Today I spent a few hours with the famous Eco-Ants of former Tauawhi fame (he used to live in our flat years ago). We've been working on assembling electric bikes over the last month or so, which so far has consisted of a few hours figuring out which extra bits we need, a trip to the hardware store or electronics shop to get them, then a good feed. So progress has been a bit slow. In short, all the bits are still sitting on his bedroom floor and I'm still doing all the work when I'm on the bike!
Here's the rationale of building an electric bike and selling Molly, my van:
You spend $100 on petrol. Petrol engines average 20% efficiency so $20 of the petrol actually moves you and the car forward. A small car weighs 1000kg plus a driver of say 70kg. That makes you 6.5% of the weight the engine is moving. Of the $20 of petrol doing that moving, $1.30 is moving you. That's $1.30 of your $100 petrol spend.The rest is wasted as heat etc.
As far as why electric if I already support biking over driving, for me it's about range and speed. On my last placement it was realistic to ride 15 minutes each morning, even if winter makes it a little chilly. However when I was at a school in New Brighton, it was a long haul from Bryndwr each day, around 45 minutes. I'm not the most organised person and allowing 45 minutes to ride is hard enough without the fact I love my sleep.
Once electrified the bike will be capable of a range of 50km at speeds of up to 40km/h. This, along with the fact that 3c worth of electricity will give me about 100km of speedy goodness, will make taking the bike a much more attractive option in the aforementioned circumstances. Bulk shopping trips will also be more enjoyable with 50kg of flour trailing behind me.
Bye bye smelly car! (this refers not only to my car but also to the smelly cars I will be passing as they wait in the infamous Christchurch gridlock - at least, it seems like gridlock when I'm driving and cyclists are passing me!)
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