ERockIt Pedal-Electric bike

Just saw a program about this on BBC.
Its an electric bicycle that has to be pedaled to work. Goes up to 50mph.

http://www.erockit.net/en/product/
http://www.erockit.net/download/booklet-erockit/eROCKIT_EN.pdf

That is an extremely cool looking ride, but the price and other limitations...

It did inspired me to look around and I found this electric bike from Target via Amazon.com. Currently (ha ha) $299 with 34 "4-star" reviews. Very tempting, especially since a person could tap the batteries with an inverter to power other stuff. Too bad you can't recharge it's batteries by peddling.

-Blast

I know this tread was for powering a bike for commuting/movement.

But Blast brings up the point of powering other items. I have long considered:
http://www.econvergence.net/electro.htm

I rode one for several hours at Superbowl XLII when they powered 30 minutes of the entire stadium with the stored energy.

It costs about $800 for a working set up, including the bike trainer (stand). Then you just put whatever bike you have in it and start pedaling.

The ERockit Pedal-Electric Bike looks interesting but at 110 Kg in weight it should probably be called an light electric motorcycle. With an 8KW motor the ERockit name would be pretty apt. But when the battery dies it is going to be a pain to pedal thats for sure considering the motorcycles weight. It would definitely be within the power requirements for a large domestic solar installation for solar charging though. The ERockit lithium battery could also double up as an emergency mobile storage power source which seems to be specified at an equivalent battery around 240Ah at 12V.

The Germans are heavily into domestic solar PV and I would suspect this product will be a commercial success within Germany if the price is right. It probably wouldn't take much to produce a solar PV covered trailer for hauling kit around as well.

Those are cool, but I think you can rig up something yourself a good bit cheaper. You still need the stand, inverter, and generator head which all do add up.

Time to research this more, I`m sure someone has a pretty good DIY system on the web

I had a much lower-powered electric bike for a while. In the UK, if the motor won't push it to faster than 15mph then it counts legally as a push-bike. Then you don't need a licence to ride it and you can use cycle paths etc. (There are some other restrictions, too; do your own research before buying one.)

I found it to be more practical than a plain push-bike for getting to work. The more you pedal the faster you go, so it's still an effort, but that's good from a fitness point of view. I got to work quicker and was less sweaty when I arrived.

I didn't consider it a survival tool because its range was limited to 15 miles or so, and you needed mains power to charge it. A normal push-bike would be better for that. Also, the motor broke in some complex way that was hard to fix; it's not as reliable as a normal push-bike. I don't how it would compare to a motor bike, or a moped; they are probably easier to get repaired because they are more common.

so why not just just pedal...?

Bicyles with good tires and gears aren't that hard to pedal. I use mine bike for all mine short range traveling (up to 20km away from home), except when i'm in a hurry or when i have to carry too much stuff with me.

There's no point in getting an electric bike and then just peddling. The battery and motor add a lot of weight.

If you mean use a normal push-bike, then as I said I found it less practical. My average speed with that is around 10mph, as opposed to around 15mph with the electric, and I'd arrive at work exhausted and sweaty - and there's no facility for showers. This sort of electric bike is a good compromise between a car and a push-bike, and ought to be considered by people who are too lazy for the push-bike.

Just 10mph? Mine average is somewhere between 15 to 22 mph, (With a maxiumum speed of 35 mph) depending on the bike. Sweet is a issue in the summer. But when it's colder you can prevent too much sweeting by removing layers.