Utility Cycling Technology: Factory Made Electric Cargo Bikes

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Factory Made Electric Cargo Bikes

Ever since I started raving about how smaller drive wheels are better for hill climbing there have been more cycle trucks made that way.

Juiced is the best

even better
https://ashlandelectricbikes.com/product
/tern-gsd-s-10-electric-cargo-bike/

Improved CycleTruck

https://www.ridescoozy.com/products/
veego-750-fat-tire-electric-bicycle

Factory Made Electric Cargo Bikes

These cargo bikes are not as good as you think. You must understand why a cycletruck custom built for your terrain is the way to go. Using a direct drive hubmotor will be like driving around in a high gear. Climbing steep hills with a large pay load will take more power than one with the right gear reduction. It takes around 1300watts to climb a 9% grade with 450lbs (total combined weight) at about 12-13 mpg. And that is more like 1600w from the battery.

But if you don't have enough power you could use tow motors

Motors for hill climbing

Cheap e-bikes usually need a second motor for hill climbing; Like this bike that looks really good but needs a larger motor or two, of the same kind they put on the rear. Veego electric cargo bike

Electric Yuba Mundo Build

Some people try to calculate all this exactly, but it is simply not possible to add in all the possible perimeters. So just try to get a motor with a built in gear-reduction and a reasonably high voltage, 48v to 60v. Then you can calculate an external gear-reduction that will be close enough for your worst hill and cargo.

750watts sounds good. But it may not be as strong as you need. You need to add up the total combined weight of your potentially worst hill climbing situation. When I see people walking their electric bikes, I see that they had no idea what they were getting them self's into. Don't be fooled by the positive lies the capitalist industry pumps out.

750watts is just a taste of what you need. to understand the scam of wattage read this article: http://www.ebikes.ca/learn/power-ratings.html

and use the motor simulator: http://www.ebikes.ca/tools/simulator.html

There is no standard or even consistent way to provide a numeric 'watts rating' for a motor system. You can see the exact same motor listed as 250 watts, 500 watts, and 1000 watts by different vendors, and there is a valid justification for all those numbers. That makes a vendor or manufacture's watt rating in isolation a fairly pointless figure for choosing or comparing setups.

While an actual watt is an actual watt, There is NO SUCH THING as a "rated watt" or any standardized method for rating E-bike motor power. That's the truth, regardless of what other companies imply. With most electrical devices the term “rated power” has a very clear meaning. Like a 60 watt light-bulb can be counted on to draw 60 watts of power when it is turned on. A 1500 watt heater will produce 1500 watts of heat, regardless of which brand or model you use.

If you have never ridden a powerful electric bike, you should practice accelerating on soft grass with a helmet on. Twist grip accelerators are the most dangerous. I like the thumb accelerators. Pedal sensors are the safest, but you can't get as much power with them because they pulse the power.

Accelerating slowly also keeps your drive components from wearing out and braking, not just your head and hands when falling off the back-end because you were not balanced correctly.