eZee Carro - Electric Trike

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MB-1-E
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eZee Carro - Electric Trike

Hi All,

My Dad just told me that he's getting the new eZee Carro.
Looks like fun!
I really like the brushed aluminum.

http://www.ezeebike.com/products_carro.htm

Trike.gif

Shimano.gif

Frame.jpg

From the photos I've seen it looks like a very well made ride!
I don't have any experience with eZee but it seems that those of you who have one of their bikes ... has generally had good things to say about them.

Dad lives in Florida and has had an electric, pedal assist trike for a while now but the one he has been riding is not well made. I don't remember what kind it is but I think it was one in the $800-$850 range, had controller and battery problems and only has one gear (very difficult to pedal).

He uses his trike to do all of his shopping and to circuit the local coffee shops and friendly restaurants there.
Dad's 91 and has really enjoyed the freedom that an EV gives him but I can certainly understand why he doesn't want to have to fix something on it after every trip.

He said he was getting the NiMh battery pack.
Is there a way that he can easily add another, parallel battery source for a longer range when needed?

The trike has a huge cargo basket so an additional battery pack of some sort could easily be placed there.
Has anyone here taken this model for a test drive?

Thanks,

Dave

NickF23
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Re: eZee Carro - Electric Trike

looks nice. I didn't know they did a trike. In answer to your question. It is ok to discharge nimh in parallel but its not ok to charge in parallel. So the simplist thing would be to take a spare pack and swap it over when the first pack is discharge. The other option is to wire 2 packs in parallel in such a way that you couldn't accidently charge them in parallel. I have this setup on my bike and use anderson connectors for charging and discharing, so its impossible to parallel charge them by mistake.

The advantages to this setup vs pack swapping are longer pack life (as your only discharing at half the rate to each pack) and slightly better performance (less voltage sag) and slightly more range (lower discharge rate to each pack). But the wiring is a bit messier.

MB-1-E
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Re: eZee Carro - Electric Trike

I like the pack swap solution.
Do you know if perhaps three 8-10Ah, 12V AGM's could be swapped (or carried as a backup set) or is the rest of the system configured for NiMh only? (i.e. controller size vs different discharge rates of different battery types)

Sounds like this option would be quite a bit less expensive but still provide that extra few miles range.

Sorry, I don't know much about NiMh systems.

Thanks for the input!

Dave

MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike
Icon Photo of lighning striking Eiffel Tower Jun 3, 1902, taken by MG Loppe'

Dave B

MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>

NickF23
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Re: eZee Carro - Electric Trike

Yes you could swap nimh for SLA. But remember SLA suffers from peukurt effect to you probably need at least 13AH nominal to get 9AH out. In my opinion nimh are actually cheaper in the long run as they have a much greater cycle life, especially if they're treated well.

MB-1-E
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Re: eZee Carro - Electric Trike

Good to know Nick!

I'll pass this info. on to Dad so he can consider the option of an extra NiMh pack.

Thanks again for sharing your experience with the NiMh's, it's very helpful.

Dave

MB-1-E
Electric - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike
Icon Photo of lighning striking Eiffel Tower Jun 3, 1902, taken by MG Loppe'

Dave B

MB-1-E
<a href="http://visforvoltage.org/book-page/996-mountain-bike-conversion-24v-3-4h... - Bridgestone MB-1 Mountain Bike</a>

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