EV Warrior

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Here a classic ebike (electric assist) from the 1990's, the EV Warrior. It was designed and manufactured by a group of JPL engineers, collectively part of the "Electric Bicycle Company", in Burbank, California.

What is puzzling to me is why they were trying to market these electric bicycles through car dealerships. It seems that they would have been more successful by marketing them through motorcycle dealerships. It had all the typical street legal motorcycle features, such as full head and tail lights, brake lights, turn signals(LEDs embedded in each side view mirror, see picture on right, below), a full loud horn. It even had a place in the rear to mount a motorcycle licence plate with a licence plate light. It had left and right rear view mirrors, and a front disk brake.

If you have an owner's manual, wiring diagram, videos, or other info on this bike, let me know. I would like to put together a wiki page documenting this piece of classic ebike history from the 1990's. Thanks

Here is a quote:

EV Warrior Called the «EV Warrior», the electric bicycle uses a 12V electric motor powered by a lead acid battery. Speed control is via a thumb throttle switch on the handlebars. According to the Electric Bicycle Co, the new machine will go 30 miles between battery charges. The bikes will marketed in Portland and San Diego, the two test markets, soon, with price tags of $900 to $1,500. The electric bicycles will be sold through car dealerships.

Future models from the Electric Bicycle Company will have higher-powered batteries and composite frame construction, according to the company. Interest in electric vehicles is fuelled by California legislation that mandates 2% of vehicles sold in 1998 must be electric. The automotive industry is fighting the requirement, on the grounds that electric vehicles are incapable of replacing internal combustion engined cars. The automakers claim that battery storage is inadequate for the demands of commuters, charging technology is insufficiently advanced to maintain reliability, and the cost of producing electric cars will be uneconomic. The EV warrior is not expected to replace cars as a form of transportation in Los Angeles, but Currie and Bricklin are optimistic that the bicycle will be a way to introduce Americans to the concept of electric propulsion.

Here is some info on modification people have done using the EV Warrior bicycle as a base or by taking the power drive off the EV Warrior and applying it to other bikes. See the "Lil Warrior", the "EV Warrior III", Jim's custom ebike , "HeEV!" to the right.