My e-bike experience with the Wilderness Energy Hub Motor Kit

[tim]

I have to say that I am happy with the wilderness energy hub motor this summer. I had received it in mid July and have used it since. I have saved over $150 in fuel cost already. (I plan to let it pay for itself next year). I think I can get some more use out of it in September this year. Not bad for $400. I have found only two drawbacks. One, was that the battery power was just not quite enough for the almost 19 mile distance to work, that includes me pedaling at a moderate pace and cranking the throttle. I had to scale back a little for the first 3 miles, be a little more conservative on the throttle. Two, I have had some difficulty with the batteries. They were heavy enough to crack my 'Bell' bike rack and they can slip around in the case and unplug the terminals during use. I have since found a way to reduce the number of unplugs during my ride, but dang, my bike rack cracked! Need some lighter batteries.

 

[tim]

I have driven it 14 times, 17 miles each time, and am fairly pleased with it. The only drawbacks are, I could not get the wheel to be completely smooth with no wobble, the other thing is it weighs quite a bit now. The batteries are 25 pounds. the motor may be 15-20 pounds. I have been thinking about lithium Ion batteries. I have seen some people on the internet use the new Dewalt 36V batteries but I am not sure of the Amp power of the batteries(I'm thinking 2.4). I think I would have to buy several of them, at $160 a piece just to get the equivalent Amps I have now, 12 amp. Anyway, I plan to make the money back using the bike instead of paying gas for my car. Happy Biking

 

[rockvolt]

You could try switching the batteries over to LiIon.

 

[tim]

The problem is it's really expensive for all the great benefits (lighter, more power, more charges...). My Led acid's are now starting to wear out already. I can still make my distance to work and back, but I have to be a little more conservative a couple miles into my ride. This includes getting pedaling at least 10 mph then slowly pushing the power into it to get myself up to 23 mph. And of course pedaling the whole way at the same rate I did when i did not have the electric motor is a must.

 

[rockvolt]

If it is only the batteries you are concerned about, there are readily available lead acid battery replacement kits.