Electric Bicycles: A Guide to Design and Use

Design or build a battery-powered electric bicycle

For much of the world, bicycles are a transportation mainstay. Electric bicycles--powered by a rechargeable battery pack--are proven to deliver the highest possible energy efficiency, even compared to pedal bikes. A transportation alternative to fossil fuels, electric bicycles are fast catching on, in part because they don't require factory assembly. End-users can easily construct them with available components.

The text reveals important techniques, data, and examples that allow readers to judge various propulsion setups--used in both home- and factory-made bikes--and estimate speed and travel distance for each. Numerous charts clearly present the costs, benefits, and trade-offs between both commercial and user-converted models.

Key features include:

• Estimating motor-performance for wind, hill, and cruising power requirements
• Estimating battery capacity and a thorough description of battery charging
• Motor and motor-control options
• Evaluating motor-to-wheel coupling options
• Placement of propulsion components
• Configurations and performance
• How systems-engineering techniques can produce electric-bicycle designs that have long travel range and low life-cycle cost
• Testing
• Developments to watch

A comprehensive resource for harnessing innovation, Electric Bicycles is the definitive practical guide to taking full advantage of this exciting alternative energy technology.

WILLIAM C. MORCHIN has been a registered professional engineer since 1963 and holds an MS in electrical engineering. Mr. Morchin is President of Electro-Bicycle Company, which has optimized designs and performance-tested electric bicycle propulsion systems. He has also been a practicing consultant for sixteen years, prior to which, he was a manager and engineer of radar test and analysis for the Boeing Company for eighteen years. Mr. Morchin has written engineering articles on electric bicycle design and testing, and two previous books on radar.

HENRY OMAN earned an MS in electrical engineering in 1951. He worked for six years in diesel-electric marine propulsion at Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. and for forty-three years at Boeing on projects such as electric-train propulsion, variable-speed motor control, and batteries for aerospace and ground applications. He is an IEEE Fellow and was the founder of the Power Electronics Society. Mr. Oman is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine. Mr. Oman is a registered professional engineer and has written the Energy Systems Engineering Handbook as well as chapters in other energy books and over fifty technical papers.