Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! 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 ... [continued]
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.
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
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.
Your CVT most like had an automatic, centrifugal clutch.