I Want an Electric Bike
Yeah, you read that right, I want an electric bike, I know that a lot of people don’t think of electric bikes as a good way for transmuting from place to place, but heck it’s fun, and I will show you why, just stick with me to the end.
Let’s go back to our younger selves, can you remember the time that you wanted a bike so badly? I remember that when I was in elementary school, and I still remember that day very clearly, it was the last day of school and it was the start of the summer vacation, I remember begging my dad so badly that I wanted a bike, and he promised me one when the vacation starts, and he kept his promise, and when he came to pick me up from school we headed straight to the bike shop where he told me to pick the one that I like, I still remember the color, it was bright red, with black accents, the bike was the mountain type meaning that it had tires that are suited more for a little off roading, I don’t remember the size of the bike, but I bet it was small since I was in elementary school, and I still remember that when I tried to ride the bike it was really high to me, to the point that I felt that I couldn’t ride it, but my dad insisted at that time that it suits me well, and he was right, that size was good for me as I’m getting older so the bike will be acceptable to my size, and we brought it home and I played with it for a long time, the problem is I don’t remember where that bike went after I had grown up and didn’t ride it anymore but I think that my dad donated that bike, which is a good thing, but still I think riding bikes is really entertaining. I now own a motorcycle, but still riding bikes has it’s very own special thing that you wouldn’t feel it if you are not a bicycle person.
Now we are on another level, so if you are living under a rock, and you don’t know, there is this such thing that is called an Electric Bike, have you heard of it, so first things first what is an Electric Bike?
The obvious difference between a normal bike and an E-Bike is that the power that you get from the motor can make you go faster for a further distance without much effort, which makes it a better option for commuting, and E-Bikes have different styles, depending on the design you could see bikes with batteries mounted on different locations, also they vary, on the capacities of the batteries, of course bikes with better battery capacities, can make you go even further distances, not only that but there are bikes with batteries that can be charged without taking out of the bike, meaning that you can go to a café and charge you bike while drinking your coffee or chatting with your friends, others can have their batteries swapped so that it can be charged dependently, and I think those are the better types, because if you are commuting a lot, you can have 2 batteries so that when you are out cycling the other can be charged which is great if you ride your bike a lot.
Now let’s get to their way of work, from its name don’t let the word electric confuse you, it’s still pretty much a bike and a really normal one with to wheels, pedals and a chain So you don’t need to imagine something else, but the word electric indicates that this bike uses some kind of electricity to somehow power the bike, and indeed it uses stored energy, and of course that means that the first thing that differentiate an electric bike from a normal bike is that this bike has a battery that can store energy (electricity) so it can somehow give more power to the cyclist while cycling. The type of power is provided by a motor which would be installed on the bike, and its very essential for the electric bike as without it, it would not be considered an electric bike. Now this motor can give the power to the bike on two different ways, it can give power to the bike as a way of assisting the rider so it makes the trip easier for the rider than cycling on his pure muscle power, or there are some bikes that can go on their own using the power provided from the motor without the need of the rider to move the pedal.
You can differentiate an E-Bike from a normal bike with a few things, usually they have some sort of a hump on the middle of the bike, that’s usually the battery, and they have motor connected to the rear wheel, and they tend to be much heavier than a normal bike and of course that’s because of the battery, some of them come installed with some sort of a dashboard that can give you your speed, and how much distance have left for you, although also normal bikes can come with similar dashboards, but not all of them.
Also E-Bikes have some sort of power modes that you can trigger usually using the dashboard mounted on the bike, and depending on the distance and the speed you can choose the mode you need, usually there are three modes, one with full power, this one usually gives you the maximum speed of the bike but it drains the battery a lot so, if you are going a far distance, this mode is usually not recommended, furthermore there is an ECO mode, which is the mode the consumes the least power and this mode is considered the best if you are going a far distance, and lastly there is a mode on the middle which can be optimized for both the distance and a good amount of power. Of course even if you chose the ECO mode it has a limited distance, and if your battery run out of power, then you are on your own. Now speaking of power, there are different types of charging an E-Bike battery, some bikes only charge using an outlet, so if you run out of power while riding, well you have to pedal on your own, also some bikes use brake charging, and it sounds weird but I will explain it to you, in this charging mode, while you are pedaling you generate power to move the bike and it will move forward, at that time if you hit the brakes the bike will stop and you’ll lose the energy that you have been producing while pedaling, with that been said, some manufactures created a mechanism so that the rider can benefit from that lost energy from braking while on the bike and using it to charge the battery so it can go even further.
Now a lot of people would confuse and electric bike with a motorcycle, and that’s wrong, an electric bike uses a motor that depends on a battery that is charged and is delivering the electricity to it, while a motorcycle does have an engine that is powered with gasoline, and has a gear box, so much like a car, now they both have their positivities and negativities, as for a motorcycle it can go much faster and can carry a bigger load than an E-Bike, but unlike it, the E-Bike doesn’t need so much maintenance, and it’s much easier to drive and it’s better for the environment. But at the end they both have their audience.
So, Why an Electric Bike?
An E-Bike is a great tool for commuting between places that are not that far from each other, the E-Bike can benefit you with going to your workplace and back to your home without any extra charge (okay the electricity bill is going to be a little bit higher) but you have to consider that unlike a car or a motorcycle, it doesn’t require any maintenance, and I know that you won’t save so much on fuel as the money that you used to spend on gas is going to electricity, but other than that, there is nothing much, also unlike a regular bike it’s much faster and you will not sweat going to much further places, and not to mention, cycling is a form of sport, so you will be exercising while going to work on a much environmentally friendlier vehicle while saving on your gas money, that’s why I want an Electric bike.