When I was a kid I always thought it would be so cool if we pedalled the cycle and it would charge. Later on, I got to know it was possible and the product was already available in the market. And I guess everybody would have thought about and why somebody would not love to charge their cycle while riding. It’s a beautiful idea but the reality is a little bit different.

For me, it’s an interesting topic to cover and while I was researching I found multiple search terms like “Can I charge my ebike while riding” and “Is it possible to charge a cycle with braking”, etc.

Now, let’s dive into the article and see if it’s possible or not and if yes, then how?

Do Electric Bikes Charge While Pedalling?

Yes, you can charge an ebike by pedalling but in real-life scenarios it would be difficult for the riders to ride a bike hence it is not possible. Why? Let’s find out the answer.

It will take an entire day to charge your bike by pedalling because you’re creating mechanical energy from your leg into electrical energy and then into chemical energy in the battery pack and it has to come back out again. So, humanly it’s next to impossible and it’s not efficient to do it that way.

7 years ago, RadPower made a commuter e-bike that charges a battery while pedalling and gives 12% back with regen. This system is made with complex equations and every ebike company can’t add this feature effectively that’s why charging an e-bike through a regular electrical outlet is more efficient than pedalling.

Does Braking Charge my Ebike?

Yes, braking does charge e-bikes when it engage with the regenerative braking system. It is only possible when you have a direct drive hub motor, not possible on a geared hub motor.

How Regenerative Braking System Works?

This technology has been taken from electric cars and now it has been added to ebikes also. The working mechanics behind this setup is It allows the bike to convert some of the kinetic energy generated during braking back into electrical energy, which is then stored in the battery.

Regenerative braking doesn’t create a lot of wattage. The perfect scenario for regen braking is coming down from the hill as it creates a lot of heat (kinetic energy) and converts it into electrical energy. In this situation, the regen brake system creates a little bit more wattage as you are not using the throttle as well.

FAQs

Q1. Do Electric Bikes Charge When You Pedal or Brake?

Ans. Yes, electric bikes do charge while braking using a regenerative braking system and it is not possible without a direct hub motor. And with pedalling, you cannot charge your e-bikes.

Q2. Do e-bikes ever charge while riding?

Ans. Yes, with the help of a regenerative braking system, ebike do get charged while riding.

Q3. Do electric bikes charge when going downhill?

Ans. First of all, while going downhill acceleration would not be needed so it will save your battery and secondly, when you go downhill there is a lot of kinetic energy that is converted into potential energy in the battery that will charge your battery a little bit but not much as compared to cars.

Q4. Why don’t more electric bikes have regen brakes?

Ans. Adding a regen braking setup will make the bike heavy plus it doesn’t offer a free-wheel mechanism relatively compared to other ebike motors. Realistically speaking you will hardly get 5% of charging back and an expensive motor, which additional cost in operations, to stay away from all this hassle company doesn’t make electric bikes with regen. You will see selective e-bikes that are only for testing purposes.

Conclusion

Ebikes with regenerative braking are possible but Regenerative pedalling seems to be true only in prototypes, as technology gets better you might see these things in the future but not now plus currently, it’s not feasible for the brand also to put any of these systems. Why? Let me give you pointers.

• Firstly, it’s going to be expensive and the customer will have to pay a premium.
• The secondary reason is pedalling is going to be difficult with pedal regen and the rider will exhaust quickly.
• Third, it’s not optimal in real life that’s why no ebike brand is making or promoting it.

If you see any ebike in the market that comes regen, I would recommend you to leave that ebike and go with a standard ebike. As the ebike’s main purpose it communicate short distances in less time and I don’t think so regen braking system ebikes are available in every popular brand.

I hope everything is clear now. If you have any other query related to electric vehicles you can mail me at [email protected] without any hesitation if I can make a blog post I will publish it and notify you if not then I will reply to your query in the mail.