Electric Bicycle

The latest electric bike is (mostly) complete. It's an old Huffy with a used Heinzman geared hubmotor from a Lee Iaccoca EVGlobal bike and a 36 volt 30 amp controller.

Most of that means very little, so here's a list of benefits:
At our current electric rates (that the whole town is in an uproar over) it costs 1/5 of a penny to charge.
A full charge on the current lead batteries should get me to work with a little juice to spare while running 17mph
I won't show up to work all sweaty.
I will actually enjoy my commute.
If it runs out of juice, it still pedals like a normal bicycle.
Less air pollution, traffic, and frustration than driving a car.
NO GAS PUMPS REQUIRED.
So far, I have less money invested in it than I do in the last three fill-ups of the family pickup.

I took it on a 4 mile shake-down run on Saturday, and it performed great, so I will start commuting with it this week. Have a great week, and please watch out for the idiot on a black bike!

Before

After

 

8-6-13 Made it to work this morning without incident, but the skinny little seat has to go!