Would you be interested in Energy Harvesting on your E-Bike?

[urastus]

on a train - where mass makes it viable

I was thinking about that, and trucks. Even then they could only do it on the actual driving engine, not all the carriages. With a truck it would only be the prime mover, not the trailer. Probably ideal for tray trucks! And trams, electric buses etc. Even if it was just to take the place of braking - the regen part does not appear to contribute much to reusable energy.

 

[Zimmerframe]

I was thinking about that, and trucks. Even then they could only do it on the actual driving engine, not all the carriages.

Definitely. Though I always wondered how long it would take until the battery technology becomes efficient enough that trailers can't have their own mini assist motors and battery pack, with regen. Be that a lorry, a car trailer, horsebox, whatever. The requirement to keep weight down will always be a necessity and it can't happen until that's realistically possible. But your trailer would give you extra traction in low traction conditions and could carry extra charge capacity to cover the drag/weight of the trailer.

Even if it was just to take the place of braking - the regen part does not appear to contribute much to reusable energy.

If you read the wiki link I listed, it goes on about using the regen for braking, but some of the reasons why you wouldn't or can't use it to capture energy - so it's used as you propose - just for braking and then dumped as heat.

 

[geehaw]

I can see I it now, massive heat sinks on the shocks with little fans to improve heat dissipation. The next trend in MTB's.

I can’t cook eggs on my front or rear shocks, but clearly there is some heat being generated there. How much heat could be calculated but it may be minimal.

 

[RickBullotta]

Energy harvesting comes in lots of forms such as regenerative braking, but less well known is energy harvested from suspension.
I am wondering if people would be interested in having a system on their E-bike that would potentially charge the battery, or maybe a GPS/phone etc. Please feel free to share your thoughts! Here are a few pros and cons...

Pros: - Free energy! increase your range for longer exploration rides
- Could lead into active suspension rather than a passive system (if researched enough)
- Something no one really has yet
Cons: - Potential decrease in suspension performance (ride may be impaired)
- May add some weight to your rig
- Some added complexity of electronics to the bike, but reliable

In short, no. I like "flow" and regenerative braking is "anti flow".