I'm working for Jimmy Johns! (delivery)

hillzofvalp

hillzofvalp

100 kW
Joined
Dec 25, 2010
Messages
1,887
Location
Somewhere over the rainbow, Canada
So this came up quick. I've dreamed of this job for a while.. and I start on monday. I always thought it would be a perfect exploitation of the bicycle (and a great tip getter). I'm sort of nervous because I haven't done delivery before and I haven't been put in a position where the bike has to be perfectly reliable or I'll get tanked. Current plan:

1) Use current setup with 700Wh of A123. (normally 11 miles horsing around at 5.5kW)
2) When dead, use backpack pack of 750Wh Sanyos.
3) Set CA to 25mph max
4) Limit to 1500W or so
5) limit phase amps to 100 or so
6) Switch to smaller wheel eventually (29" for now).
7) Rebuild bike, replace pads, set up rear hydraulic brakes, make chain alignment goood enough to use 63T chainring practically.
8) add rear storage option on to peak 15lb rated rack (how many drinks will I be carrying?)

Hopefully I will get 15 miles out of each pack. Need good cheap winter gear... especially gloves. Was looking at motorcycle gloves.

I hope this works out.. I will have a car and another regular bike as backup.

None of the other 7-15 delivery guys who ride fixies and such are electric. Here comes a guy with a freakin' overkill electric bike.. they've probably already seen me and wondered... Should be interesting.
 
hillzofvalp said:
None of the other 7-15 delivery guys who ride fixies and such are not electric.
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Does that mean they they are all electric, then? ;)

FWIW, Jimmy Johns here in Phoenix doesn't make very good sandwiches. :( One of our dog food reps had them deliver for a training session, and everything had a consistency like it had been sitting around a day or two. Very little meat or veggies on any of them either. Bread was very bland/bleh, too. Better than nothing, but I could definitely make better ones myself, even picking all the ingredients from the clearance sections of the grocery stores. I've heard similar things from other people.

The cookies are ok, and the chips are pretty good, but the sandwiches definitely need serious improvement.

I hope the ones where you are are better. :)
 
good for you! show them how its done. I would suggest adding around 2kw of meanwell chargers in there. u will need them.

I think its a great delivery vehicle, i once considered starting a delivery business delivering drugs (pharmacy) :mrgreen: did you know thats how walgreens(or was it walmart) started? delivering perscription drugs to old people, it was the service of it that made it famous.
 
Oh, and I meant to also post that if you can add side-mounted boxes on the rear of the bike, like I have on CrazyBike2, it will greatly improve how you can carry cargo. If the top of the boxes come up to the rack over the wheel, you can put that big catering platter they use on there, too, and strap it down level/flat. Then stuff the drink carriers and other stuff down in the side boxes.

You can hinge the box sides so they open up even with something on top of them, too, if you need to take those items out first, before the big platters and stuff. (I didn't do this on mine becuase of the way I must carry loads, but there've been a number of times I wished I had).

The boxes will also let you have rainproof cargo area for things that can't be gotten wet, and they can also be insulated (as mine are) to keep cold things cold and hot things hot. (I sometimes use one box for hot things and one for cold, when moving certain kinds of foodstuffs from place to place, like for our workplace thanksgiving potluck).
 
Sounds like you might have the whole crew drooling for an ebike very quickly.

But you have a lot of money in your bike eh? Make sure your cost per mile/ money you get back ratio is ok before you wear out everything. Might be worth it to ride at 1000w at work, greatly extending the ranges you get rather than doubling your cycles to get some guy his turkey sandwich 60 seconds faster.
 
Sorry for the typo. None of of them have ebikes obviously.

There is not a good place to charge outdoors really. Shop is high volume but very small so indoors is not an option especially for a new employee. I was planning. On compartmentalizing my batteries so I can charge one in the car off two lead acids in series. That should be enough for one charge.


Currently I do not have the time to dismantle my sealed triangle enclosure or make any major change (I will have to haul dead batteries for now). Eventually the cromotor will be laced to 3.5"x17" rim for motorcycle. I reall just want that project to be my vehicle. That will be a great first week with that bike if I dont have any problems. Estimated 50 mile city range. Charging stations all over campus

I'm going to wait to see what the other guys use to carry stuff and how big it needs to be. I already made something for my topeak at also matches the bike (aesthetics are important to me) but jt can probably only hold 6-8 sandwiches. Might make another. Also could make them compatible with drinks

A dedicated conventional rack would be easier for me in respect to actually swinging leg around and mounting the seat. Topeak seat post rack is a little high, and this I'd a big bike to start
 
So, more money for the bike, or less debt from the bike? Its a blur, eh?

The professor I did reseach with loved to have JJ delivered on the day we did surgery on our research rats. Catheratization of the abdominal aorta and the italian sub. I think she wanted a gut check...haha...no, jimmy johns would deliver right to the lab, so they got the win.

Carrying drinks, eh? Good luck with that. I think you may need the assistance of H.C. Mayer and R. Krechetnikov for their ig nobel worthy research into coffee spillage:http://prl.aps.org/edannounce/2012-ig-nobel-awards

I have thought gyro,but I am guessing a few dedicated thermoses with pourage on site. Interested to see your solution. If you solve this historical problem...great respect! A place in history!

