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Yeah, the thing is, the by far best use for "bike power" is actual transportation. 0.15kWh of pedaling power can get you surprisingly far (one hour of moderate
by usrusr 6y ago
Yeah, the thing is, the by far best use for "bike power" is actual transportation. 0.15kWh of pedaling power can get you surprisingly far (one hour of moderate effort cycling), but would be rather unimpressive for the usual electrical applications. Apparently, almost two centuries of doing that have lead us to some very clever and pragmatic efficiency tweaks, probably because the effort-motion feedback loop is so extremely compelling to the human mind (evolution has made us brains on an endurance locomotion machine, everything else is rather unimpressive compared to peer mammals).
- OJFord 6y agoNot to mention bicycles are designed for converting rotary motion into, well still rotary motion, but forwards travel; not electrical potential. I haven't done any research or taken measurements, but particularly the low-end style tyre-on-roller that I have must be awfully inefficient. It's been briefly popular (to some extent) a couple of times to power a light while cycling. These things don't typically have large capacitors or batteries to store surplus charge, because powering the light is about all you can do! (Ok not totally fair since you're also cycling, but still.)