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EV World Open Access Article |
Company president, Joe Perry holds the core of his firm's electric bicycle hub motor. No wider than a bicycle rim, the motor has regenerative braking and requires no gearing.
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Inside Wavecrest Labs
A private briefing on the company's plans and products.
By Bill Moore
Open Access Article Originally Published: May 10, 2003
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A black-clad figure moves through the night across a cold desert plateau. The terrain ahead of him is illuminated in a eerie green light. Despite being weighed down with a 140 pound load, he moves at a steady, silent 20 miles per hour. Behind him are a dozen others, each moving with surprising stealth and speed.
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Wavecrest Labs Photo Album
For a photographic tour of Wavecrest Labs
click Photo Album.
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A startled desert scorpion scurries out of the way at the very last moment as the phalanx of mountain bike tires roll by. Cautiously the scorpion retreats, its pincers alert, its poison tipped tail quivering above its head..
As quietly and suddenly as the black masses appear, they disappear into the still night, leaving behind a few faint pherenomes of human sweat and ribbons of narrow tracks in the sand.
Meet the army of today... at least a few select units of it. That's the vision of the folks at Wavecrest Labs of Dulles, Virginia, where the three-year-old firm has mated their new, totally silent electric hub motor to the Montaque folding mountain bike. They hope to provide the US military with hundreds of their new electric bicycles for use in just the type of operation described above, giving US forces unmatched speed, maneuverability and stealth.
On April 30, 2003, EV World got to briefly try out just such a bike during a private briefing and tour of the company's development labs and headquarters west of Washington, D.C. (See our interview with the company's new chairman, retired Army general Wesley Clark.. )
Tom McMahon, Wavecrest Lab's director of communications and government relations, picked me up at the Washington Hilton in the company's new Honda Civic Hybrid. Having been a legislative assistant to both a Congressman and a Senator, as well as working in public relations in Washington for the last 16 years, McMahon knows his way around the back streets of DC. As we drove down quiet side streets, lined with noble Georgian colonials and federal period homes on the hill above Du Point Circle, he explained that this is where some of the Capitol's most influential people have lived.
Unfortunately, Tom's intimate knowledge of the area didn't prevent us from getting stuck in traffic as we wound our way west along the old C-and-O canal towpath that parallels the north side of the Potomac. We passed the time talking about the company, the history of Washington and EV World.
Eventually, we reached Wavecrest's headquarters, which is located a few miles from Dulles International Airport. There Tom ushered me upstairs into their conference room, barely giving me a chance to look at the bike on display in the lobby. He assured me that I'd get my chance to take a closer look at their technology.
Within a couple minutes, several executives filed into the room and introduced themselves. Chris Washburn and Mike Fritz were formerly with EV Global, Lee Iacocca's ebike firm. Rick Eagle was on the initial Ford Escape Hybrid team.
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Reader Comments
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20 comments so far...
23-Jul-2010
91087
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HEY WC INTERESTED IN ELECTRIC BIKES TO SELL IN ST. PETERSBURG FL.I SELL THE RAYOS LOOKING FOR OTHER PRODUCTS.
Posted by: GREGG PENTZ
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21-Jun-2006
26188
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like all good ideas it has died
to expensive
and here where i live they will run you off the street as the state has not changed the law
to match the federal law on an electric bicycle
and its a motorcycle with no licence and
the fines are enough to buy gas and ins. for 2 months on a junk car
ar dave
Posted by: david thompson
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17-Sep-2005
9560
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bike hub motors, lithium batteries at
www.users.bigpond.com/solarbbq
at affordable prices
Posted by: brett white
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12-Oct-2005
10169
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Dear Roger Sund: I believe your comment was made in jest - surely we all know that there is no perpetual motion machine that creates more power than it consumes. Wish it could be so, but there is just no way.
Friction losses alone would make the drive motor a net user of more power than the alternator could produce. The power wasted in driving the alternator can't be used to move the bike.
