Hi everyone!
Long time listener, second time poster; I'm what I'd describe as a high country bike-hiker. I ride to a lot of trail heads and then go walking. I'm a larger guy, and with my camping gear anything about a gentle grade of ascent turns my ride into a slog. I've recently built myself a folding Ebike with the intention of taking it on Vline coaches all over Vic to get to the places I couldn't in the past, either due to fitness or Vline policy on carrying non-folding bikes.
But the more I look at my wishlist of destinations, the more I find places in Eastern Vic that are beyond the reasonable range of ebike batteries; in places that do not have power plugs.
Generally over the course of a day cycling with an ebike actual watt usage on the battery is pretty low, and tiny model aircraft engines can produce similar amounts of power to that average. I have one now that I bought on Ebay that I can clasp in the palm of my hand, which I plan to turn into a micro-generator to charge my ebike on long distance journeys. The energy density of liquid fuels is far higher than current battery technology, and this would be an optional extra only used where needed for the long range jaunts. Rather than making ebikes more polluting; I think I would be enabling people to not drive their far less efficient cars to recreational places, where they will rut the roads, and leave microplastics behind from their tires.
What I wondered was; how many gear head bikepackers and other people like us have put off using an Ebike to get over those monster hills in our way, because of the same reasons that led me to try to solve this problem?