Hey yall,
I was just thinking if you couuld attach batteries to the rim of your tire on a bike. Than, put one on the frame so they meet. Add some copper wire near by and run it to the + side of the battery. than run a wire from the - side to the motor. Any suggestions?

i been thinking about this since you posted lol. some thoughts are the weight and drag would eat up the batteries quicker then they would charge. i think a better solution would be to make it like a hybrid car that when you use the brakes it charges the battery. that is when you want drag anyway, i also thought of the solar chargers they have for bass boats, they are small and lightweight and could be mounted on the rear rack, this would be a fun interesting project. here are chargers like i was thinking, Solar Trickle Chargers for Car, Truck, RV, Boat, Deep Cycle

Hmm, do you think maybe he was just talking about charging one AA or AAA battery? I honestly can't imagine anyone trying to ride a bicycle with any type of EV battery attached to the wheel, even a little 10A AGM.

Those types of panels are way too heavy for mobile use. You end up with the same problem you described above: the extra weight "kills" your charge on the traction pack quicker than the traction pack is charged. There's really only two ways to power an electric bike with solar. There's the expensive way: flexible fabric solar panels, or build your own panel out of solar cells, and make it as lightweight as possible.

I actually already have everything I need except the electric bike to do just that. As soon as I get the bike, I'm going to be putting 120 watts (3.5A @ 24V) on mine. I'm going to be using 108 cells similar to these: 1½ x 6", 1.75A cells, only I bought the 3" x 3", 1.75A version. 108 cells makes 3 "12 volt" panels (actually 18 V, which is what's required to charge "12 volt" batteries to ~14.5V), then I'm going to use a 20 watt panel identical to this one: 20 watt multicrystalline Solartech, plus two 5 watt Solartechs that I had left over from another project. So, 120 watts will only be adding 12 lbs. total weight. And with 3.5A of continual charging, it won't take any time at all to recharge. At least, that's the plan right now. Then again, you know what they say about "the best intentions", don't you?

edit: For clarity, when I said that "those types of panels are too heavy for mobile use", I was talking about amorphous panels, like the one linked above. They are roughly half as efficient as a multichrystalline panel, and since the vast majority of the weight of a solar panel is the weight of the glass, they weigh roughly twice as much as a multi- or mono- chrystalline panel (per watt, of course), which nearly everyone experienced with EV's agrees are too heavy themselves to be good candidates for taking on the road with you. I'm convinced 'my way' will work because 75% of the power I'll be carrying won't be a heavy multichrystalline panel.

Yes, I have a suggestion. no, never mind.
Here's an etrike with a gas generator that charges the batteries while you ride. Is this the holy grail? Perpetual motion achieved?
What do you think about this idea. Use an electric bike with an AC motor instead of the usual DC. No batteries. Use a gas generator. The AC motor is powered by the generator's 120v output. Will you be able to keep going until the generator runs out of gas? These mini generators run for several hours on a gallon or less. Or am I barking up the wrong tree and would just need an extra long extension cord? Inquiring minds want to know.
YouTube - Hybrid Trike 130 Miles Per Gallon !

Welcome to the forums, electrowheelz. There is no such thing as perpetual motion, at least here on Earth. Listen to the video you linked. The guy that made that scooter did it to be able to go long distances with his electrically powered scooter, but only because he can't get a drivers license of any type, because of his eyesight.

Running a gasoline engine to power a generator to power an electric motor isn't as efficient as just using the internal combustion engine to directly propel the vehicle. That's the reason he only gets 130 MPG, as opposed to the 150-180 MPG he would get with a 4-stroke gasoline engine powered bicycle. Of course, it seems perfect for him, and that's the whole point, isn't it?

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On this site, 99.999% of all underlined words are links.

A watt saved is better than a watt generated, since it always costs less than 10% as much, and can cost as little as 1%.

V=volt, A=ampere, Ah=ampere hour, Wh= watt hour, VOC=open circuit voltage, ISC=short circuit current, VMPP=voltage @ max power, IMPP=current @ max power, BTW=by the way, your=belongs to you, you're=you are, too=in addition to, two=1+1, to=towards

But he's sort of implying that he has some kind of miracle machine when in fact, his range is 8 miles on the batteries. He also claims that his marine charger powers the bike's motor when the batteries go dead as long as he has gas. If this is true, since the generator holds just over a half gallon, I guess his range is good, but as you say, it would be much more efficient to use the Honda engine as the bike's power source in the first place. His reasons for driving what he does is of no importance to me. It's the claims he implies and that it's a one of a kind and the statement of how he "talked to engineers". You talk to engineers to figure out that a generator will charge batteries? I asked him what brand his trike was and he said they don't make them anymore but he is "consulting" with them. I find it all a bit scammy. And if he can't get a driver's license because he's a blind guy, why is he still driving on the street in any kind of vehicle, even if it doesn't require a license? He also says he got his license in July. The videos on youtube were 2 years old and he never updated anything.

I believe the prototype Copenhagen Wheel is advertising a "charge while you ride" capability. You save the battery power for climbs or headwinds.

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