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The new(used) batteries arrived. I was tired of having only a 50 mile range and ordered two used Greenway 46.8V 15.6AH packs. I've recently obtained a new job as an electrical engineer and have been using this vehicle to visit job sites, getting reimbursed $0.575/mile, and needed a plug and play range increase that didn't require me to take the trike out of commission and re-do some of the electronics to accomodate the 72V pack I've been working on. So the plan for the near future is to run two 46.8V packs in parallel and increase peak power to 3 kW, improving range and acceleration, but not top speed. A printout of their delivered capacity during testing from the seller was provided. They were 15.51 AH and 15.35 AH respectively. This means 30AH when I parallel the two together is a given. I charged both of them up to full.
I hadn't had much in the way of free time so I didn't get to fully install them. I need to make a wiring harness to parallel them together AND I need to make a custom enclosure to fit both of them lengthwise underneath the boom with their narrowmost dimension placed between the rotating pedals. Being a holiday weekend, all the places I could get the needed parts were closed, so I decided to devote the free time I had after 3pm yesterday to testing the vehicle.
I was able to fit ONE of the battery packs underneath the boom. I used the higher capacity pack of the two for a total capacity of about 726 watt hours. It was held to the boom with zip ties, a temporary solution but one that works. To say I was pleased with the results would be to understate things. I rode it 83.6 miles, with cruising speeds of 30-35 mph plus pedal input. At the end of the ride, I had used 15.5 AH, and had consumed slightly under 8.7 wh/mi, the equivalent energy consumption of almost 4,000 miles per gallon! The battery wasn't yet dead, but it was on the verge of being empty. I plugged in my charger for about 20-30 minutes at an outlet at a pavilion in a park, got a few AH back, and then rode it another 20 miles.
I now have a decent range EV! As an aside, all of the comments I got from random ghetto dwellers while riding it around East St. Louis were hilarious. This thing certainly attracts attention.
Once I put both packs in, a 150+ mile range @ 30-35 mph is assured, and there is a possibly of a 100 mile range @ 45 mph. Plus it's still very pedalable with a dead battery. When operating purely under pedal power with the motor off I can leave lycra fetishists on roadbikes behind in most settings. I won't have any range anxiety using it to visit job sites anymore and won't have to charge it every day, and can opt to just change when it is convenient instead.
An actual car with accelerator and brake pedal instead of bicycle pedals with this sort of form factor and efficiency that is usable on the road in traffic is very doable. In mass production, such a thing weighing in at under 150 lbs, with seating for one, an integrated roll cage, micro AC unit for climate control, enough trunk space for 2 weeks worth of groceries, weather protection, all wheel drive via inexpensive e-bike hub motors and controllers, better aerodynamics on par with a Milan SL velomobile, a 3 kWh pack for a capability of 100+ miles range @ 70 mph, 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds with a 100 mph top speed, enough solar panels for it to cruise indefinitely @ 35 mph in direct sunlight without draining the battery OR recoup about 30 highway miles range a day sitting in a parking lot for 8 hours, could be built for much LESS THAN $10,000. I could buy all the parts off the shelf for such a thing except for the chassis/body(which would have to be designed and made) for under $3,000. The battery pack required for these specs would be so small that any 110V outlet is the equivalent of a CHAdeMO charger for a normal full sized electric car and any run of the mill 220V 50A outlet can function as a 15-minute fast charger, and if you destroy the pack doing something stupid, you'd only be out a few hundred dollars instead of tens of thousands of dollars. Operating costs would be expressed as a fraction of a cent per mile.
It's a travesty that no one is thinking outside the box and making an actual car like this for sale to the general public.
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