Have fun!
 
Congrats on the job. I guess panniers will come in handy. I would keep a spare bike just in case too. This sounds expensive but it might save you some trouble if yours breaks down. Also have a controller that works in both sensored and sensored configurations. This way if you experience a hall failure you can keep going on just the sensorless mode.

A123 will let you charge FAST which is to your advantage now.
 
hillzofvalp said:
There is not a good place to charge outdoors really. Shop is high volume but very small so indoors is not an option especially for a new employee. I was planning. On compartmentalizing my batteries so I can charge one in the car off two lead acids in series. That should be enough for one charge.
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Car starting Lead acid batteries getting deep cycled last 10-20cycles before junk. I also don't think you would find they store enough energy to charge your 700Wh pack. Scratch that concept, or any concepts that just put more wear/tear/waste on batteries.

If they have no good place to charge outside, sounds like a perfect opportunity to make a place. Tell the owner you want to have a public electric bicycle charge station installed outside. A bike rack with maybe 4 waterproof outlet boxes on it, I would likely cost less than a grand to have all installed. Then he can gain customers from a new demographic, ebikers who like crappy sandwiches. :)
 
Maybe approach another merchant with higher value product, now that you can demonstrate viability. A merchant trying to attract the elite-greenies.

Espresso, cappuccino & scones delivered greenie-style. High value, low volume, better tippers.
 
That's awesome! I love Jimmy John's; I live about three blocks from one of their stores and I go there far too often. I agree that you'll need a very reliable bike. I think it will be a very fun job, hopefully you don't have too much downtime due to charging.
 
An electric bike for working at Jimmy Johns is an awesome idea! Just make sure you have the battery capacity to last all shift. I would do something like 36v 40ah setup. Speed is not really that important compared to distance.
 
Are you close enough to campus? Because your greeny elites are the professors. If you can train them, (you know...get em hooked like you have a gold tooth), you will be golden. You may even check with your boss, and with the profs if picking up some coffee on the way to get em really hooked would be acceptable. You become the guy who gets the goods to the labs, you win all the way around.
 
Sancho's Horse said:
Are you close enough to campus? Because your greeny elites are the professors. If you can train them, (you know...get em hooked like you have a gold tooth), you will be golden. You may even check with your boss, and with the profs if picking up some coffee on the way to get em really hooked would be acceptable. You become the guy who gets the goods to the labs, you win all the way around.
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That's a great idea! Sprinkle a little crystal meth in every delivery, so that your coffee is the only coffee that they want. They'll have an incredible craving for it every few hours or so. The police would never suspect a guy on an electric bike to be carrying hard drugs.
 
How about one of those light weight,well built, bicycle trailers that people put their young ones in ? It could be a platform for a good cargo conversion. They come up cheap on CL. And GPS is a must.
 
This totally depends on the area you are covering. Here in. Austin JJs does a lot of bike delivery around downtown. No one uses an electric bike. An ebike doesn't have much of an advantage Downtown. Its more about who's willing to break the most traffic laws - they are the fastest. Further out of dt, they all use cars. That's where the ebike could make sense, but only if there is still some slow roads/lights that you can get around.

I thought about it myself. I'd need to get more battery though. Maybe leave a charger at the shop to get a few minutes charge between deliveries.
 
Alan B said:
Have two quick swappable battery packs and swap them often into a charging station setup in a safe way at work. The charging station should be safety designed to monitor cell voltages and shutdown if anything gets out of tolerance. Use 12-14S and a high power balance charger.
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I would recommend a123 packs built with bms and all. Plug n play. Wouldn't use lipo for such a job. You're going to want high cycle life too. you could be doing 2-3 cycles each day on the batteries. but yeah, good idea to have one pack charging while using the other.
 
I agree with suggestions. I use A123 solely. I would charge 10-14S with hyperions. For now though I need to come up with a way to swap the packs easily before I tear apart my bike. Tuesday I have my first 3 hour shift. Weekend I have a 5-10pm shift though. Probably will use car after it gets dark.

I'm not particularly worried about rain.. It is infrequent and my bike tolerates it pretty well. Eventually I'll have my motorcycle going (see updated thread with pics) and will use it for all off campus deliveries. Can't wait. It is going to be sick.
 
I thought about doing the exact same thing. Keep us updated how this thing turns out
 
Hope all turns out well!
A three hour shift isn't too bad to experiment with. See what is good and what isn't and then build on your mistakes for the 5-10 shift.
 
aroundqube said:
How about one of those light weight,well built, bicycle trailers that people put their young ones in ? It could be a platform for a good cargo conversion. They come up cheap on CL. And GPS is a must.
Click to expand...

I like both of these ideas. I will carry an iPhone and use it primarily. But it runs out of power really fast. Someone point me to the thread on powering iphone from 5V regulator.. I'm pretty sure there is a trick to it and not just plug and play power. EDIT: found my 12-24V car adapter

I also have a garmin turn by turn available to me, but it is suited towards cars and won't be useful for every scenario. iPhone makes sense because it has bike directions I believe
 
Those kid trailers are anchors. Seriously, you don't want to be pulling one unless you are hauling some big stuff. Especially for lots of stop n go.
 
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