An e-bike that charges off USB-C | Hacker News Reader

An e-bike that charges off USB-C

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23 pointsthunderbong17 comments

Before USB, different devices have different cables and sockets. With USB-C, the sockets and cables now look all the same, but the functionality is all different!

"Will this port allow charging? Can I plug in my display and get an image on it in this port? Is this PD? Does the cable support PD?"

Yay for progress!

The answer to the "is it PD?" question is increasingly becoming "yes". I recently needed a Qualcomm Quick Charge USB-A charger, and finding one for sale took some effort because most chargers now use PD over USB-C, with their USB-A ports (if any) being plain 5 volts only.

and the vast majority of people have no idea what PD even is, or what to buy.

I'm sure many people will try to connect a monitor to this e-bike.

But what would you have rather seen? Different connectors for all the different combinations of use cases? USB-C ports on electrical tooth brushes supporting DisplayPort?

Complaining is easy, coming up with something better isn't.

I think it is progress that with a single small cable I plug my laptop in and get 65W of power, multiple monitors, wired networking, and multiple USB devices. Everything that previously required a beefy big proprietary docking station just gets delivered by a single small cable. I can use that with my work laptop, my personal laptop, my wife's work computer, my wife's tablet, my handheld gaming device.

I think it is progress that now practically all my portable electronics are charged with the same charging cable, I don't need to bring several different chargers to keep my laptop and my phone and my e-reader charged when travelling.

Some of you haven't blown out a mobo because PS/2 was a shit standard or were force to buy a new shaver because non of the 20 power bricks you kept for 10 years actually fit anything and it shows ;)

My almost 80yo mum doesn't have a clue about PD or DP or what is exactly usb-c, lightning and micro usb; but she can use it perfectly fine. She understands that 'some cables charge slower' and a dedicated power brick can deliver more power than her laptop usb port. I dunno, I think it is a net improvement

Except when you get that one device that can only charge via a USB-A to USB-C cable, and not via USB-C PD. Those throw all logic and simplicity out the window.

And crucially don't actually conform to the standard. I don't think you can hold manufacturers being especially cheap against USB-C. As I recall it's a the lack of a single resistor that causes the issue.

To add on to what others are saying:

USBC is a big upgrade for this device because you aren’t likely to carry your proprietary charger around with you. If your battery is running low you could use a laptop charger borrowed from a friend. That’s pretty huge.

Well, it's idiot proofing. Can't burn a laptop if the plug didn't go in. Or the jet fighter flashed red 3 times and refused to take fuel.

I actually had done it once. It was a 9V adapter into a 12V device. It worked for ~180 seconds, then LCD inverter melted dead from overcurrent.

One a bike I would prefer to see a rugged socket which would not break from a small amount of sand/dust - it's hard to keep a bike clean unless you ride only on dry and clean roads.

A Bosch 6A fast charger can do up to 6A * 36V = 216 Watts. So having an eBike that can take advantage of more than 140W delivered via USB PD would be nice. 240W?

Yeah, usb-pd Extended Power Range (EPR) would be neat. First thing I thought of, but more in a wishful thinking rather than genuinely hopeful way.

140W is already EPR; usb-pd classic only went up to 100W (20v × 5A), which I sort of expect is what we'll see. 100W really wouldn't be terrible; it wouldn't be fast but often that's not necessary.

One could easily sub in a 36V × 5A EPR solution, giving 180W.

EPR tops out at that 240W, which isn't bad (48V × 5A). It's be great to see.

I'd also love to see any sort of device dare to offer parallel charging; plug in two USB-C cables to charge twice as fast. Sounds silly, can be a little tricky, but I just want to see someone do it because why not.

> I'd also love to see any sort of device dare to offer parallel charging; plug in two USB-C cables to charge twice as fast. Sounds silly, can be a little tricky, but I just want to see someone do it because why not.

This already exists, I have a power bank (Anker C300X DC) that does this. It has two 140W USB-C inputs that can be used simultaneously for charging at 280W.

That's so cool!

Crazy how popular 28V (140W) has gotten. I assume it's because there's a lot of 30V mosfets & passives. Going to 50V or 60V is admittedly a pretty big leap.

For a long time I've planned on combining some lipos & a 24V inverter to make a power station capable of powering my projector. But with the crazy good sales for power stations, I'll probably buy something. Not quite enough juice in this power pack, but man it's so tempting for no particular reason to get, just for this one fast-charging gimmick.

Hopefully higher voltages start showing up on the scene some day! USB-C 2.1 with EPR outlined was released May 2021; I really wasn't expecting such a long delivery pipeline. Ditto for Auracast, although I appreciated that was more a software problem than hardware market fit problem. It'd be interesting to have a review of how much if at all the actual delivery of Auracast has changed since "release"; I don't know a lot, but I poke through and the Zephyr IoT implementation has been under active development for years now, and, like, not at a slow pace either; it's hard to tell how much effort was making a spec first then making it all work, adapting & layering in new specs as they go. What an interesting story that would be to tell.

Latest e-scooter batteries all do 72V. So it's a little more watts, way beyond USB-C. I'm favoring Chirigo bajonetts

Beyond 60V it gets dangerous... i'm ok with staying at 60V or below.

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