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Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Ebike conversion on kickstarter geoorbital wheel
robjg63

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#204588 8-Oct-2016 12:15
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This looks pretty cool:

 

https://www.geoo.com/

 

Info on kickstarter:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1266381423/geoorbital-wheel-make-your-bike-electric-in-60-sec/description

 

Seems to have a few NZ backers as well.

 

The only downsides I can see are that its 500w - Which I gather means as its more than 300w it is 'supposed' to be registered.

 

How would you get caught (apart from speeding).

 

It has a semi-solid tyre - can you replace it?

 

Apart from that it looks great - Intro price of $799USD around $1100NZ




Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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KiwiME
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  #1647686 8-Oct-2016 13:55
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I can't say that I like the mechanical design.  All that weight on the front fork, an unnecessary and potentially problematic friction drive and a very small battery pack.  Better just to buy a conventional eBike with rear hub-type geared motor or mid-drive motor, and a frame mounted battery pack of at least 36V 10Ahr.   That battery capacity at 6 Ahr won't get you far. 

 

As for power, I interpret the legal 300 W as mechanical power at the wheel just like any other motorised vehicle, although it's not specified.  The watts rating on the motor is a thermally-limited maximum, meaning the maximum continuous input electrical power over many minutes that will not overheat the motor.  The 500W rating on that kickstarter design is only relevant in that (in IMO) it is plenty high enough to avoid overheating at the top speed quoted.  

The NZ legal limit would be far more sensible if it were a top speed rather than power.  Much easier to measure and enforce.

 

The top speed stated at 32 kph and the 36V battery pack tells me that it's about right to be legal here.   My "300 W" eBike does 28 kph (GPS measured) on the flat, no pedaling, but the electrical power required to do that is below 200 W because speed is instead limited by the 36 V battery voltage combined with the motor winding characteristic and hub gearing.   As incline increases, speed drops, current increases to the maximum allowed by the controller and therefore total electrical motor power increases.  At a certain slope I see peaks of 470 W on the controller display yet I'm barely moving.  In an unscientific test I estimate the motor to be about 80% efficient.

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