As already discussed, electric
bike drive system is power electronic based and embedded based control. Due to
this, this technology got the advantage of implementation of various value
adding features. This story is true for electric bikes from any country i.e. India, China,
Taiwan
or any other. In this article we will discuss these features in brief
- Current Limit
– As Electric bike is powered by battery, the power drawn from the battery
depends on the load and hence there should be control over the current
drawn from the battery otherwise, battery & motor life may effect.
This can be easily implemented by power electronic based BLDC Controller
using some hardware and software implementations. This feature allows only fixed current and limits the maximum
current to the programmed value. Bike would continue to run in this
condition.
- Over Current
cut-off: As battery current drawn is out of our control and is limited
by load, road conditions, we can set a maximum current point, where the
drive system will shut down automatically and only can start with ignition
key restarted.
- Low/High speed
set: This features is good parental feature which will set the bike to
run at two different speeds. This allows the costumer to fix the speed
based on their urgency. Low speed set will give more drive range but of
course kills your time.
- Cruise
control: This feature being used in aero planes & luxury cars but
now available only in electric bikes due to its easy implementation with
its technology. Using Cruise control feature the vehicle can be
continuously run at a desired speed and throttle can be released.
- Brake
Electrical Cut-off: We know that brake will be stopping the motor
mechanically but here in electric bikes we can cut-off the motor
electrically and mechanically break it. This feature helps the system from
high inrush current during braking. There are two type of braking –
- Normal electric brake – cutoff the motor but motor
runs due to inertia when brake applied.
- Electromagnetic brake – cutoff the motor &
motor suddenly stops when brake applied.
- Battery
Charging Bike won’t start: This feature will not allow the bike to
start when the bike is connected to a charger and is charging. This is a
fool proof feature for the riders.
- Side stand
indicator: As these bikes normally have no gears, just a rise in the
accelerator will start the bike. If the bike is standing with side stand,
its is a accident prone situation and hence, when the bike started when
side stand is on, there will be a buzzer which will remind the rider to
take off the stand.
- Bike stop
after idle for some time after ignition key on – This feature is very
important in electric bikes. We know electric bikes make no noise and
hence costumer once ignition key is on and kept idle for some time might
forget that he has started the bike. Hence this feature will cut of the
system if it is idle for some specified time after ignition key on.
Costumer has to restart the bike to ride.
- Battery meter:
Battery level is displayed using an
analog meter on the handle bar which will enable the rider to plan his
journey.
- Speedometer:
For applications of e-bikes where the accuracy of e-bike and km traveled
is not necessary, we need not use odometer. Usage of odometer will
increase the cost. Hence the BLDC Controller can be programmed to give the
required speed pulse which will show the speed in km/hr on analog scale of
speedometer.
Future projects which can be
implemented (for Enthusiasts, researchers, R&D departments &
Entrepreneurs)
- Exact Battery level Indication: Right now only the
battery voltage is taken as reference for the battery indicator. Though
this is a approximation, one need to work on the exact battery level
indication taking the AH capacity into consideration.
- Reserve
feature: This should be implemented in electric bikes by programming
the controller. Once the reserve stage is reached, the bike should start
and should start with lower speed to give a range of at least 10 km.
- and many more
to come … Subscribe to EVHUB.BIZ
This page will get updated as and
when new features are seen in the e-bike market around the world.
Author is Murali, Founder and
promoter of http://www.evhub.biz
Contact Author: murali@evhub.biz
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