Ideas for the Perfect eWheel?

[Jason McNeil]

Without any revolution developments what would you like to see in the perfect eWheel. Here are some thoughts:

• 16" wheel: in my books, this gives you the best compromise between maneuverability in an urban setting & ride comfort
• 64 cells in the battery: it's a bit of an anomaly that while there are several 14" Wheel with 64 cells, only Firewheel has a 64 cell 16" wheel. On paper, 64 cells, >520Wh looks like complete overkill, I haven't seen many reports of people regularly travelling more than 40km on their eWheel; on closer inspection the advantages of this enormous energy reserve are: 1) there is increased safety margin to deliver power, significantly reducing power cut-outs in situations like extreme acceleration, 2) because the load is shared across all the cells, in theory this should extend the life of pack, 3) there will be fewer situations where the pack is completely drained, further extending battery pack life, 4) can sustain continuous long hill climbs (less voltage drop).
• Clip-on side-panels for easy battery removal: if each of the four parallel packs could be optionally connected/disconnected without resorting to tools & taking less than 30 seconds, you could travel on flights taking along a single, or perhaps two, battery packs without much fuss.  
• Weight: under 12kgs. If manufacturers can find a way to produce a motor/wheel/tire that weighs <7.5kg, this should be achievable—again, nothing revolutionary, just ~1.5kg shedding of weight from existing motor design, I'm reliably informed this is well within the realm of possibility. Remaining weight is: 3kg for the battery pack & 1.5kg the shell, control-board, wires ,etc.
• Fast-charging & smart-charging: there's a couple existing eWheels that could possibly be candidates for fast-charging. When Ninebot released the specifications of their 9B1 last year, a fast-charger was prominently listed as an optional accessory. Now more than eight-months later, there is still no sign of this. There is no technical reason why, especially higher-capacity eWheels, charging time could not be reduced to under 1.5 hrs. In combination with fast-charging, the option to limit charging to 80% would not only reduce the charge time to under 1hr, but potentially double the life-span of the battery pack as well!   
• Intelligent LCD Data Panel: integrating a power meter that could also display speed, trip odometer, Wh remaining, & historical power graph. The phone app is all very well, but I think it would be great to have this info displayed right on the eWheel.
• High construction quality: properly water resistant, good quality plastic (or other material) shell, a gauge wiring that can support currents much higher than 'normal' conditions.
• BT Adjustable Pedal-tilt-back Speed: at which to set the maximum 15° tilt-back speed. For maximum safety, maybe a set number of km that needs to accumulated to attain a faster level (apparently the Inmotion app has a similar feature)T
  
  Added 14 Jul, 15:
• Gradient LED Power Availability: the concept here is for a fairly bright LED ,which would be be in peripheral field in vision, to represent the available power (0-100%) by transitioning from Green-to-Red. For example, if you're riding along up a hill at 50% available power, then it colour would show as orange, beyond 75% & the brightness intensity increases & the hue is a vivid red.  

[Gimlet]

Multiple removable batteries, at least 2, one each side but preferably 4, two on each side on either side of the pedal hanger/frame.

This would be a wheel that you could legally take on the airlines that actually has good range, and given a decent motor could be powerful enough for us heavier riders to get up the steepest hills.

[hobby16]

- The added advantage of a big battery is you only need to charge up to 80% instead of 100%, hence extending battery life. But if the battery is removable, several capacity options must be left to the user. I prefer a 260 Wh battery for less weight.

- The wheel must be not wider than a Solowheel. A Gotway is too wide and too low, making gripping it with the legs much less easy and confortable than with a Solowheel. There is definitive evidence of lesser grip when riding one legged : it's much harder (and painfull) on a Gotway or any generic than on a Solowheel. So the battery must be spread over the wheel's surface to reduce width.

- There must be an empty space for the malleolus. That's where it hurts the most for the user and it doesn't have to be that way.

- Must have powerfull lights. No need for an additionnal switch. The light can be switched on by holding the power switch a little bit longer at start-up.

- Warning sounds can be desactivated. It means tactile feedbacks must exist (wheel vibrations or pedal tilt-up) and are reliable to warn against overspeed or battery undervoltage. The warnings on Gotways, based exclusively on a horrible buzzer sound, sucks, reaaaallly !

- No software implemented power shutdown while riding, whether because of too high speed or too low voltage or cell problem or too cold or to hot or whatever, never, ever. Or if it is implemented, it must be written down clearly, so I can avoid to buy such stupid bloody wheel.

[KaleOsaurusRex]

2 things I want:

1. More compact, lighter designs.

2. A software-implemented hard limit on riding with low battery. A gentle forced slow-down with extra annoying warnings when low battery is risking unexpected turn-off, followed by refusing to turn on at all a bit earlier than the design we are using now. Take the example of the Chevy Volt; which has been demonstrated to have wonderful battery longevity because it doesn't use the battery to the limits. With my very limited understanding, it seems like combined with a larger sized battery and a slightly lower advertised range per watt hour, this might help avoid most of the types of failures folks are experiencing.

