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Edited on Sat Nov-17-07 01:39 PM by happyslug
The Article keep citing 75 mph, and I have no reason to dispute that, then says max distance before needing a full charge is 30 miles. Base on personal experience with other electrical things (Mostly lights), the higher the output, the quicker the battery will go dead. Faster speed means higher output, thus higher speeds means shorter distance.
Cold is another factor. When I use my bike at temperatures below 32, the capacitors on my lights go out almost as soon as I stop peddling (My bicycle lights are generator power, the lights have capacitors which hold power when the bike is not moving). In the Summer the Capacitors can hold power for up to 10 minutes, powering the LED light, when I bike at temperatures below 32 the LEDs barely staying on for 30 seconds. That is how fast the capacitor (and most other electrical storage devices) lose power as the temperature drops.
The reason I go into the above, is speed and distance given for this car sounds like what it can do at about 32 degrees (i.e conservative estimate). Generally electrical cars distance is given at about 80 miles (I suspect these numbers are at 72 degrees).
My point is speed and distance will vary depending on each other AND the temperature outside (among other factors). GM's electric car seems to have had this problem, a problem never really fixed (and may never be, thus the push for Hybrid cars, no worry about electrical storage, what you lose do to cold temperature the car can regenerate). Thus until the Government comes up with some sort of standard test (Like the US Government did for gasoline cars in the 1970s, today's EPA mileage numbers), the numbers cited must be view as suspect.
I remember the years before the EPA guidelines became the law and after the Oil Embargo of 1972. In those years you had ads in TV saying how far a car would go. Never gave the details, but always gave very high numbers. One trick was to pick two cities that where downhill from one anther, and then take the car downhill, stopping the engine once it was up to 25 mph and re-starting it when speed dropped to almost nothing. No one drives that way, but on the downhill route you can get quite high mileage (I suspect the ad was NOT run in the two cities mentioned, I forget the cities but they were in the Western States NOT California, Washington or Oregon). This was so bad, Congress passed the law saying the only Mileage numbers that can be used is the EPA numbers. Thus we only see the EPA numbers, for any other number is illegal (And the EPA number is only for comparison between cars, no one gets them, but if the EPA says one car gets 20mpg and another 21 mpg, the Second car tends to get a little better mileage then the first. The purpose of the EPA number is for Comparison purpose only, most people mileage will be worse).
I mention this to remind people to look at these numbers with some caution. They are NO standard way to test mileage on electric cars. Hybrids are tested do to gasoline motors and assumes NO other way to charge the electrical Batteries (i.e. assumes no one plugs in the car Battery). Just be careful when looking at speed, mileage etc and if possible ask HOW those numbers were calculated.
Two last comments, First is weight. You will almost never see Mileage for Motorcycles, the larger ones don't need to give such numbers (Do to that fact people who what big bikes, want a big bike and care less about the mpg of the large bike) and for small bikes it varies to much depending on the weight of the rider (For example I ride a 80cc Scooter, I get 90mpg on it but I weight 280 pounds on a bike that weighs in at 179 pounds, on the same bike someone weighing 120 pounds may get 110 mpg).
The second Comment is terrain. I use by scooter on most trips over 5 miles, for if it is over 5 miles I have to climb Allegheny Mountain or Chestnut Ridge (Below 5 miles I take my bicycle, through if I can avoid the large hill climb I use by Bicycle even on longer trips). Now the Appalachian Mountains are a lot smaller then the Rockies, but they are still a problem it you MUST use more power to climb then then if the area was flat. Most of the roads in my area, my 80 cc can handle do to low but steady grades. but it does affect mileage do to the extra power needed to climb the grades. Ignored by most people, but may be the reason why the Sparrow moved from Colorado to the Flat lands of Ohio (i.e. flatter terrain, the less power needed even in Summer).
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