Four Questions People Ask About My Electric Bike
This is about the most common questions that people ask me about my electric bike stay with Me I ride my electric bike mostly in the city invariably I spend a lot of time at street corners waiting for the light to change this is particularly bad in gatau which has the safest traffic lights in the world they’re arranged in such a way that it’s impossible for two cars to hit
Each other consequently when you arrive at a street corner and the light just turns red you have to stand there for up to 2 and 1 half minutes waiting for the light to change with nothing to do and as time passes pedestrians and cyclists accure ulate around you and
They have nothing to do if they’re not staring at their phones they might notice that the old guy next to them is riding an electric bike and maybe they’ve had a burning question in their mind about those mysterious electric bikes after glancing sideways at my bike they’ll pop the
Question here are the four most common questions that I get number four how long does it take take to charge the battery I don’t hear this question very often it usually follows question number one which will’ll come to later when I tell them that to charge an eite battery
From completely empty to completely full takes 4 to8 hours they seem incredulous I don’t know why they find it surprising maybe they’ve heard about fast charging an electric car in half an hour or maybe it’s because their phone takes only an hour to charge I don’t know but I agree that ebik batteries
Take much too long to charge it would be very useful when you’re on a long ride or when you’re traveling to be able to stop for lunch in a restaurant plug in your battery and leave with a full belly and a full charge that would eliminate the need for buying a second battery
Number three how much does it cost the first time I got this question it was from a pedestrian who had been staring at my bike for about a minute when I made eye contact with him he popped a question I told him that my rad Rover Fat Bike
Equipped the way it is cost about $3,000 in US Dollars that would be about 2,200 what surprised me was that the man looks surprised oh really oh that’s a lot of money it turned out that generally those who ask the price don’t own an electric bike and are just
Curious but there was one guy who was riding an ebike who asked me how much my rad Rover cost he was riding a full suspension reent Müller a bike that’s worth at least $55,000 before answering I congratulated him on his beautiful bike he explained that his friend wanted
To get rid of it after using it for only two seasons and it had only 18 thou, 1800 kilm on the odometer he was proud to tell me that his friend had sold it to him for $800 I told him I had paid $3,000 for my fat bike a much inferior product he
Looked stunned and rode away later when I thought back on it it dawned on me that maybe he didn’t own the bike maybe he stole stole it and wanted to know how much to ask for it number two can you recharge the battery while pedaling this is a pretty complicated
Issue to be dealt with in 2 minutes while waiting for the traffic lights to change to start with the person would have to know that only direct drive hub Motors might be capable of regenerating electricity but that the majority of ebikes on the street have a geared motor
A geared motor has a clutch that makes it Freewheel when the power is cut making regeneration impossible and even if the bike is a direct drive motor and capable of regeneration the effort required to propel the bike forward and to put some energy back into the battery at the same
Time would be exhaustive and pointless I found that the easiest way to answer the question in a minute is is simply to say that the battery has to be recharged by plugging it into an electric outlet and that’s true of my ebike that has a geared motor number
One how far can you go on a charge this is the most common question that I get asked I think it’s because everybody has heard about electric cars that have a very limited range and I suppose it’s logical for people to wonder about electric bikes the first
Time I got that question the light had just turned red so there was lots of time I began by explaining that there are many factors that influence the range of an electric bike like how fast you want to go how many Hills there are whether you’re riding against the a
Headwind or with a Tailwind she soon lost interest and started looking down at her phone I realized that she probably just wanted a simple answer I decided that that from now on I’d avoid lecturing on the street corner and just keep it simple the next time I was asked that
Question I remembered the lesson I had learned the first time I was on the ja Ki bicycle path sitting next to my bike on a bench admiring The View on the Ottawa River a man walking his dog stopped and looked at my Red Rover nice bike thank you electric eh
Yep it’s an electric bike how far can you go on a charge this time I gave him just the range anywhere from 35 to 70 kilm and he didn’t want to know any more than that after that I thought maybe people just want to know what is the maximum my bike
Can take me on a charge so if I answer 70 kilm that satisfies them too or if I give them the average 45 km that satisf I than two some people find that 45 km is impressive for a person who never goes for a ride of more than 10 or 15
Kilm 45 kilm is a lot but there’s no point in explaining that a ebike with wide soft tires has less range than one with narrow tires that are inflated hard or that the wind resistance can decrease range that would be of no interest to most people question number one generally comes from
People who don’t own an ebike and haven’t even shopped for one in conclusion I found that an electric bike can be a great conversation piece and it often invites a perfect stranger to talk to you but standing at a street corner waiting for the light to change isn’t
The best way to teach about electric bikes that’s it for now if you have questions or if you own a ebike and have experience you’d like to share please leave a comment thank you for listening to me and remember just one thing never quit cyling if you’re still with me and if
You like this Channel and if You’ like to do something to help this Channel and if you’d like to read a story of sailing Adventure you could buy a copy of my book sailor without a boat how I sail on other people’s yachts and live the tell about It M
For many people, electric bikes are a new technology they know very little about. But with all the hype about global warming and electric cars, the’re an increasing awareness about ebikes. I often meet people who have a question they’ve been wondering about. Here are the four most common questions people ask me.
