SHTF Alternative Transportation

[TheWatchmanNews]

I thought id share this with you all in case you havent seen them. I have a bit of a unique and challenging situation to deal with if SHTF. Neither my girlfriend or myself drive. So having a vehicle in a SHTF event is not a likely situation. However on top of the minor issue i have another issue. Both of our health. I have a pretty nasty case of COPD so i cannot go very far very fast on foot. My girlfriend Jen has cerebral palsy and walks with forearm crutches. I had to come up with a form of transportation for everyday situations not to mention a SHTF event. Being the tinkerer that i am i was going to build her an electric bike. When i had the extra money to get the parts i went to go make up a parts list and found a better alternative. A DIY wheel kit. It was actually a bit cheaper than if i bought the parts separate and i would still have to fight with mounting everything and aligning everything. I found these kits on ebay for the front wheel so it was easy to install on my 2 wheel bike and her 3 wheel adult trike. She is running 4 20AH lead acid cells (48V) and i built myself a battery pack using 117 used laptop battery 18650 cells and a 13S BMS (battery management system) for like $16 on ebay. They have a range of near 30 miles on a charge and will go about 28 miles per hour. They are also very very quiet to run. They make a pretty good choice for transportation and you can get spare motor controllers pretty cheap in case you want to stow some away in a faraday enclosure. Here is a picture of our bikes.

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[apache235]

My wife and I have almost the same equipment, only our battery packs are not hand made and top speed is only about 20 MPH. That said, they are NOT our prime means of escape as we have between 120 and 150 miles to the BOL (depending on route) and neither one of us is in shape to peddle that far and at our age we likely wont be. BUT - the trike can carry a fairly large pack and as a backup I think they are a viable idea.

[TheWatchmanNews]

What is the wattage of your motor and controller? Ours are 1000W which is not technically legal in the US but they have 2 blue wires you can connect together to knock it down to the US legal limit of 750 watts. Im guessing you may have a 500 what 36V setup. Correct me if im wrong. Your bugout distance would be a huge issue. My bugout place is more than local (kind of an inside joke lol). We have extremely limited income so building up anything takes time however the plan is to get a 100 or 120 watt solar panel, charge controller, and maybe a couple more 20AH cells (we have 2 extra now due to me starting to buy the lead acid batteries for my bike which wound up with a Li-ion pack) and a 1000 watt inverter that i can plug the chargers into. I have a foldable 28W solar panel now but it would take forever to charge the batteries. I think they rated the solar panel at being 5 feet from the sun lol. It certainly struggles to get up to 28 watts. If we have the funds in time we plan to get a trailer to pull behind my bike. Since someone in our household cant stand to be apart from us lol.

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[BigDaveZJ]

I think bicycles will be a key mode of transport during a SHTF scenario, putting an electric motor on one like you've done definitely increases range and speed even for those in good shape.

Adorable pooch too, I've got one just like him/her. On a note unrelated to your original post, but related to the dog, where did you get the vest and how do you like it? We've been looking at vests for our 2 90lb labs so they can carry their own food, water, and other supplies.

[TheWatchmanNews]

We absolutely love her vest. It seems to be durable and so far we havent had any issues at all with it. You will want the XL size for sure. That is what Blue is wearing. Kind of big on her for the moment but shell grow into it. I do want to note the lights you see doesnt come with it. We bought some LED lights from the dollar store originally for marker lights on the bikes or any other use we made need them for in case of any event that we need low power consumption lighting. I just disabled one of the circuit boards and installed a wire between the two so they would flash in unison when on strobe mode. Ill give you the link for Ebay that we purchased it from. They have several colors to choose from.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tactical-Police-Dog-K9-Military-US-Vest-Service-Canine-Molle-Harness-XS-S-M-L-XL/182196409442

[BigDaveZJ]

Awesome, thanks for the link! Good idea on pairing the lights too.

[TheWatchmanNews]

You're welcome. They run on 3 button cell batteries so i also figured it would be best to just rely on one power source. Being that it is designed for 4.5 volts a single 18650 battery will power it for a long time after i run out of button cells.

[olfart]

You need to harness her up to one of the bikes and get more mileage out of your batteries.

[TheWatchmanNews]

Yea we have actually talked about her role in a SHTF situation. Its one of the reasons we have her. Shes one of a kind for sure. Fully house trained in 3 weeks and is the smartest dog ive ever seen.

[BigDaveZJ]

Labs are awesome dogs for sure. Our black lab Loki sounds similar to Blue. Labs are so eager to please their owner that training them is usually easier than other breeds. Our yellow lab Odin is mixed with what we think is Akita. Very smart, but not as easily trained nor as obedient because the Akita in him makes want to be a stubborn prick LOL.

But they can definitely play a role in a SHTF situation. With their sense of smell, hearing, and general alertness and protective nature they can alert their humans to a threat well before we know the threat is present. My only concern is stealth with them, as them barking can give away our location if we're trying to avoid contact.

[TheWatchmanNews]

Yea the barking could be a huge issue. Ive thought of that. I plan to "try" to teach her to be quiet. Funny what you say about your yellow lab. My last dog was a yellow lab and he was as stubborn as it gets. I think it took 8 months to house train him. He was full blooded though. We got him for a discount from a breeder that bred show dogs. He had a slight discoloration on one of his ears so the breeder sold him to us without papers for much cheaper than normal price. One thing i love about Blue is she is so super protective over us and thats important to me with my girlfriends disability its good to have the added security.

[WhiteBear620]

What about something like a motorized scooter?
Not the ones for handicapped people in Walmart and such, but the ones you drive on the road.
Granted, it's more cost than setting up a battery powered bike probably, but just a thought.

As a lame as I used to think they were, I've seriously thought about getting one to use for getting to and from work just to cut down on gas and such, but top speed isn't high enough for the roads I take and I worry about hitting something an opossum while riding one.

[TheWatchmanNews]

Thats pretty much what an electric bike is. The motor is built into the hub of the rim so you could actually use them on wheelchairs or any type of cart you designed without much fuss. The 1000W ones are capable of around 28 MPH which is plenty of speed.

On a side note ive thought about the recharging issue and what id like to do is get one of those 48CC (50CC) 4-stroke engines and put a 48V generator on it. That could be mounted on top of the battery box and used to able to drive on or charge while sitting. They have some for gas powered bike kits and some of them are really quiet running for a small motor like that.

[apache235]

Pricy, but you can travel for 300 miles or so without refueling (at a gas station)

https://motoped.com/shop/survival/

top speed for the 49cc is in the low 30's, better for the engine if you keep it around 25. The rack on the back is good for 30 lbs but I figure you could rig some sort of trailer for it. Not a lot of oomph for steep hills, the 125cc would be better AND it has a kick starter whereas the 49cc does not.

[0utlaw]

That's pretty cool, pricey but cool.