E-mowers & Electric
Cars
"Electric cars are not for everyone. They only meet
the needs of 90% of drivers." Ed Begley
After seeing Who Killed The Electric Car, we found ourselves at an electric vehicle conference in Wenatchee, WA in May 2007. It was nice to show up in a Mercedes with a 1400-mile range on vegetable oil and be the OLDEST technology in the parking lot (not even worth showing off, in fact). This crowd is way beyond internal combustion!
With the efficiency of EVs compared to any internal combustion vehicle, coupled with the simplicity in construction and maintenance, we were won over by noon on the first day. As advised by the veterans we met there, we jumped into electric assisted bikes as a learning avenue for the real deal (4 wheeled vehicles). After 800 miles during a summer of riding 2 models of regular pedal bikes with electric assist around Bozeman, I am still surprised at how much fun they are. They are more practical than a car in many ways. Instead of getting less exercise by having the electric assist, we found we just rode 2-3 times further in any given day and still burned off plenty of homefries. The EV is still on the horizon, and the good news is that the EV kit manufacturers are so backlogged with orders that you'd wait a month or so to receive the parts you'd need for converting a gas car to and EV.
For info on EVs and electric scooters, we are fortunate to have Eco Auto where you can just go down and buy a 35-mph EV or scooter (looks like a moped but makes no noise and costs much less to drive). Entrepreneurs Ron Gompertz & Wiley Davis have done a tremendous job of raising awareness here in the Gallatin Valley and providing products for those who can see the dead end in petroleum cars.
Another great resource for biking is Wiley's quarterly newspaper called The Practical Pedal http://practicalpedal.com/ It's on-line or in print, and it's all about using the bike for things in addition to sport, so you can learn about trailers, fenders, lights, and such and it's really fun to read. If you need to brush up on your bike maintenance skills, go to the Bike Kitchen on Tuesday evenings. http://www.bozemanbikekitchen.org/
So what is an E-bike?
An ebike is a regular looking bicycle that has an electric motor in the hub
of one of its wheels. You should pedal upon starting out but I don't
break a sweat unless I want to. You'll get more range by pedaling even
a little - you just end up going faster if you want.
Here is one of my first ebikes:
The motor on this one is in the back wheel, the battery is behind the seat tube, and there's a twist grip on the right handlebar to
send juice to the motor. It tops out at 18 mph, takes 2.5 cents to
charge up and has a range of 10-15 miles depending on how hard you pedal.
The motor and the rider share the work load, and it doesn't matter to the
bike who or what is doing the work.
There are a dizzying number of e-bikes out there and kits for mountain bikes as well, so here is an overview and some good web sites to start with. With battery technology changing so fast the kits are changing, too. Basically everything is becoming lithium-ion battery driven since they're light and powerful. The bike above is lithium-ion and cost $800 complete. It's a cheaper Chinese bike but strong frame and good for around town. The web site for this bike is http://rmartinbikes.com/L1.html
Or there's the $800 kit that goes
on your existing bike and is better, although I've had to return 4 items out
of 3 kits so far so it's the full Chinese product quality.
http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4447
This one goes 25 mph and has a 15 mile range. The kits
for 26" wheels are scarce this summer due to a surge in demand.
A worthwhile upgrade would be to
this kit
http://www.electricrider.com/crystalyte/phoenix.htm (look at the Phoenix
3640 Power System Only link) and then power it with the batteryspace lithium
polymer battery. If you are on a budget, they have the Sparrow motor
option for just $300 plus batteries. Whatever motor you choose, stay
away from the lead acid batteries - they ruin the biking experience with
their weight and bulk.
Electric Vehicle webs:
http://www.eaaev.org/ Electric
Auto Assc, let's put MT on the map! Check out their EVs For Sale page
for a great list of electric cars, bikes, and lawn equipment, plug-in EVs,
etc. From this site, you can access all you want to know about EVs,
from where to buy new EVs, used EVs, EV conversion kits, facts on emissions,
battery recycling, and much more.
http://electroauto.com/
http://www.evfinder.com/classifieds.htm#Electric%20Vehicles%20on%20eBay
http://www.e-volks.com/links.html
http://www.evalbum.com/
Cordless Lawmower:
Just purchased May 08, works great so far - mowed 3 lawns on one charge,
$0.04 in electricity (.5 kwh)! If you can't mow your lawn with one of
these then you should think about how big your lawn is. Lawn chemicals
are petroleum so they not only kill all the non-grass life in your lawn and
toxify the bugs, birds, pets, and animals but they have a carbon impact as
well. Generally you can spend less on a garden than on keeping your
grass green and useless. Kentucky Bluegrass isn't even good protein
for sheep, goats, or horses. There's a perennial grass marketer at the
Saturday farmers market if you want to release some of your lawn to native
plants and flowers:
www.summitvalleyturf.com
http://www.gallatincd.mt.nacdnet.org/ is a collection of native turf grass info.
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2906814&clickid=body_rv_img
Order from Ace Hardware, $300 587-5401, you'll need the
Item Number: 7197031
Mobile lawn mowing kit (should be a cordless
trimmer as well)
What to do:
- subscribe to the
email
list to be receive updates on electrics
- help build an electric car, either from a complete kit or
individual components (email
here)
Bringing Biofuels to Bozeman and Southwest Montana
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Bozeman, Montana