Since I've become interested in EVs ( a bike conversion ) the idea of designed non-modularity has cropped up again.
Multiple time in my life I have been annoyed at the idea I have a bunch of gas powered things that only do one thing, and they are non-interchangable.
In 1990 I had collected:
4.5 HP lawnmower
3/4 HP weed trimmer
10 HP boat motor
gas chainsaw
gas generator
gas chipper/shredder (...trying to make compost instead of landfill)
..not to mention my car.
So I was maintaining this collection of engines, each one of which performed a specific task, and shared nothing with the other except... the power source was universal. Gas powered them all.
Fast forward to 2017... electric bikes allow my aging frame to ride longer, more often, and even replace the car to commute.
In theory.
But the cost.... $2800 to $6000.... for a bicycle. Really?? So, cost is still high for a motor having less that 1HP of power... but worse than that, these electric bits are completely non-modular. Even only talking of bikes, brand A battery can't be used on brand B bike.
Yes there are some generic shark paks, but the big name bike makers are designing single purpose battery packs into their bike frames.
Nuts! Here we go again!
Why on earth is nothing in the EV world interchangable?? I write this just having watched a youtube feature of the show "fully charged" about the Bosch electric mower. A Bosch rep demonstrates it's guts. He holds in his hand a 2HP (1.4Kw) electric motor that was diminuitive, maybe the size of a stack of plates, and later another Bosch guy shows off their 36v 9Ah battery.
Essentially everything I need for a bicycle.
And in my head I'm thinking, oh fantastic, these batteries will be available anywhere you buy lawnmowers and I can't use the dang things on my bike, not to mention the specialized motor my bike will employ.
Marketing-wise, sure I get it. Make a plastic box that only powers the hedge trimmer, or the drill, and those numbskulls have to buy the smae thing repackaged over and over. Of course a 36V Bosch battery must never be able to power a 36V Dewalt saw!
That's just my sense of it. Frustration at what could be, but seemingly we don't care.
In my ideal world I use two of a standard form factor 36V modules on my bike, two on my mower, one on the hedge trimmer, the weed whacker, and they share a common charger.
At least all my mechanical engines share a common power source, and the stored energy itself in interchangable between devices.
Maybe that's it. The oil companies need to produce the power source in standard form factors otherwise vendors will make a thousand different battery designs.
Battery and electric component modularity would catalyze the adoption of electric things in the same way the D cell, C cell, AA and AAA did.
And my garage would not have a pile of electric appliances that share nothing.
At least I can pour the gas out of my mower and run my trimmers when I need to.
So at this point, it seems that both the high cost and the waste factor of the "green tech" is maddening.
I soon discovered that discarded laptop battery packs are full of still servicable cells.
But since the cells are molded into a plastic box with a BMS, in the event a single cell in the pack fails, the 8 good cells will go into the battery recycle bin, or worse, the landfill.
Bikes I've looked at warranty a battery for one or two years, after that the $500-700 replacement cost is on me.
With all the focus on electric thingies, why on earth isn't anyone providing some reasonable form factor plastic box I can fill with the current flavor of Li-ion or Li-Po batteries and replace the baddies rather than discard all 40 cells when one dies?
I realize the Bosch power packs aren't ideal shapes for a bicycle but they also aren't far off the mark.
Maybe we need a Shell 36V9Ah module for starters, 'cause it looks like the machine makers are just gonna pick our pockets.
Multiple time in my life I have been annoyed at the idea I have a bunch of gas powered things that only do one thing, and they are non-interchangable.
In 1990 I had collected:
4.5 HP lawnmower
3/4 HP weed trimmer
10 HP boat motor
gas chainsaw
gas generator
gas chipper/shredder (...trying to make compost instead of landfill)
..not to mention my car.
So I was maintaining this collection of engines, each one of which performed a specific task, and shared nothing with the other except... the power source was universal. Gas powered them all.
Fast forward to 2017... electric bikes allow my aging frame to ride longer, more often, and even replace the car to commute.
In theory.
But the cost.... $2800 to $6000.... for a bicycle. Really?? So, cost is still high for a motor having less that 1HP of power... but worse than that, these electric bits are completely non-modular. Even only talking of bikes, brand A battery can't be used on brand B bike.
Yes there are some generic shark paks, but the big name bike makers are designing single purpose battery packs into their bike frames.
Nuts! Here we go again!
Why on earth is nothing in the EV world interchangable?? I write this just having watched a youtube feature of the show "fully charged" about the Bosch electric mower. A Bosch rep demonstrates it's guts. He holds in his hand a 2HP (1.4Kw) electric motor that was diminuitive, maybe the size of a stack of plates, and later another Bosch guy shows off their 36v 9Ah battery.
Essentially everything I need for a bicycle.
And in my head I'm thinking, oh fantastic, these batteries will be available anywhere you buy lawnmowers and I can't use the dang things on my bike, not to mention the specialized motor my bike will employ.
Marketing-wise, sure I get it. Make a plastic box that only powers the hedge trimmer, or the drill, and those numbskulls have to buy the smae thing repackaged over and over. Of course a 36V Bosch battery must never be able to power a 36V Dewalt saw!
That's just my sense of it. Frustration at what could be, but seemingly we don't care.
In my ideal world I use two of a standard form factor 36V modules on my bike, two on my mower, one on the hedge trimmer, the weed whacker, and they share a common charger.
At least all my mechanical engines share a common power source, and the stored energy itself in interchangable between devices.
Maybe that's it. The oil companies need to produce the power source in standard form factors otherwise vendors will make a thousand different battery designs.
Battery and electric component modularity would catalyze the adoption of electric things in the same way the D cell, C cell, AA and AAA did.
And my garage would not have a pile of electric appliances that share nothing.
At least I can pour the gas out of my mower and run my trimmers when I need to.
So at this point, it seems that both the high cost and the waste factor of the "green tech" is maddening.
I soon discovered that discarded laptop battery packs are full of still servicable cells.
But since the cells are molded into a plastic box with a BMS, in the event a single cell in the pack fails, the 8 good cells will go into the battery recycle bin, or worse, the landfill.
Bikes I've looked at warranty a battery for one or two years, after that the $500-700 replacement cost is on me.
With all the focus on electric thingies, why on earth isn't anyone providing some reasonable form factor plastic box I can fill with the current flavor of Li-ion or Li-Po batteries and replace the baddies rather than discard all 40 cells when one dies?
I realize the Bosch power packs aren't ideal shapes for a bicycle but they also aren't far off the mark.
Maybe we need a Shell 36V9Ah module for starters, 'cause it looks like the machine makers are just gonna pick our pockets.