Justin Lemire-Elmore

2013 Crystalyte Details

May 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 198

The first 2013 Crystalyte shipment was unloaded last week and contains some updated parts worth mentioning:

Crown Motors

First are the new Crown motors, which use an intriguing side plate design with straight pull spokes and a wider/deeper motor stator that delivers plenty of power without the weight penalty of the large 54XX wheels. We have these in stocked in 26" downhill rims in two different winding options, however the exact performance modeling on the simulator will not be complete until June.

Single Sided Hubs

We are also bringing back the single sided stub axle motors for those doing custom trike, quad, or trailer EV's where you want to grab the motor from just one end. In the past we had these with the now obsolete 400 series hubs, and have gotten a similar variant made of the larger HS motors, with a custom axle made up that is 17mm diameter and 90mm long.

Thermistors in Crystalyte

All of these Crystalyte hub motors now have a built in 10K NTC thermstor, enabling you to monitor motor temperature with the CA3 providing a safety roll back. This allows you to get the most short term power from the hub without risk of overheating from prolonged use.

Arrival in SF

May 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 240

1800km later Justin and Robbie have completed their electric cargo bike ride from Vancouver into San Francisco and had a fabulous time meeting up with everyone at the San Mateo Maker Faire over the weekend. All prototype gear under test held up to the task. A big thanks to Frank, Ken, Will, Wake, Otmar, Pete, Bill, Michael, Eric, Patrick, and the many others who took them in and helped along the way make this a trip to remember.

Maker Exhibit: Powerboards, Powerunicycles, and Prototype Ebikes Parts Galore

April 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 376

We are registered as "EV Grins" at the Bay Area maker faire, May 18-19th. As part of this we're trying to encourage a small gathering of DIY ebike builders who can make it to participate and show up with their home-brew ebike build. In addition to the custom Edgerunner builds we'll be riding down, we've also got a weight activated power skateboard and a continuously variable geared electric assist unicycle.

Stokemonkey Further Update

April 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 216

The bikes that we are riding down are equipped with all kind of projects that we've been developing: from weight optimized direct drive thru-axle hub motors to programmable 95% efficient universal chargers, to field oriented sine wave motor controllers. And one item that we're really keen to put through its paces is the 2nd generation right side drive Stokemonkey.

We had anticipated releasing the new Stokemonkey earlier this year, but as we worked on it we noticed an opportunity to include an integrated torque sensing capability as well. This redesign enables proportional pedal assist modes and human power readouts without the need for a special THUN bottom bracket, and will hopefully be worth the wait.

Tour of Cascadia, Vancouver to Maker Faire, SF

April 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 208

On the subject of tours, both Justin and Robbie are preparing to ride a pair of electric Edgerunner cargo bikes down to San Francisco during the first 2 weeks of May. Along the way we'll be meeting up with a number of ebike enthusiasts and businesses dotting the west coast. The trip will be detailed in this endless-sphere thread, and if you are en-route and want to be a part of the adventure or offer up some shelter and charging outlets, then drop us a line.

An'So On a Roll

April 13, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 228

For those who haven't been following, our intrepid Anne-Sophie has successfully covered thousands of kilometers through Chile and Argentina on her handmade touring unicycle. Other than a few crashes and rough patches, the trip has been a delight of amazing sights and experiences, rendered more interesting by the many locals and friendly travelers on similar journeys.

Visits and Helps

April 4, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 232

Just a short shout-out to some people who have helped us recently. Thank you to Eliza, a former engineering physics classmate who just finished a 2 month stint here in between her outdoors ed program. And thanks also to Abraham of Glow Worm Cycles in Australia, who came to visit for a week in April and helped us restore our cargo trike back to life.

Battery Rail Photos

April 4, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 210

People have been making clever use of our in-house CNC'd twist battery anchor rails to secure their eZee batteries in ways that otherwise weren't very practical, such as this in-frame mount by Ross in Delta BC.

The Science of Motor Heating

April 4, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 224

Of interest to those who are pushing the nominal power ratings on their hub motors, we started a set of experiments last month to understand and quantify the heat buildup and thermal dissipation properties of hub motors and the effects of different cooling strategies. Things were just getting interesting when we had to pause for trip preparation, but we plan to resume the experiments and get a wider set of results in June.

Stock Arrivals, eZee and Crystalyte

April 4, 2013| Posted in News| Justin Lemire-Elmore| 232

We just unloaded a large shipment from eZee that replenishes all the front and rear eZee kits, in addition to the spare 144 hole hubs. The motors in this shipment were all made with thinner steel laminations, with a measurable improvement in efficiency over the first release of their V2 hub, and almost a 50% reduction in the no-load motor current.

Our next Crystalyte shipment has unfortunately faced months of setbacks, but is now scheduled to arrive around May 15th. Two things to note: first we've decided to completely replace the larger 5403 motor with the new "Crown" hub, which should offer comparable power levels but with less weight and standard 135mm axle spacing. Secondly, all of these motors will now include a built in thermistor, so that anyone can monitor and limit their motor temperature easily with a V3 Cycle Analyst.