A Simulation and Experimental Study of Operating Characteristics of an Electric Bicycle

Abstract Electric bicycle is attracting more people's attention around the world because it is one of environmentally-friendly vehicles as well as a zero-emissions vehicle. In order to develop a high performance electric bicycle, a simulation study of its operating characteristics is conducted based on effects of key parameters such as rider's mass, wind speed and slope. Operation of this bicycle is simulated based on dynamic equations with certain operating conditions. Matlab-simulink is used to solve these dynamic equations. Based on required power obtained from this simulation, a suitable power is selected for motor of the electric bicycle. In order to support the simulation study, an experimental study is conducted to examine operating characteristics of the electric bicycle in two cases: human power only and human power with assistance of an electric motor. Experimental data is acquired using LabVIEW programming. The experimental results are compared with simulation results to validate the presented simulations.