For those who believe in Miracles a Self Charging Ebike

[oldgroaner]

The Vello bike that charges itself!
Vello Bike+ harvests power from the rider's braking and pedalling, using it to recharge a lithium-ion battery.

Vello claims a fully charged battery provides constant pedalling assistance lasting around 20 miles (32 kilometres). The bicycle can also be plugged into power sockets to charge.

https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/17/vello-bike-plus-world-first-self-charging-electric-folding-bicycle-design/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/17/vello-bike-plus-world-first-self-charging-electric-folding-bicycle-design/
And how far will it travel if not charged at the mains? one has to wonder!

 

[Swinman]

I've always thought it odd that electric bikes don't recharge themselves when in use , we all had dynamo lights on bikes years ago so why don't we now , they would give back some charge and that's free .

 

[D8ve]

I've always thought it odd that electric bikes don't recharge themselves when in use , we all had dynamo lights on bikes years ago so why don't we now , they would give back some charge and that's free .

It's hard work to charge the battery it's not free. If your peddling you want to travel.

 

[Swinman]

It's hard work to charge the battery it's not free. If your peddling you want to travel.

Yes but with modern tec it could be easier and then the hard work would be even more rewarding, it's nice to dream lol

 

[D8ve]

Ya canna fool the laws of physics, the energy you put in to the battery is as much as you could ever get out( with real bikes and losses you get less out than in) .
So if you sweat hard you would go slowly then have some spare energy to help you sweat more going up the hill.
Not worth it just sweat once when you need to.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It sounds like total garbage to me - typical marketing hype. Any bike that charges while you pedal would be rather unpleasant to ride, like pedalling uphill or into the wind all the time. What they really mean is that they've designed a lightweight bike with a small battery. It would probably have been better if they'd left it as that with a normal free-wheeling motor. Lightweight bikes and self-charging just doesn't work.

 

[danielrlee]

So, basically it's a DD bike with regen. Big wow!

Marketing is the artform of the 21st century....

 

[Artstu]

Got the old "Does it charge as you ride" comment twice the other day in the shopping high street. ..

 

[Zlatan]

Yep I,ve had that Artstu...Its odd. If somebody asked does braking charge battery, well fair enough, but charging whilst pedalling is ridiculous. I suppose you could have it as an option for using bike as an exercise bike?

 

[mike killay]

I've always thought it odd that electric bikes don't recharge themselves when in use , we all had dynamo lights on bikes years ago so why don't we now , they would give back some charge and that's free .

That is the whole point. The little bottle dynamo hardly made any electricity at all, but you could notice the effect on pedalling when using it.
You cannot get out any more than you put in. To climb a hill, you will have to put all the climbing energy in when pedalling on the flat before the hill. But because of huge losses in the system, you will need to pedal far harder to make the electricity than you would need to pedal without electricity to climb the hill.

 

[Swinman]

Not wanting to rock the boat , and yes the idea is mad , but as we all know technology has come on a long way and it's not about price as we know what the unit cost will never be made back on the life of the bike it's about distance you can get out of a battery and if while traveling you can put back some charge into the battery then we get to travel further for the same effort, as with auto lights and hill assets on cars I'm sure some boffin can make a dynamo that only works on down hill so no extra effort for the riders, even 2 or 3 extra miles for no extra work is worth if you can have it

 

[tommie]

That is the whole point. The little bottle dynamo hardly made any electricity at all, but you could notice the effect on pedalling when using it.
You cannot get out any more than you put in. To climb a hill, you will have to put all the climbing energy in when pedalling on the flat before the hill. But because of huge losses in the system, you will need to pedal far harder to make the electricity than you would need to pedal without electricity to climb the hill.

True, yes i had the little dynamo that you flicked over onto the sidewall of the tyre,

but how about those of us that live in hilly terrain, can`t we get that dynamo to auto-engage on downhill parts when we stop pedaling? Surely that would be something for almost nothing?

 

[Swinman]

True, yes i had the little dynamo that you flicked over onto the sidewall of the tyre,

but how about those of us that live in hilly terrain, can`t we get that dynamo to auto-engage on downhill parts when we stop pedaling? Surely that would be something for almost nothing?

Yes my point exactly

 

[tommie]

similar to this or maybe the old hub type.... in fact i remember having the front wheel hub type and there was zero drag on pedaling

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I've always thought it odd that electric bikes don't recharge themselves when in use , we all had dynamo lights on bikes years ago so why don't we now , they would give back some charge and that's free .

The power you got from a dynamo was never free. You got it at the cost of increased pedal effort. the whole point of an electric bike is to help you to pedal, not to make it harder!

 

[Danidl]

Not wanting to rock the boat , and yes the idea is mad , but as we all know technology has come on a long way and it's not about price as we know what the unit cost will never be made back on the life of the bike it's about distance you can get out of a battery and if while traveling you can put back some charge into the battery then we get to travel further for the same effort, as with auto lights and hill assets on cars I'm sure some boffin can make a dynamo that only works on down hill so no extra effort for the riders, even 2 or 3 extra miles for no extra work is worth if you can have it

... The technical challenge is non existent. Putting an extra generator on the bike , putting a power supply and switching it on when going fast or braking. Is all very feasible. The economics are flakey and more importantly the energy recoverable is not worth it. For the extra weight that the charging electronics would take, you could just put in a few more battery cells.
The reason why regenerative braking is feasible in electrical cars has to do with the relative masses and speeds. I wrote a posting on this forum some two weeks ago detailing the energy required to accelerate and travel and go up hills. By and large, the greatest expenditure of energy on a bike.. ebike or otherwise is against air resistance. Any energy expended going up a hill is recovered on the downside, energy used to accelerate a bike with cyclist to crusing speed is only lost when the bike stops. But as the speed is only 15 miles hr and the mass of the rider and bike approx 100kg. The energy 0.5mv2is low. On the other hand a Prius of say 2000kg travelling At 50 mph stops the kinetic energy is much much higher.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

similar to this or maybe the old hub type.... in fact i remember having the front wheel hub type and there was zero drag on pedaling

Totally impossible. There was close to zero drag when you didn't have the lights on, but as soon as you put the lights on, you'd have to pedal something like 10% harder.

If it were possible to get electricity for nothing, then we wouldn't have electricity bills. We'd just connect up to a load of Sturmey Archer dynamos that sit in the cupboard under the stairs.

 

[tommie]

The power you got from a dynamo was never free. You got it at the cost of increased pedal effort. the whole point of an electric bike is to help you to pedal, not to make it harder!

d8veh, not true, don`t you remember those old front hub dynamos? You could hold the bike off the ground and spin the front wheel, it would go on for ever,

similar to this...

 

[tommie]

There was close to zero drag when you didn't have the lights on, but as soon as you put the lights on, you'd have to pedal something like 10% harder.

So in the front hub dynamo where/how was the drag introduced `when you put the lights on`??

I know there wasn`t. why?

Cos i rode them for years,

You lifted the front wheel off the ground it spun freely, you had lights!!

ZERO resistance!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

So where does the energy for the lights come from? Can a dynamo conjure it up out of thin air? Why do you think power stations need to burn coal to make electricity if the generators can make it just by spinning with no resistance? Hello!

I'll give you a clue. The only way you can get energy out of anything is if you put in more than you get out. In the case of your inefficient dynamo and its associated wiring, that's probably close to double.