I had a great fascination with electricity from and early childhood age, even before the new 9v transistor battery had powered my "miniature" 6-transistor radio taped to the handlebars of my bicycle. By the time I had begun my senior year of high-school in the late 60's, I had built my own transistorized radio transmitter/receiver, powerful tube-type amplifiers, and more. With great interest in perpetual theory, I had also developed and built a highly efficient, regenerative brushless motor of unique mechanical design,.... not quite perpetual, but damned efficient!!! There was little or no available resources to draw upon at the time. Slide-rules and log tables were the tools of such trade then.
I watched with amazement and great interest, as alternators replaced automotive generators, semi-conductors replaced tubes, color TV's became more and more common, the Radar-Range, computers, batteries of all kinds, "Bulletin board" services evolved into a "network", the "party-line" became private, bag-phones and pagers became todays cell phone/pocket computer, and jus so much more as to be nearly overwhelming in quenching my thirst for even more! Heck, it took nearly 50yrs for the sealed-beam headlight to finally evolve from a stage that rapidly advanced it to todays unique auto lighting systems.
Many job and work opportunities also advanced my skills and knowledge in various fields of mechanics, electronics and electricity, including an opportunity over 25yrs ago, to assist in the introduction of the first prototype fleet of 48V regenerative golf cars utilizing newly introduced 8V deep-cycle batteries, and which I had serviced, repaired and maintained before they were eventually brought to the consumers market and made widely available. And even more, independently, as I learned all that was necessary to service and maintain my god-daughters hybrid compact jus keep it affordable and economical for her, and to feed my banks of desired knowledge.
And surprisingly,.... NONE of this truly influenced my choice of bicycle technology that I use today. And neither did the emotional issues of "energy" or environment, or even economic matters. To be honest, after much consideration of MY personal needs and desires, the 1500w 52V e-bike build jus BARELY edged out an efficient tiny 2-stroke engine, that would likely have been "boosted" with a nitrous system, for a bit of excitement and occasional fun.