Battery powered electric bicycles and scooters, replacing the heavily polluting scooters with 2-cycle internal combustion engines, provide zero-emission transportation for many parts of the world (mainly Asia). Over 500,000 battery powered electric bicycles were sold worldwide in 1999 alone. Worldwide cumulative sales of electric bicycles are estimated to reach 6,000,000 by the year 2003. However, these battery powered electric bicycles suffer from a long recharge time (3-8 hours) and a low range (~ 32 km average), which hinders even greater application of this clean transportation technology.

The Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell system provides an alternative power plant for the electric bicycle. A fuel cell electric bicycle or scooter can be refueled quickly and provide a range of over 100 km. To facilitate the development of new electric bicycles, a computerized electric bicycle testing facility has been created at UVic in this study. Electric bicycle standardized testing cycles have also been developed. In addition, a new Adaptable Electric Bicycle Power System (AEBPS) is designed and constructed. The AEBPS configuration is designed to transform any bicycle (including bicycles with both front and rear suspension) into an electric bicycle in under ten minutes. The AEBPS can also be removed from the bicycle in less than five minutes.

This thesis covers available electric bicycles, government imposed regulations, prototype fuel cell powered electric bicycles, electric bicycle modeling, the design and construction of the AEBPS, the developed electric bicycle testing methods, and the electric bicycle testing facility. Electric bicycle testing results using the developed testing facility and test methods are also presented.