has grown steadily since 1934, is planning on utilizing lithium ion battery technology which will give the motor bike a duration of about 40 minutes of high energy work.   KTM has been involved in off road vehicles considerably in the past and now it plans tom expand itself into the rapidly growing electric scooter and electric bike markets where it will have a definite distribution advantage over other companies that are in a similar niche market.

Not only has the company expoanded into the electric bicycle market but it is also getting involved in the production of light weight cars that they began in 2006 called the X-bow.

In my opinion, I have never seen more beautiful bikes.  The craftsmanship that goes into a KTM bike is outstanding.  You can easily check out everything on their website here: www.KTM.com

Many electric bike and scooter enthusiasts are thrilled by the prospect of a company of this magnitude and excellence getting involved  in these types of electric motor cross bikes.  We can only hold our breath once again and expect ebikes to take another giant leap in technology when this caliber of company gets involved in the industry.

ELMO