Hello Endless Sphere. I am looking to purchase a front hub motor for use with a Rickshaw, but I have found it quite hard to feel confident in my own research for this purchase, so I thought it wouldn't hurt to come here for second and third and so on opinions.
I drive a Rickshaw for a job, and without a motor it is quite difficult. People often end up just feeling like shit watching me work my ass off to pull them around, rather than being able to enjoy the air and ride that I am taking them on. I've driven a motorized Rickshaw before, and my experience has been that people pay much more generously when you entertain them, and that isn't possible without a motor, or hills, of which I currently have neither to work with. Which brings me here. I am purchasing a front hub wheel motor. I am located in Germany and so as far as I know the motor power limit for this use is 250W. I spoke with my old boss in my home country, and he recommended this motor and battery combination. I don't know much about this stuff to be honest, and so his opinion was just a great starting point.
http://www.mxusebikekit.com/proshow.aspx?cateid=133&productsid=255
48V 20aH LiFe from Sunbanges: http://www.sunbang-power.com/
As far as I know, in the EU it is required for me to have pedal sensors, and any throttles can only work until that system detects you are going 6km/h. If anyone is more knowledgeable about the relevant EU regulations, please chime in, as I haven't had much luck tracking them down online, other than the small snippet on Wikipedia that states
"Cycles with pedal assistance which are equipped with an auxiliary electric motor having a maximum continuous rated power of 0.25 kW, of which the output is progressively reduced and finally cut off as the vehicle reaches a speed of 25km/h (15.5mph) or if the cyclist stops pedaling." This is the de facto definition of an electrically assisted pedal cycle in the EU..."
I am fairly confident that WHAT he recommended is appropriate for my uses, as he has experience using them (I used to drive his Rickshaws, so I do as well) but I thought it might be possible that someone on here would perhaps recommend purchasing the same things, but from different, more reliable companies. If the price difference isn't too great, I would rather invest in reliability, as well as the possibility for support. I am hoping to spend 500 euros, but am prepared to spend up to about 1000 for the battery, motor, controllers and whatever else including shipping all combined.
Here is where my inquiry is going to turn a little more... grey? I basically want to know if there is a sly way to do something that isn't legal. EU regulations kind of suck ass. Ideally I would have a 500W motor controlled purely by a throttle, but that isn't allowed. You can only have a 250W motor, and your throttle has to cut out once you reach 6km/h or you stop pedaling, upon which time you could only use an automatic pedal assist...lame. So: Would it be possible to downtune a 500W motor to 250W for normal usage, and allow a switch to full power usage when needed using some sort of controller/display setup? Not rapidly, just for the rare cases when its needed. If this was possible, while also perhaps displaying what the power output of the motor is set to, it would be a dream. Additionally, if it was possible to reprogram the speed at which a throttle cuts out in the absence of pedaling to the laws main limit of 25km/h... that would also be cool, but not as important. I didn't find any forum rules that mention anything about discussing the subversion of local regulations, so I am sorry if this type of talk is frowned upon, and I understand if anyone doesn't want to engage in it. I found the V3 cycle analyst, which seems like it would almost perfectly suit these purposes... but if anyone could confirm that I would really appreciate it. Looking to either technically stay within the rules... or to make a convincing appearance that I am in the event that I am stopped by the police or bylaw officers.
So basically, if you have any thoughts or recommendations as far as my purchase plans are concerned, or any knowledge as to what is possible in regard to temporarily downtuning 500W motors to 250W, I would love to hear them.
This is not the most common request, and so perhaps the battery recommendations from my boss will do a lot to answer the basic questions, but I will also give them a shot.
How heavy? I am usually no heavier than 90kg. Rickshaw is probably around 100kg, and I would normally be carrying 2 passengers, sometimes 3. Torque is my highest priority, as I wish to reduce as much as possible the amount of force I have to push with from red lights.
How fast? Not very! The limit at which E-Bikes are allowed to use an electric assist is 25km/h, and that is far faster than I will normally be going. I will always be copedaling, and so maybe an average speed of 10-12km/h is what I am looking for.
How far? Also not the most straight forward answer... but I would hope that I would be able to stay out for a good 8-12 hours. The use of the motor will be very variable and intermittent, as sometimes I will just be cruising slowly around trying to find fares, sometimes I will just not be using it at all, other than at red lights, and other times I will be pulling 3 fat asses 4km away to the strip club haha. On a given night in my hometown we would end up riding around 50-75k in a night... but a lot of that would also be downhill and the battery would be unused, whereas now I will be using the setup in a very flat town as far as topography is concerned. I hope this helps.