Posted by: William Lloyd
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06-Jan-2005
5867
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having done much work in Bangladesh on cargo carrying rickshaws I would like to see a test application of this system on their vehicles. I, and the Canadian organization I worked for could be made available to help on this"
Posted by: william woudenberg
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17-Jun-2004
3436
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Great motor, but Im sure there is an unsprung weight issue which will adversly affect the vehicle's general road handling.
Hub motors increase unsprung weight and are not a preffered choice for good handling. I believe a geared form of this motor would have far superior applications. Anything high performance in RC electrics must be geared.
Brushless motors in RC are impressive but geared brushless is absolutely unbeleivable"
Posted by: Anthony Mcray
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12-Aug-2004
4344
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I Really like your Front wheel drive motor and battery system. I have a 3wheel Ebike with a 150 watt motor and a motor controller that does not work. I need to do some up grading. I am in a wheelchair. I was wonding if it is possible to puchas a Wavecrest Ebike kit or at least the front motor and a motor controller. I am very interested in this. Your help would be greatly appreaciated in getting my bike going again."
Posted by: Timm Grages
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11-May-2003
1002
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Well another electric bike.I have designed and built 3 differant electic drives onto a recumbent I also designed.I think that the down side for any electric bike is going to be batteries and weight of them.Remember when the batteries runout the rider has to lug them along for the ride.Kollmorgen introduced a wheel hub motor acouple of years ago ,I bought one and it failed miserably.Remember on a bike weight is so important.I personally think that electric or hybrid for vehicles that are more like cars and as much as I hate to say it internal compustion for bikes .The power density for an i.c. engine is way ahead of electric now and I think for awhile.I think running an ic engine on propane or butane is the best option for bike assist.
Posted by: keith neri
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13-May-2003
1004
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Wavecrest seems like they have a good product. However all wheel motors suffer from some basic limitations, gyroscopic, centrifical forces, and unsprung weight. IMHO these wheels motors will be limited to lower speed applications.
For the Montague folding electric bicycle I can hardly wait since it should make the ideal companion to my Toyota Rav4EV. This bike seems to have about twice the range of the usual electric bicycle.
I currently get about 25 miles per Power Bar, at 225 calories per bar that makes about 9 calories per mile. My actual fuel consumption is about 30 calories per mile the difference is made up from stored reserves.
-- Brandy
Posted by: Dennis Brandenburg
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18-May-2003
1008
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Hello,Wavecrest,
I'd sure like to try out your new moter on
my new bike'E Recumbent RX And I'v Bought a
new TREK 7200 bike I realy like them both but
would want a electric drive motor only like yours
can I Buy one a consumer modle!
Please Let me Know
Bob
Posted by: Robert Bonner
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11-Jan-2004
1225
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nice article why dont you put an alternator in the front tire in stead of a battery then it will recharge it self as it goes along"
Posted by: roger sund
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11-Jan-2004
1229
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Very interesting article about Wavecrest Labs. It is promising to see that a company has spent millions on improving motors that already operate in the 80% plus efficiency range. This will undoughtably offset some of the pressure to produce the ultimate battery. Hopefully this will bring new electric vehicle products to the market and this technology will help enhance current vehicles that are allready blazing the EV front. www.nevco.com (GIZMO)"
Posted by: robert veach
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23-Jan-2004
1355
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How do you make a small fortune in the EV industry? Start with a large one. I hope they make a go of it.
Many of the disasters of the past appeare to be caused by poor engineering. The cottage industry problems associated with a lack of customer focus, crummy marketing, under capitalisation & products that are often too expensive, haven't helped much either.
Perhaps Wavecrest have the organisational skills, business experience & financial backing to be a success."
Posted by: Ben Hill
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08-Mar-2004
1891
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Looks suspiciously like the LRK torquemax 'outside' motor technology out of Germany albeit with better integration and packaging. Size is also different but the concept is very similar.
