This Is Beautiful!!!

[Mithion]

Probably won't ever be produced but it is still freaking awesome!


http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/11/audi-e-bike-worthersee-lets-you-pop-wheelies-use-smartphone/

The Videos-

Audi e-bike Urban Trials Action PLUS iPhone App

AUDI e-bike.mp4

[Mithion]

Can someone tell me what 530Wh is in KwH?

I am new to all this electric stuff and base my idea of how much power a battery provides from what I read about Brammo lol. So I know that the Empulse uses a 9 something KwH battery so when I hear something like 9 KwH I can figure a range of about 100 miles give or take some.

[protomech]

1 kWh = 1000 Wh or watt-hours.
1 kWh = energy used by 1 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours, or by 10 100 watt light bulbs for 1 hour.

A good rough estimate of energy consumption (think mpg, but reversed) for a full street motorcycle is 100 Wh/mile at 45 mph. You can then calculate range by capacity / energy consumption .. for the Empulse, that would be 9.3 kWh / (100 Wh/mile) = 93 miles at 45 mph (rough guess).

A very light pedal bike like the Audi ebike is probably closer to 15-20 Wh/mile at 25 mph, maybe approaching 60-70 Wh/mile at 45 mph.

[Mithion]

Thanks that really made it clear :0)

So 530Wh equals .053KwH

[protomech]

0.53 kWh, yep.

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

Finally, a bicycle even I can ride!

The thing is truly beautiful (design-wise), but it is just sad Audi is not planning to mass produce it yet.

Audi is calling the prototype a "show bike," which is a sign than the design as-is won't show up at the local sports store.

I would doubt that anything produced by Audi would be in my price range, either...

Anyway, very cool! One more step into making electric vehicles better known and accepted.

[Mithion]

If you look at e-bikes like this new Audi, the PG Bikes Black Trail, Stealth Hurricane, M55 Beast, Grace One, Strommer etc.. They are kind of the vehicles that are beginning to blur the line between an electric motorcycle and electric bicycle. Really the only thing that makes these bicycles is the pedals, take those away and you have low powered commuter electric motorcycles.

[protomech]

The Zero XU is a low powered motorcycle.

14 kW motor, 2.6 kWh battery pack, 200 lbs. 42 miles range at 30 mph type speeds, 65 mph top speed.

The Audi ebike is a really nice electric bike.

2.3 kW motor, 0.53 kWh battery pack, 46 lbs. Claimed 31-44 mile range, likely at 15-25 mph type speeds. 31 mph on motor only, if that's power limited then there's no way you'll reach 50 mph with pedal assist. An extra 500-700W from a human cyclist pedaling pretty hard won't get you there, if the motor is actually putting out 2.3 kW.

Anyways.. at least range anxiety is gone, if you run out of range you just have to pedal a slightly heavy bike home : P Also, that headlight rules.

[Mithion]

From what I have read if it goes faster than a specific speed it is considered a motorcycle no matter it's intended use. Just because it has pedals does not mean its a bicycle in the eyes of the law.

[Richard230]

My son-in-law's electric bicycle has a 1.9 kW hub motor, running 36 volts and he has SLA batteries hanging all over the bike.  He has decided to down-grade to a much lighter and slower e-bike because the one he has weighs over100 pounds and will hit 35 mph. He says that the brakes just can't stop it quickly enough and its performance is too much for bike lanes and too slow for traffic lanes. Plus, it is a real bitch to pedal anywhere when the power is depleted. You just can't please some people.