If anyone has any thoughts, tips, recommendations, or experience regarding Rickshaw front hub motors, please let me know! The motor would definitely have to be a freewheel though. Thanks for reading my long ass post!
I drive a Rickshaw for a job, and without a motor it is quite difficult. People often end up just feeling like shit watching me work my ass off to pull them around, rather than being able to enjoy the air and ride that I am taking them on. I've driven a motorized Rickshaw before, and my experience has been that people pay much more generously when you entertain them, and that isn't possible without a motor, or hills, of which I currently have neither to work with. Which brings me here. I am purchasing a front hub wheel motor. I am located in Germany and so as far as I know the motor power limit for this use is 250W. I spoke with my old boss in my home country, and he recommended this motor and battery combination. I don't know much about this stuff to be honest, and so his opinion was just a great starting point.
http://www.mxusebikekit.com/proshow.aspx?cateid=133&productsid=255
48V 20aH LiFe from Sunbanges: http://www.sunbang-power.com/
As far as I know, in the EU it is required for me to have pedal sensors, and any throttles can only work until that system detects you are going 6km/h. If anyone is more knowledgeable about the relevant EU regulations, please chime in, as I haven't had much luck tracking them down online, other than the small snippet on Wikipedia that states
"Cycles with pedal assistance which are equipped with an auxiliary electric motor having a maximum continuous rated power of 0.25 kW, of which the output is progressively reduced and finally cut off as the vehicle reaches a speed of 25km/h (15.5mph) or if the cyclist stops pedaling." This is the de facto definition of an electrically assisted pedal cycle in the EU..."
I am fairly confident that WHAT he recommended is appropriate for my uses, as he has experience using them (I used to drive his Rickshaws, so I do as well) but I thought it might be possible that someone on here would perhaps recommend purchasing the same things, but from different, more reliable companies. If the price difference isn't too great, I would rather invest in reliability, as well as the possibility for support. I am hoping to spend 500 euros, but am prepared to spend up to about 1000 for the battery, motor, controllers and whatever else including shipping all combined.
Here is where my inquiry is going to turn a little more... grey? I basically want to know if there is a sly way to do something that isn't legal. EU regulations kind of suck ass. Ideally I would have a 500W motor controlled purely by a throttle, but that isn't allowed. You can only have a 250W motor, and your throttle has to cut out once you reach 6km/h or you stop pedaling, upon which time you could only use an automatic pedal assist...lame. So: Would it be possible to downtune a 500W motor to 250W for normal usage, and allow a switch to full power usage when needed using some sort of controller/display setup? Not rapidly, just for the rare cases when its needed. If this was possible, while also perhaps displaying what the power output of the motor is set to, it would be a dream. Additionally, if it was possible to reprogram the speed at which a throttle cuts out in the absence of pedaling to the laws main limit of 25km/h... that would also be cool, but not as important. I didn't find any forum rules that mention anything about discussing the subversion of local regulations, so I am sorry if this type of talk is frowned upon, and I understand if anyone doesn't want to engage in it. I found the V3 cycle analyst, which seems like it would almost perfectly suit these purposes... but if anyone could confirm that I would really appreciate it. Looking to either technically stay within the rules... or to make a convincing appearance that I am in the event that I am stopped by the police or bylaw officers.
So basically, if you have any thoughts or recommendations as far as my purchase plans are concerned, or any knowledge as to what is possible in regard to temporarily downtuning 500W motors to 250W, I would love to hear them.
This is not the most common request, and so perhaps the battery recommendations from my boss will do a lot to answer the basic questions, but I will also give them a shot.
How heavy? I am usually no heavier than 90kg. Rickshaw is probably around 100kg, and I would normally be carrying 2 passengers, sometimes 3. Torque is my highest priority, as I wish to reduce as much as possible the amount of force I have to push with from red lights.
How fast? Not very! The limit at which E-Bikes are allowed to use an electric assist is 25km/h, and that is far faster than I will normally be going. I will always be copedaling, and so maybe an average speed of 10-12km/h is what I am looking for.
How far? Also not the most straight forward answer... but I would hope that I would be able to stay out for a good 8-12 hours. The use of the motor will be very variable and intermittent, as sometimes I will just be cruising slowly around trying to find fares, sometimes I will just not be using it at all, other than at red lights, and other times I will be pulling 3 fat asses 4km away to the strip club haha. On a given night in my hometown we would end up riding around 50-75k in a night... but a lot of that would also be downhill and the battery would be unused, whereas now I will be using the setup in a very flat town as far as topography is concerned. I hope this helps.
If anyone has any thoughts, tips, recommendations, or experience regarding Rickshaw front hub motors, please let me know! The motor would definitely have to be a freewheel though. Thanks for reading my long ass post!
