The traffic was sparse but quick, I went along over 30. I had decided to go up Spruce Avenue with the goal of reaching Inspiration Point in Berkeley, a famous lookout to the east in the hills, about 8 miles away. And this required 1000 feet of climbing. Its a very familiar route on my bicycle, and I assumed it would give me a chance to improve my riding skills and check out the e-moto's true performance and range.
I went up the hill at what I thought was a conservative 27 mph pace, stopping occasionally to check the motor temperature with my hand. I ran with the headlight on, and didn't coast to stops very efficiently.
I got to the top of Spruce and Wildcat Canyon drive, where the route is mildly climbing. Onward into the park, I really noticed the road was rough/bike shaking. I noticed my top end was gone, unable to get over 30 mph. At the "Brazil Room" parking lot, I made the very risky decision to push on, despite the lack of a fuel gauge. The odometer said 7.1 miles. Down the little hill I went and on to the final climb, being conservative but knowing I might get stuck very far away from any outlets, my family asleep at home thinking I was out riding a bicycle.
I made it to the Inspiration Point overlook, parked the bike and took a few camera-phone pictures in the bright sun assuming it would be good for my sales brochure for the bike.
And the time was also giving the pack a rest/recovery period as mentioned in "Secrets of El Ninja" - I was living them today, all of them. Back on the bike I turned around, going mildly downhill, coasting in a way not unfamiliar from the bicycle approach. On the final downhill S-curve I realized I had to make the climb back to the Brazil Room, which is nasty on the bicycle and would challenge my electric horse. I was regretting my speeding in the AM and cursing my inefficient acceleration/hard braking style as I sputtered at the top of the hill at 10 to maybe 15 mph. And I wished for regen. The sputtering was literal, the green "neutral" light flashing/stuttering in tune with the starving motor. I realized suddenly if the DC-DC converter dropped below 12 volts, the solenoid could shut down and kill the bike. I was in trouble, this converter never ran with less than 3 batteries (36 volts).
I parked at the Brazil Room to give the bike a break and to look for an electrical outlet. I was wishing for a long extension cord, but assumed a park ranger might be able to hook me up. It was early, no one seemed about, and I recalled its mostly downhill from the Brazil Room. So I mounted up the tired machine, and it seemed to appreciate the rest. I was back to 20 mph or so, mostly coasting, avoiding the brakes. I had long since turned off the 35 watt HID. I tucked as if I was doing 100, squeezing any advantage I could from the heavy, full fairing bullet I had lobotomized.
Reaching the top of Spruce was a victory, it meant civilization, cell phone coverage and power outlets. Down the hill I went, suddenly Berkeley was waking up and the hills were alive with Volvos. Wishing for
more regen, I was over 20-30 mph. The brakes were fine, but most acceleration was greeted with the green light stutter. Down Oxford, the light was green and I was in serious coasting mode, milking the lights, doing my tuck and watching out for cars coming up from behind. I was trying to remember where friends lived in case I needed to bail. The stop signs and red light blocks south of campus provided breaks and kept the traffic around me in check. I turned down onto Shattuck and kept on gliding, again not unlike a bicycle. I was psyched at this point because I knew I could walk/push it from here.
I made it over Ashby BART and did my final stoplight, right down Fairview with the Hazard lights blinking at under 10 mph. I parked in front of the house, opened the gate and garage and with the final umph I got back to my Kill-A-Watt box. WHEW. 16.4 miles.
The critical element I had missed in the construction of V1.2.0 was access to measure pack voltage with the multimeter. So I took out the drill and made 2 holes over the ends of my battery punch-down block where the chargers are wired to the batteries, and measured 56.3 volts. This was not nearly as low as I expected given the struggle I had getting home. I turned on the power to the chargers and checked in throughout the day, noticing the batteries at the ends of my series were last to finish charging, the first battery on the ground side took most of the day. Is this normal? The pack got back over 62 volts when fully charged - it had been at 63.8 before Thursday during my flame-out of the DC-DC converter.
It was 8am, I took off my jeans and coat, put on the cycling shoes, took off the knee warmers and realized I had the heart rate monitor on for the moto ride. I would have liked to know what my rate was the first stutter!
I got on the bike and cranked out for 2 hours, covering 29.1 miles at nearly 16mph, almost the same pace my EV ran that morning on a less challenging course. During the ride I thought a lot about EV's, and was amazed at gasoline and ICE technology, and bummed out at reading about the corruption by ZAP in Wired last night. Passing the Ashby BART on the way home (bicycle this time), I noticed the graveyard-like EV parking lot, each stall including a sun-bleached charger unit. I stopped by and picked up the EV1 paddle, the plastic faded by the relentless sun. I looked at the other chargers, each apparently with a long-dead motion sensor. I'll call BART to see whats up with these units, likely a relic of the 2003 mandate that CARB caved on regarding EVs.
Almost running out of gas on my EV was a sobering dose of reality. Sure, one can read about EVs and batteries being the limit, but to actually experience this limit, to coax a machine so hard for a seemingly simple trip to a level that doesn't even match myself on a mere bicycle, is disappointing.
Despite how dirty gasoline is, its completely amazing in what it does so easily all around us every day. $4+ per gallon is cheap for that magic, its a sweet deal, treat it well. Any magic will be in batteries, batteries, batteries. I have proven anyone can do the mechanical side, the magic is the batteries, their energy density and charging. I always thought the EVers maybe whined too much, but after today I now truly qualify myself as one. I want stock in A123 and a pack to go please!
TODO:
0. emergency solenoid override/auxiliary power supply.
1. long extension cord storage/mechanism.
2. LED flasher on the FRONT of the bike for daylight, 35 watts is too much.
3. need the power meter/gauge working
4. voltage check/meters for each battery
5. check tire inflation
6. get a map of outlets
7. lighten the bike? weight is bad
8. regen? a simple drag brake option? anything?
9. why did the batteries at the ends of the series take so long to recharge compared to the others?
10. invest in battery technology, do battery tech, it IS the Achilles heel for EVs (everything else is there)
2 comments:
WHAT? you're selling it?
The bats at the end seem to discharge faster than the others... its just how series is. Thats mainly the reason for balancing, so the middle ones don't get fried when you charge because they top off first.
Great writeup on the distance though... Good idea on the retractable cord/storage. I'd like to do something like that as well.
I need to consider the goal and end-game of me and electric motorcycles. I'm an old man with kids, and I am liking the e-moto a bit much, its getting time for the EV car project.
Thanks for the comment on the batteries in series characteristic, I wondered if that was the case.
Plugging the chargers in tonight I see they are running hard again, AFTER fully charging already. Self-balancing going on? Hopefully not some evil short somewhere...
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