Towing a 14 000pounds+ bus with an ebike..... possible?

[Doctorbass]

Back in 2009, for my speed record attempt i also had another demonstration of power in my planning and i towed a 19 200 pounds schoolbus. Some will remember there was a video availlable to see the proof over the internet. Now i think there is still one on youtube.

Now in 2011
I am really proud to anounce you all that for a second time i succeded to tow a 14 000 pounds bus recently.

This last weekend there was the Green vehicule rendez-vous at Kingsey fall where i brang with me mt 3 functional ebikes, The Mongoose, the trike and the Giant.

The manager of that event asked me previously if i could do another demonstration of my ebike towing a schoolbus and i accepted. I participated to make a commercial on TV with them to promote this event. I had fun with the camera team to film these clip! You can see it here:

[youtube]LDLoPOkFQnQ[/youtube]

Someone used his ipad tablet to validate the perfect level of the pavement and ensure that there is no slope.

Now you can see me with a Star wars jacket style ( actually a DH protection kit)... ( just for fun..) and preparing the big demo 8)

I have a 3GP video that i need to convert and put on youtube at home.. it's the cellphone video someone sent me ( i had no camera to keep proof of that again )

I'll put it on youtube tonight


Btw.. guess what?.. Some of the folk mentioned me that at the begining of the tow, he saw the bus braking!.. yes.. he saw the brake light at the back of the bus glowing right when the bus began to go forward !! apparently, the bus driver was worried about seeing a long elastic cable to extend between my ebike and the bus so he applied the brakes!

That person of the folk immediatly asked him to leave it free and neutral !.. and finally it worked,

Yes.. that was hard time for my 5305 and the 6000km konion battery... peak stall current of 185A and motor temp rise up to 208 celsius!!

Fortunatly i adjusted the controller block time to a resonable time to not blow the fets

Overall
A am really satisfied and proud about that!.. I succeded to show people that if an ebike can be so powerfull, they can have now a good idea on how electric car can be!

There was alot of kids screaming and encouraging me and i think i catched their attention and they was impressed by electric stuff like that.

That's another step to convince them to buy an electric car in the future when they will need to decide between ICE or EV type

Also there was few farmer living around that was convinced that i can not tow a bus like that with a little electric bike like mine..

Crowd like that are my favorite!.. their mind take a twist when they see the bus going forward when i tow it with the ebike!! 8)

Doc

 

[John in CR]

Great job promoting our cause. I can't believe the bus driver tapped the brakes. What was he thinking?

 

[Philistine]

Great work Doc. The internet promo video is awesome. You're a real ambassador.

 

[liveforphysics]

Nice job and great riding gear!

 

[silentflight]

unlimited enthusiasm + precision craftsmanship + masterful knowledge + a gazillion electrons at his whim == Doc Bass!!!

 

[dogman dan]

Once again, I bow before the master.

 

[Doctorbass]

As i promissed, here is the proof 8)

Doctorbass Electric Bike towing a 14000pounds bus!

[youtube]O_rRnCno76s[/youtube]


There is also another video ( the complete clip) showing also me towing a Plug-in Toyota Prius)

Doc

 

[liveforphysics]

Great job Doc!

I can't believe the bus driver has his foot on the brake! WTF??/ I guess that's why they drive a bus.

Great job!

-Luke

 

[amberwolf]

You should add an annotation on the vid about the brake thing, and note when he releases it.

 

[darkone040]

now to be the bearer of bad news but i think the guy in the background started pushing the bus to help you..
i think you would be better off with a solid tow rope rather than an elastic one tho, it seemed to keep wanting to pull you back.

 

[theRealFury]

now to be the bearer of bad news but i think the guy in the background started pushing the bus to help you..
i think you would be better off with a solid tow rope rather than an elastic one tho, it seemed to keep wanting to pull you back.

Yea unfortunately i noticed the guy go round the back and start pushing as well, he could hardly walk though so im sot sure how much help he would have been, but still he shouldnt have done it Hats off to you though Dr Bass, i would not want to attempt that myself. You should hook yourself up to the front of a gas guzzling SUV or truck or something and take it for a tow arround the block (get a little speed into it) to show just how small of an electric motor it would take to cruise around the block on about as many jules as it would take to fire up the engine in the gass guzzler.

