Dynamo leg powered ebikes - a good idea?

[albion]

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/2026-icetrike-e-trike-pers

Whilst that hew example is a recumbent trike it sounds a useful variation of a torque sensor equipped bike.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

It also goes backward if you back pedal. 0-20 mph in 3 secs…

 

[steveindenmark]

ICE makes great trikes. But this will not be cheap.

 

[classic33]

Pedal by wire.
What happens when the battery dies, and is your pedalling supplying the battery or the motor. The piece claims it's doing both.

 

[albion]

Pedal by wire.
What happens when the battery dies, and is your pedalling supplying the battery or the motor. The piece claims it's doing both.

Probably true, it not being isolated from the battery output, My concern is low efficiency. If 75% or less it might be a big hindrance.

 

[classic33]

Probably true, it not being isolated from the battery output, My concern is low efficiency. If 75% or less it might be a big hindrance.

I was interested in a cargo quad with a similar system, but was put off by its manufacturer not being certain about the range of the battery. Anything from 30 kilometres to 100 miles being given. After the battery died, that was it. The pedals didn't supply enough power to move it, only sufficient to generate a current that allowed the battery to supply the motor(s), which provided the means of propulsion.
The pedals are a means of trying to get round the current regulation of "the cycle must be fitted with pedals which are able to propel the cycle".

 

[albion]

Thats the thing, range is infinite if your pedalling does 100% of the propulsion.
I probably do 50 to 75% of the work on my ebike. But with a dynamo I would have to work towards 33% harder to get the same range on a 75% efficient dynamo. And that 75% might be an optimistic guess.

 

[classic33]

Thats the thing, range is infinite if your pedalling does 100% of the propulsion.
I probably do 50 to 75% of the work on my ebike. But with a dynamo I would have to work towards 33% harder to get the same range on a 75% efficient dynamo. And that 75% might be an optimistic guess.

Be worse still if when you're freewheeling the regenerative braking can't be switched off.

If you're pedalling to recharge the battery, and generating a current to allow the battery to power the motor, you're not propelling the cycle with them. Which falls outside current UK regulations.