electric vehicle (bike/motorcycle) on the cheap?

[skewbe]

Originally Posted by JanGeo

I have a 1hp electric motor all set to drive my front crank with a one way sprocket - just need to make the motor bracket and get the darn left crank off to mount the gear and fix the front wheel spokes. Then I get all 21 gears available on my mtb with a brushless motor drive and LiIon battery pack made from laptop cells to run it all of which I have already plus full suspension.

more specs please, what voltage and amp hour, how many cells, how you controlling it, how far and fast do you predict?

[JanGeo]

The motor is a PowerPack motor kit with controller programmable for several voltages - actually it just works over a wide voltage range. No regen of course but a bike doesn't really need it. It is rated for 35-40 amps and 42 volts I think. It has a plantary gear reduction on the motor. The LiIon cells I have are 2ah 5amps output max and I have about 70 of them so a 10x7 pack will give me 35 amps and 42 volts max but I will probably run them at a lower voltage and more amps. What is nice is the battery should weigh about 10 lbs - not bad for a 36 volt nominal 14ah pack about 1/3 that of lead.

[skewbe]

cool, just curious, in staying with the "cheap" theme of this thread, how much for 70 laptop batteries? And how do you charge them?

Originally Posted by JanGeo

The motor is a PowerPack motor kit with controller programmable for several voltages - actually it just works over a wide voltage range. No regen of course but a bike doesn't really need it. It is rated for 35-40 amps and 42 volts I think. It has a plantary gear reduction on the motor. The LiIon cells I have are 2ah 5amps output max and I have about 70 of them so a 10x7 pack will give me 35 amps and 42 volts max but I will probably run them at a lower voltage and more amps. What is nice is the battery should weigh about 10 lbs - not bad for a 36 volt nominal 14ah pack about 1/3 that of lead.

[jackmty999]

the only problem of electric motorcycle is the battery, i have bought one china scooter but now the battery is dead i dont know where to buy it china battery with higher amperes.

[JanGeo]

Lightweigh cost money - with 50+ quantity pricing on the Lithium cells 2ah each go for about $3.80 each, I forget what the shipping was.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

one electric vehicle web site I saw pointed out "an electric vehicle is only as good as it's battery" this is why my electric bike is still waiting for a better battery.

[JanGeo]

Good news is that it should be good for about 1000 cycles and they don't run down by themselves much so you don't have to keep pumping power into them to keep them up. Bad news is that they age even if you do not use them so . . . buy them at the last minute!