Jack's Electric Bicycle

Preliminary numbers (Miles, gas savings, etc.)

Within a period of less than two weeks, I’ve put about 76 miles on the e-bike. That’s a conservative estimate based on measurements on a map. I don’t have an odometer. I didn’t include my various sidetrips (cruising around a parking lot, visiting a waterfall, etc.) nor my trip to downtown Arcata, a nearby town. (Note to self: Only travel to Arcata with a full charge, otherwise you’ll have to pedal back using your own power.)

Some of those miles I pedaled, some I used the motor, and some I pedaled and used the motor at the same time.

I don’t know the breakdown of pedaling vs. non-pedaling.

My overall impression is that with a mixture of pedaling and motoring, I can travel about 7 miles at full speed, minus the sweat, That means I’m going fast – kind of like standing up on a bike and pedaling at full strength. Then it gets sluggish. But sluggish is still a respectable speed – about as fast as the sluggish cyclists in the fancy outfits that I pass on the Hammond Trail.

They wear lycra, I wear denim.

It's worth saving a little power so that you can blast by these folks at rocket speeds. To them, I look like a normal cyclist.

With few exceptions, I return home with power still in the batteries. The bike still moves with motor power, even at the end of the day. But I don’t like to poke around. I like to travel at a decent speed. I'm not into tootling.

So the range, even with the small hills in my town, is probably 10 to 12 miles if you don’t mind a slower speed.

In the first week, my gas consumption decreased by a little more than two gallons. This last week, it was a little more than three gallons.

That might not sound like much, but I drive a compact car to begin with. If I drove the typical car I see on the streets in my town, the savings would be in the range of four to six gallons a week. That's huge.

Either way, I’ve reduced my fuel usage by 20 to 30 percent a week.

With gas going for $3.30 a gallon at my discounted card lock station, that’s a savings of $6.60 to $9.90 per week.

Realistically, I think I can see a 35 percent reduction in fuel use with the bike as long as there are no unforeseen business trips. But a 40 percent reduction would be highly unlikely given my long trip every Monday which requires a vehicle.

A 35 percent reduction would equal a savings of nearly $12 a week based on the average price of gas at the regular stations. Sounds impressive.

But don't break out the party balloons yet – eventually I'll need to replace my batteries. I've charged them about 12 times so far. How many more charges before they need to be replaced? Somewhere I read 200. Is 200 the magic number that marks the point at which I notice a significant reduction in performance? Or is it the point when my batteries no longer work?

It's guaranteed that the battery subject will occupy this blog in the near future.

(Coming soon: Jack, who doesn't know the difference between a watt, volt or amp, gets nerdy and learns about battery technology. Maybe.)

posted by Jack Durham @ 11:52 PM