"
Posted by: Richard Kimble
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02-Apr-2004
2201
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Apparently, the motor functions just as well as an alternator, when it's not drawing.
Posted by: Marty Lewis
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29-Apr-2004
2595
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Ferdy Porche's work on commercializing automotive hub motors may be instructive as he abandoned his efforts after considerable investment.
In the bicycle, putting the batteries in the front hub seems to be a great idea to improve handling. However, conventional bicycle hub technology is superb and inexpensive. Large hubs are less efficient, in terms of rolling resistance, than smaller hubs. The difficulty of packaging the batteries into the immobile hub means automatic diseconomies at small scale levels of production. Besides leaving behind standard, bulletproof bicycle technology for hub, fork, and suspension, the inconvenience of this non-detachable battery pack does not bode well for this set-up. Batteries should be batteries, not specially made wheel batteries that are difficult, if not impossible, to service or replace with new batteries of standard design. The relatively high exposure to road, water, and shock damage of electrical connections on the wheel hub also suggests that an alternate location might be advisable.
The collapsability of the bicycle makes sense not only for parachutists, it makes sense for people taking public transportation--where bikes are anathema in many locales. A nice carrying case is in order (even for parachutists) and should be offered. "
Posted by: Bubba Nicholson
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13-Jun-2004
3381
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Joe Perry
Have you heard about Parallel Path Technology From Flynn Research. This technology would allow much greater range then any other motor configuration known. Please do a web search for Parallel Path Technology or Flynn Research.
I have built several of these motors and the preformance is incredible.
Please let me know what you think.
Michael Schuckel
MS Design
1-260-632-4751 "
Posted by: Michael Schuckel
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30-Nov-2004
5506
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Does anyone have any info
on the Liion Batteries and
the chinese hub motors?
"
Posted by: Matt Falk
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08-Jun-2003
1018
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Nice article. However, please forward my cautionary email to the folks at Wavecrest: Nova Cruz (Voloci, EX3) failed largely due to problems with NiMH charging. I have personally purchased at least 8 NiMH (consumer) battery chargers and have discovered that not all *smart chargers* are all that smart. In my tests, for example, only Rayovac's 1-Hour Charger detected a fully-charged NiMH battery. All the others, including Pansonic and the highly-regarded MAHA '204' charger proceeded to charge, and likely damage, fully charged NiMH AA's. The problem with Voloci's 36v NiMH packs was that Nova Cruz did their testing in the winter. When summer came around, the Voloci packs overheated in the middle. Without cooling, the packs were hot inside. Voloci owners had to wait for the pack to cool down to complete the charging cycle. The EX3 electric scooters were notorious for multiple failures allegedly from weak welds cracking from vibration, as the EX3 electric scooter had no suspension and solid urethane tires.
Honda and Toyota hybrid cars are said to monitor the *usage* (amps) of electricity drawn and then replenish their NiMH batteries with the amount used, to avoid the charging problems inherent with charging NiMH batteries.
Merida NiMH bikes, according to at least one Merida ebike dealer, allegedly has problems with the NiMH version; hence, dealers prefer to sell the Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) battery version.
Giant Bicycle's electric bikes (the LaFree) now run on NiMH and are said to be OK, but I have no personal or reliable knowledge.
I would like to buy a Wavecrest electric bike but will wait until "version 2" and Scott McGregor's (evdeals.com) approval.
For those of us who have purchased EX3's, Voloci's and NiMH Merida's, it is wise to wait.
I'm also waiting for the NiZn batteries (Lepton electric scooters) to become available with chargers, for ebike use. This may yet be another possibility. The DETROIT electric car (circa 1920's) originally ran on NiZn batteries.
Thanks for your story and best wishes to the Wavecrest team!
Posted by: Bobby Finder
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12-Jan-2004
1237
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now if they will build a motor for auto's we could buy a kit of 4 motors/hubs for our detriot or japan car that will change our ice engine into a fuel saving hybred !!!!!"
Posted by: fred mertens
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