Pedal/Electric Hybrid, great youtube find, I want one.
 

So, I was watching videos of the terra trike zoomer on youtube and I found this video in the "related videos" box. Watch it and see what you think. Personally, I really like his design with the alternator to charge the battereies / control the speed. I wonder if he markets these or if he has any plans online on how to build your own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC9av...eature=related

This is similar in concept to a 2-wheeled recumbent I saw at the EV Expo in Ottawa last year.

See pics 4,5 & 6 on this page: http://tricolour.net/photos/2007/05/26/evco.html

It's a serial hybrid electric bike - no drive connection between the crank & drive wheel.

Has any one found this persons website? I need more info about this concept.

One quarter HP legs can generate only about 168 watts with a two stage increase in speed before the alternator. I do not think the alternators are putting out enough power to drive the whole machine without batteries. at least not up our hills. But I would really like to know how to do it.

It makes little sense to use an alternator to generate electricity to power a motor, when you typically have a chain and gears that are DRAMATICALLY more efficient, and work in all conditions. He is probably using the alternator more as an intuitive throttle, rather than a generator. Most any e bike can accept a PAS sensor input for throttle.

Alternators are probably quite inefficient at those low speeds and loads, probably 40-60%? Then the drive system is likely 80-85% efficient. Making your mechanical energy electrical and back to mechanical is just silly if you want to pedal to assist the bike.

E-Bikes can be quite the efficient and economical mode of transportation. A well built model can be extremely reliable and nearly maintenance free. They're considerably less costly than an electric car conversion, and can easily be recharged off a standard outlet in reasonable times. I charge my bike off a regular 20A outlet at about 2kW in 30 minutes or so, depending on capacity used. It's quite impractical to travel by bike around here due to the lack of infrastructure, and it's cold most of the year. On a nice day, it can be quicker to take my bike than drive a car for shorter trips.

This is about the only EM friendly video I have of the newer setup. I'm on the right, a friend is on the left. This was at something like 9kW. At some point I will mount the bigger controller and do another run at 16kW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btKOu...ature=g-crec-u

I can see one possible benefit of this set-up...the rider can pedal continuously with the same resistance and cadence regardless of terrain rather than the start-and-stop as a direct chain drive would require. Assuming the designer has enough power and gearing for hills, he's designed an electric scooter trike that allows a workout while traveling-whether this function allows a decent partial charge or jusy a trickle charge and Regen on hills-well, we'd have to quiz the builder on his results to date...

Here's a vaguely similar design:

SUNZEECAR

I'm assuming that the 100 watt pedal generator must be contributing enough charge to incorporate into the vehicle, otherwise the designer would probably ditch it for either additional solar panels or to trim the weight for a touch more range.

That green trike in the photo was limited with a lousy controller; which was legally fine, but changing the controller made it illegal but fine on local streets. Gravity on a hill and aero surpassed the motor and that speed ended that vehicle. Way way too fast. Dismantled now, so all I have is the fairing. That was 2 years ago- fairing is still there.

That would have been solar or wind charging someday, but it had 6 years of plug-in. In the meantime I got several much slower EVs- one of them is a Handy trike I bought on Craigslist a little over a year ago. Last weekend I saw an importer who sells these: ahandygadgets.com - rather than take 6 months putting my green trike back together; that Handy comes in 9 styles now. Work for me - might work for some people.

(scratch the 'a', tried e - that worked:
ehandygadgets.com )

Or skip the home page-
Electric Bikes- Fast 3 Wheel Mobility Scooters, Street Legal & No License Required..CA. SALES TAX INCLUDED IN PRICE..FREE DELIVERY TO SO CAL..

Rather than accepting the losses in a series hybrid system I would focus on a fairing with solar cells, a capacitor, and regen circuitry to extend battery range.

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