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The Idiocy Of US E-Bike Regulations, Proven By One Brown Wire - CleanTechnica (cleantechnica.com)
submitted 2 years ago by [M] to c/micromobility@lemmy.world
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[–] 21 points 2 years ago (9 children)

While I really like my e-bikes, they have one big problem: steep inclines. With my asthma and not great shape I’m in, I can’t always make it up the steepest hills. And 500-750 watts of assist? That’s not going to help much on steep inclines.

Hold my 250 W European e-bike.
How steep is the "steep"?

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    It varies wildly by locale, this person may live somewhere extremely hilly like San Francisco, or they may live in Kansas (scientifically proven to be literally flatter than a pancake). I can't be bothered to check.

    I'll say I'm confident this person is just being a big baby about having to pedal, and basically just wants an electric motorcycle.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

    There are hills in SF my gas powered 125 cvt could not start on. Some had a stop sign right at the top. I would have to turn sideways across the lane, throttle and turn to start up the hill.

    But that was starting from a stand still. I'm not sure how a 750w bike would handle it without having to stop. I could see them struggling though.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    Well a motor can provide instant torque at stand still, but an engine would have way lower power at low RPM and the transmission is inefficient when starting

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    True, but a hub drive motor doesn't have a transmission and may be geared for fast speeds vs low speed climbing. Also without a transmission there's no clutch friction zone which could help an engine start up the hill. I'd be really interest to see a comparison video about this.

    Edit: on second thought, my cvt didn't even have a clutch. Now I'm even more interested to see a video comparing electric motor, cvt, and manual clutch transmission.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    We have 20-21% grade hills in our city, which is pretty damn steep, especially with cargo. Definitely not the sort of thing you wanna be clipped in for if a light turns red, lol.

    My ebike can do the steepest streets, but it maxes out at 1,300w at 14km/h while pedaling (unloaded, no cargo).

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