He uses an elastic bunjee cord though is for several reasons, it allows him to get some forward momentum before the cord tightens to exert more force to pull the bus and the other reason is if he used a non elastic rope when it tightened he would get thrown over the handlebars lol.

 

[Doctorbass]

Damn it!

I had warned EVERYBODY to not touch the bus or give any help as possible!

But if you watch correctly you will notice that the bus start moving BEFORE he appear to touch it.

I also think that this is the guy that noticed that the brake light was glowing if you see perfectly, he begin to look at the rear lights but no one can say if or not he push the bus.

These guys are teh kind who want to help you but who finally end by adding a doubt to what you deserve :?

Next time.. i'll ask EVERYBODY to keep a given distance from the bus.

At least.. the bus begin to move BEFORE he might appear to push on it...

Doc

 

[Spacey]

What an arse for ruining your record attempt (success).... I hope you had some stern words for the guy!

Top effort though and the bus was moving on its own way before that guy was pissing about at the back of it.

 

[theRealFury]

Damn it!

I had warned EVERYBODY to not touch the bus or give any help as possible!

But if you watch correctly you will notice that the bus start moving BEFORE he appear to touch it.

I also think that this is the guy that noticed that the brake light was glowing if you see perfectly, he begin to look at the rear lights but no one can say if or not he push the bus.

These guys are teh kind who want to help you but who finally end by adding a doubt to what you deserve :?

Next time.. i'll ask EVERYBODY to keep a given distance from the bus.

At least.. the bus begin to move BEFORE he might appear to push on it...

Doc

Yes i do agree that the bus starts to move a little before he goes behind it and no doubt you would have been ok without his help. I have a lot of respct for you and i know you could manage it but looking at the video with analytic eyes you can see from the motion of his body as he rounds the back of the bus and also the way his feet are moving seen under the bus that he is clearly pushing thinking he needed to help. Its sad that he has thrown doubt to where there should be none, i surely do not doubt it because i know that scientifically it is possible just as its possible for 1 man to pull a boing 747 with only his own legs but for someone that does not know the science behind it then they may disbelieve this that guy should be publically flogged :lol:

 

[Doctorbass]

After these doubt about yes or no if a guy was helping pushing on the bus, i examined alot the video and correct the white balance to track him along the clip duration. This is the guy that helped us to position the orange cones and attach the cable to the bus.. you can see him he is on the right of the video with white grey hairs and blach T shirt and shorts.

This guy might appear to have pushed on the bus, but he did only pushed a bit probably, helping the bus to continu going forward. The bus started moving before we see him puhing on the bus like Spacey discovered too and when we see him hidded on the back of the bus, he dont really push on the bus.. the bus is already moving and he appear to just put his harms on the back while he check for the brake light... This is a 70 years old guy so if he only was pushinh the bus itseld to make it start movinng he probably woudl have get hart atack :lol:

These thinks are really heavy! Me and my father tried to push it and it was really difficult. tires appeared to not be inflated correctly, adding alot of friction..

The long elastic cord.. is in fact many tire tubes that i attahed together and have put them inside a vaccum cleaner tube cover.

The elastic effect is to avoid having the hub motor to keep in stall position. The idea was to make the motor to tow gradually along the distance to keep the motor phase to be switched and not be blocked. By that way, the heat distribution of the mosfets and the stator is shared and reduce the risk of blowing something. The Block time was also adjusted to never keep the same phase stalleed for more than 3 sec. That is why i retried many times due to the motor stopping to work after these 3 sec

 

[John in CR]

Next time, in addition to ensuring no one gets near the bus and no braking by the driver, also be sure to pressure up the tires on the bus too....no rule against high pressure anyway. I know your bike will always be ready to go, and it would be a shame if an issue with one of the show props caused a failure. As least everything worked out this time, and btw I could tell all the way from down here in Costa Rica that the old man didn't push the bus.