In the last few weeks, I have been building an electric bike, to use for commuting to work. What this means is less reliance on a car and should also mean lower running costs for the car.

I've used the bike for getting to work over the last three days. While it does take longer, it shouldn't add much of a burden once I get more of a routine set up for it. Currently I am allowing an hour and a half before work, as opposed to one hour with the car. I think that I will be able to get it to an hour with the bike, once I am more comfortable with it.

I have a 48v 10a battery, which I am charging at each end of the trip. I should have got a 15a battery, which would reasonably comfortably, have made the return trip, on a single charge. And would require less pedalling too. The one penalty of the bigger battery would have been an extra three kilo's and a slightly higher cost, but ultimately would have been worth it. Never the less, what I have now is still plenty satisfactory.

This is the bike that I started with. It is a Giant Boulder with disk brakes.

This is it, when converted to a commuting

For riding when it is dark I have a 2,000 lumen LED headlight and a 85 lumen LED tail-light which easily does a return trip, on a single charge.

These lights make me very visible at night and allow me to see where I am going.