[Jason McNeil]

I'm entirely on your side in crusade against Wheel shut-downs, it's daft to kill power to the Wheel in order to extend the longevity of the cells.. The tactile, Wheel vibration proposal sounds like a very simple/effective means of preventing an over-eager user from pushing their Wheel beyond the design envelope. Doesn't the latest firmware of the Ninebot One do that now?  

[Jason McNeil]

Another idea posted.

[EUC Extreme]

Regulated voltage. Therefore, remains stable in all situations. Full to empty. This performance should always be maximal.

[esaj]

I'd like to be able to "fine tune" the wheel response more closely, as in dead-zone, tilt-back speeds (at what speed they start to rise, what's the max speed where they reach the maximum tilt), tilt-back curve (how fast they raise as you get nearer to top speed, not necessarily linear), choose between smoothings used to reach equilibrium, separate softness for front- and back-leaning (ie. currently I'd love it if the Firewheel was always "hard" when leaning forwards, but softer when doing power braking, so the pedals would tilt back a little) etc... of course, once I'd find the "perfect" settings for my own riding, I would probably never change them, but it would be nice to have more options... probably also not something everyone wants, unless the "defaults" are already very good for most people.

[Jason McNeil]

@esaj I've got the adjustable tilt-back, but tilt-back curve is good one! Asymmetric response modes is golden (we should patent this stuff!). 

[dmethvin]

I'm an American so I would like a cup holder on top. I need some place to put my beer. 

The main thing I want is some kind of odometer so I know how far I have gone in the life of the wheel. A couple of trip counters would be helpful too, for seeing how long the tire lasts and such.

[Jason McNeil]

Isn't a 'cup-holder' almost always a euphemism for a 'beer'?  

 

[dpong]

Last night after riding several miles I realize that I would really appreciate onboard foot massage. 

[Gimlet]

Who needs a cup holder when you can just wear a beer hat?

[vag72]

My personal best wheel requirements for everyday use:

1. 16" DIA;

2. Head and Tail lights;

3. Horn with distant remote;

4. 2 handles:  standart + retractable, must be able to completely hide inside the main wheel body, like on F-wheel Dolphin One;

5. High mounted pedals, 115mm at least from the ground;

6. Pedals are wide enough to step on with boots of 11 US size;

7. Top speed 25 km/h, warning signal starts at 20 km/h;

8. Range - 20 to 30 km.

9. Wheel stand similar to the idea shown on the attached photo.

10. Weight not less then 9 kg as it will drop down stability. I would say 10-11 kg will be a good compromise.

 

 

 

 

[Tilmann]

My ideal wheel comes with a "HUD" (Head Up Display)!

As I don't want manufacturers to mount a broom stick to it to place a display in my line of sight, it would have to look something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEMklsydXOg. For my taste, it wouldn't have to look quite as "racey" and can be stripped down to the bare essentials feature wise, i.e. current speed and battery level. A camera should be an option at best as it doesn't make you overly popular in Germany having a lens stare at everybody you meet.

To me it is most important to have a speedometer with almost no latency. All my attempts to use a smartwatch as a speedometer didn't turn out useful as the update lag will send me flying from my Msuper to a painful faceplant way before showing dangerous speed levels. Also: having a trustworthy glasses display for alarm signaling would allow to disable (or at least significantly muffle) that annoying beeper in the wheel.

Price point? I'd be prepared to add up to 300 Euro to the wheel's price as a HUD gimmick would give me great peace of mind while riding (unfortunately, the RECON guys are planning more in a price range of 700 Euro and even that would not cut it as it needs a custom bluetooth app to connect to the wheel).

What do you think?

 

[esaj]

My ideal wheel comes with a "HUD" (Head Up Display)!

Speaking of HUDs, if I had the chance, I'd like something like this projected on my helmet visor (yeah, I ride with a motorcycle helmet, laugh all you like until you're picking your teeth up from the road with a broken jaw... ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjqrfChgijs

I did have an idea of using a back-lit wireless bike computer with the computer-part attached to the visor so that it's always in my peripheral view, but gave up on it after discussing with hobby16, he said that the RF-noise of the motor will make using wireless bike computer impossible (too much interference, the signal can't get through).

[Guest]

Speaking of HUDs, if I had the chance, I'd like something like this projected on my helmet visor (yeah, I ride with a motorcycle helmet, laugh all you like until you're picking your teeth up from the road with a broken jaw... ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjqrfChgijs

I did have an idea of using a back-lit wireless bike computer with the computer-part attached to the visor so that it's always in my peripheral view, but gave up on it after discussing with hobby16, he said that the RF-noise of the motor will make using wireless bike computer impossible (too much interference, the signal can't get through).

you could just use the recon jet glasses or maybe the skully helmet ? lol I'm sure there would have to be some software upgrades though 

EDIT : I didn't click the previous link sorry @tillman  I see you already posted the jet 

[esaj]

you could just use the recon jet glasses or maybe the skully helmet ? lol I'm sure there would have to be some software upgrades though 

Sure, but aren't those based on LCD/OLED/whatever-displays on the side, ie. more like a head-mounted displays? That would be nice too, but what I had in mind was more like fighter jet HUDs, that are actually PROJECTED on glass in front of the pilot (although newer planes use combined HUD + head-mounted display on the pilot helmet), in a HUD there's no any sort of actual display in your line of sight, you just "look through" a projection that has "infinity focus".

