Let's make an #e-bike out of garbage. You will need.

* One dumpster bike (free)
* One cargo rack (free)
* One hub motor (dumpster dived, but about $200 new)
* One motor controller (about $20-$50 new)
* A battery (recycled, but about $100 new)

I'm going to rewire some used 12v lithium batteries to make a 36v battery with a smart battery management system (monitor charge from your phone).

I started by installing the front wheel, installing the cargo rack, mocking up where I'll mount the battery, controller and throttle.

Next I'll wire the key components, get the wheel turning, then look at which of the other wires need to be connected. (Some brake cutoffs, pedal sensor, maybe a key lock to see if a wild @alice appears).

This happens to be a folding bike, because that's what was at the front of the bike pile.

@Unixbigot you should use your awesome e-bike powers to develop a way to charge the batteries over USB-C! It would greatly increase the range of all existing e-bikes and make me personally very happy.
@danielquinn I could totally make you a usb-c bike charger out of parts i have on hand. It’s gonna take 8-10 hours to charge your bike tho. (The difficult we do immediately, violating the laws of physics takes a little longer).
@Unixbigot @danielquinn 8-10 hours... Bike home from work/university, plug into charger. Hang out at home doing usual stuff, sleep, wake up, do usual morning stuff...bike might be fully charged by then. Maybe.