

A Software Guy's Look at Electric Bicycles - DavidAdams
http://www.osnews.com/story/25007/A_Software_Guy_s_Look_at_Electric_Bicycles

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jdietrich
Power-assisted bicycles have been a solved problem since 1946. The answer is a
small petrol engine, most ideally realised in the Velosolex. A 50cc engine
weighs no more than a 400w hub motor and speed controller, but provides
several times more power. A kilo of petrol holds 65 times more useful energy
than a kilo of lithium-ion batteries.

While European law exempts low-powered electric cycles from regulation as a
motor vehicle, the motor may not operate above 25km/h, rendering them
minimally useful for all but the most infirm of cyclists. Most US states
regulate electrically assisted bicycles as mopeds, conferring no advantage to
electrical power.

The electric bicycle is a solution looking for a problem.