Probably, given enough money, such could be built, but would cost a ton to get it custom-made, and the wheel would also have to be modified to communicate the speed, battery status, battery temperature etc. whatever is wanted to be shown by the projector... 

EDIT: Actually, looking at the Skully videos/images, it seems to really be what I meant, a projection, not just a display   

The projection unit in a typical HUD is an optical collimator setup: a convex lens or concave mirror with a Cathode Ray Tube, light emitting diode, or liquid crystal display at its focus. This setup (a design that has been around since the invention of the reflector sight in 1900) produces an image where the light is collimated, i.e. the focal point is perceived to be at infinity.

The combiner is typically an angled flat piece of glass (a beam splitter) located directly in front of the viewer, that redirects the projected image from projector in such a way as to see the field of view and the projected infinity image at the same time. Combiners may have special coatings that reflect the monochromatic light projected onto it from the projector unit while allowing all other wavelengths of light to pass through. In some optical layouts combiners may also have a curved surface to refocus the image from the projector.

The computer provides the interface between the HUD (i.e. the projection unit) and the systems/data to be displayed and generates the imagery and symbology to be displayed by the projection unit .

 

[Tilmann]

Probably, given enough money, such could be built, but would cost a ton to get it custom-made, and the wheel would also have to be modified to communicate the speed, battery status, battery temperature etc. whatever is wanted to be shown by the projector... 

You are most likely right about the cost of hardware development the for a fighter jet like HUD, but since google glass, goggles with a display reached consumer levels. There is a much larger market for it than just a few early adopter unicyclists - so I am confident, those products will become more and more affordable.

Getting the numbers transmitted from the wheels? I believe, ninebots, gotways, king songs and most likely solowheel extremes provide them already via bluetooth. Problem is: the EUC industry is in its infancy. The ninedroid app is fairly useable, the gotway app is an early prototype (to put it mildly), the solowheel app is yet a promise. All manufacturers seem to use their own proprietary and unpublished data protocols (no idea how King Song managed to "hijack" the gotway interface). If you look at mature industries (e.g. automotive), that looks radically different: they use manufacturer neutral interface standards, which are well documented. Halleluja!

Ninebot probably isn't interested, as their nindroid app presently gives the a competitive advantage. So, dear makers of the great Gotway wheels (hi @Jane Mo), here's your opportunity:

1. Please spend a thought on data security first and build it into your wheel's interface. If you consider a fixed pairing code "1234" secure, please think again. I would hope for a bit more sophisticated authentification. Then make sure, any settings change on the wheels requires a power cycle to take effect. I just don't wont that smartphone kid to re-calibrate my wheel's sensors as I drive past. And kindly give me an audible feedback on startup of my wheel when any setting has been changed. Rollout that software release first, please.
2. Publish your wireless interface specification under the most liberal terms possible on the great internetz, please!!! What have you got to loose? Your intellectual property is in the firmware inside the wheel, not the interface. And smartphone app development does not exactly seem to be your core competency. So, there's nothing to loose, but a lot to gain:
3. To all you IT wiz kids, android/iOS gurus and software developers in dire search of "evolving markets": give us great software for our wheels, please. In the spirit of sharing or for a price to make a living. Make the apps beautiful and robust. And please support the "wearables"  protocols like google wear and pebble. Who knows, maybe some "Maker Genius" comes up with your fighter jet HUD projector powered by an arduino, @esaj?  

 

[Stephen Greenslade]

In addition to all the great ideas above, I would like a built-in GPS tracker with modem so that I can track my rides and find my ewheel if it goes missing. It might help us find Vee if he's off-piste in the forest too...

Standalone versions are tiny, cheap as chips, run for days on a small rechargeable battery and have a SIM slot for mobile data connectivity.

[Gimlet]

Or you could just use an app on your phone.

I dont think it's a good idea to overcomplicate the wheel itself. Too many things to go wrong!

[Stephen Greenslade]

I do that...but it won't work if my wheel is missing and it's handy to separate out ewheel time from walking, running, driving etc. Might be a niche ask though!

[cg]

Just going to put these here:)

welcome to the future

 

[Gimlet]

The problem with anything that projects from the euc is that it takes the brunt of any unplanned dismount and let's face it we all have them occasionally no matter how skilled we are. 

Any screens or other sensitive accessories really need to be recessed slightly for their own protection.

[Jason McNeil]

Second Stephen's idea of an integrated GPS tracker/logger. Another function this could serve is an accident blackbox, it might help ease the current unsatisfactory regulatory grayness, in that all the trip parameters (power, speed, location, incline) can be downloaded for examination help clear up questions like, 'at what speed was the rider going on the pedestrian access way?' 'did the power cut-out, or was it rider error', etc....