Cerbera Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 I was out wheeling today in the sun, and on several occasions overtook poor exhausted cyclists as they stoically pummelled their machines up the hill, and it got me thinking. I wondered how much energy my wheel was expending to do the same work as the cyclists were doing manually. And how much energy would they have needed to take in to power their pedalling legs on their cycling adventures ? And then my brain went fuzzy, I got very confused about Kilojoules and kilowatts, and how I would even start to measure such things, and at that point I thought to myself ' I know a bunch of people that might be happy to debate this at exhaustive length'. So here it is ! Discuss ! Because it would be really lovely to be able to claim with some certainty that EUC's are even more efficient than cycling. But are they ? Thank you in advance for any input. CBR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanghamP Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 https://youtu.be/S4O5voOCqAQ In the video this cyclist put out 700 watts for no more than 30 seconds as his heart rate was an exceptionally high 180 beats per minute. My v5f puts out a sustained 500 watts. Efficiency losses--I don't know. Chain and gear lose something under 3 percent but a magnetic drive I have no idea. The comparison is somewhat irrelevant because the bicycle gets its energy from you whereby your unicycle gets its energy from the local power plant. To me they are both remarkable vehicles. Just think of the civilization that could build smooth roads to ride on, the tax base that comes from education and training, the mail service system that ships all these goods to you, the food service line that grows the crops and converts them into packages that you can usually eat without food born diseases. I'm actually more thankful of belonging to a civilization that has given us both 19th and 21th century technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mono Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 If you factor in the average energy consumption for food production, I would be surprised if EUCing were not more energy efficient than cycling. I looked at the numbers some time ago but have no record, so I would need to do it again (but no time right). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason McNeil Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 20 minutes ago, Mono said: If you factor in the average energy consumption for food production, I would be surprised if EUCing were not more energy efficient than cycling. I looked at the numbers some time ago but have no record, so I would need to do it again (but no time right). Exactly, the energy derived from food is only 1/10 of what goes into its production.https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/10-calories-in-1-calorie-out-the-energy-we-spend-on-food/ Some time back, I put together an infographic of Wh/Mi equivalent for running, cycling & using a Wheel & this DOESN'T take into account the terrible 10:1 conversion factor for food! "What do you guys think of this Infographic I threw together? I wanted to convey that sense of 'power elation' one has when riding a decent Wheel. It's not perfect, because of the simple act of standing of the Wheel is still burning 130 Kcal/hr & if the Wheel were cruising at the same speed as the cycle, the Wh/mi would be about 20% higher as well, owing to increased wind resistance; also pretty damn rare to be able to maintain constant cruising speed on anything but a running track, etc.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johrhoj Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 What you are forgetting is the 400-800 Wh that the EUC adds to the equation. That 475 Wh in your graph is the energy used up by a human that is just doing nothing other than being alive. The total energy for human + wheel is 875-1275 Wh. An e-bike might very well perform better than an EUC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mono Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 25 minutes ago, Jason McNeil said: What do you guys think of this Infographic I threw together? I'd prefer to see the same speed compared for bicycle and EUC and indeed adding the kcal's needed to operate the EUC seems to be obligatory for a comprehensive representation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mono Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 3 minutes ago, johrhoj said: That 475 Wh in your graph is the energy used up by a human that is just doing nothing other than being alive. Why would you want to represent the energy needed to be alive (it's the same in all three cases anyways)? Isn't the point to represent the (additional) energy needed to travel some distance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason McNeil Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 13 minutes ago, johrhoj said: What you are forgetting is the 400-800 Wh that the EUC adds to the equation. That 475 Wh in your graph is the energy used up by a human that is just doing nothing other than being alive. No, that's the Basal Metabolic Rate, which is 65Kcal/hr sleeping or 75Wh/hr. http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=448894 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Westland Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 51 minutes ago, Jason McNeil said: I was wondering about energy use when I was on my V8 last night, and saw this graphic when I hit the forum this morning. It rings true, and the numbers look good. I don't really know about the energy consumed when standing on an eWheel, but I would think that a lot of the energy expended is in your core, due to constantly adjusting body weight and position for balance, turning, acceleration, deceleration, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerbera Posted April 3, 2017 Author Share Posted April 3, 2017 Some very interesting points there - thanks everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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