emjayess

I love this stuff! I am going to build a quadcycle, and now I want 4 of those 'smartwheels' as a power-assist to augment raw pedal-power to get around town.

check out the concept video from MIT TechTV:

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I read an article which said that the greenwheel will last about 8 years. Is this the rating of the lithium ion batteries inside the wheel?
Is the wheel designed to withstand monsoon climate? What is the operating temperature range?
Where does the bluetooth control gets its power from? If it is from a small battery, what does the wheel do when the control battery is exhausted?
Can the rider pedal hard uphill while gripping the handle hard with the throttle locked at a constant power output? (May sound like a silly question. But I am not a motorbike rider)
Thank you for innovating
Posted on 2009-05-06 11:10:27 -0400 by evolutron

Excellent design. We have engineered a similar wheel using LiMn batteries and ANT rather than bluetooth. Many of our customers are handicapped or have injuries that prevent them from riding standard bikes. We are simply making it for an easier installation.
Danny L. Ray
AmpedBikes
Posted on 2009-10-20 13:30:48 -0400 by ampedbikes

Hello!
I was looking at the GreenWheel project and I thought I could share some thoughts with you.
I will try to be short..
As this project is still in it’s evolution I thought I could make a few suggestions in hope you’d find it useful.
There are a few crucial construction features that would help this hub motor become widely accepted by cyclists.
The majority of modern mountain bikes and most of commuting bikes feature a nine speed gear train and disk brakes.
It would be beneficial (if not necessary) for the motor to have the ability to accept an IS disk brake and a nine gear freewheel cassette.
The motor should also be able to freewheel itself when is not assisting pedaling, or it should be a zero cogging type of motor.
As most mountain bikes are full suspension bikes, the suspended weight at the rear wheel is crucial to the proper function of
rear suspension. Fitting batteries in the hub is not the best option, IMHO, for an additional reason, the wheel rotating mass increases and that is an even heavier burden. It would be a better option fit the batteries on the frame, that would also balance the extra weight more evenly on the bike.
Weight should be kept down to minimum, power could be in 250-350W range, after all we don’t need a motorcycle, we need something to assist pedaling, right?.
Keep up the good work :))
Best regards,
Manos.
Posted on 2009-12-19 21:25:01 -0500 by manokaiser