Newest gassaver!

[benfrogg]

So, my wonderful girlfriend brought home a movie for us to watch from the library. It was entitled, "Who Killed The Electric Car." It was right up my alley, of course. On a whim of inspiration, I decided to tackle my 2 cycle scooter/ electric wheelchair project. After realizing that the project scooter was not suited for this (the engine/transmission where the "frame" of the bike ), I checked the local craigslist for electric scooters.
Boy did I find something better!



36v wet cell Electric Harley!
Estimated current range: 30miles
Top speed on flat ground: 41mph

I sold the suzuki bandit I had to pay for it. I also sold the 2 cycle scooter to pay the insurance/reg. Best decision I've made in a long time! No more 2 cycle pollution from me!

No more gas buying either around town. I'm going to build some kind of fairing that will dramatically improve aero and keep me warm when I drive it in the winter. This means almost zero miles in town on my VX! (50mpg or so in town, much better highway).

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[GasSavers_Erik]

Nice find.

Too bad you can't post a "charge log" instead of a gas log- but it would be tough to calculate miles per kilowatt unless you put an electricity meter on your charger.

So what are the controls like?
Is the twist throttle just hooked up to the variable speed motor control? (like a blender) if so, does it regenerate power as the motor acts as a brake when you slow to a stop?
Or do you have a cut out switch that allows you to coast (motor freewheels)?

[theholycow]

It might be possible to figure out usage. Some chargers show amp draw; you can estimate an average. Else you could use an ammeter, either an in-line one (they're clearanced for $4 at Harbor Freight right now) or an inductive one (should be under $20 at HF).

[Jay2TheRescue]

That's cool. Good find. How much did this "unique" Sporty run you?

[JanGeo]

Gets yourself a kill-a-watt meter and record miles/kwh and it should come out about the same number range as mpg. I get about 60 miles/kwh on lithium power on my scooter, you maybe looking at somewhere in the 30-40 mpkwh.

[benfrogg]

Erik-
No regen braking yet. Not sure how to work that one but I'd like to do it.
Throttle is the same as a regular bike. No clutch/gears though. Balance is pretty good. I'm strongly considering adding three more wet cell deep cycles that I have around the garage.
HC-
I might borrow one of those meters from the library. They are free to take out and accurate. I could measure appliances while I'm at it. For now, I'm just going to put some EV miles on and see how things go.
Jay-
$500 cash. There's $2500 in parts sitting there. I've got all the receipts and a "manual" from the company that aided with the kit. Not bad as far as I'm concerned!

So, just got it road legal today. I didn't bother to tell the registry that it's EV. No sense that I can see, there are no laws regarding EV's in Maine that I'm aware of. I guess if I get pulled over I'll ask the cop.
I took a 15 mile run today. Top speed is 41 on a flat at full charge. This thing had been sitting 3 seasons not having it's batteries topped off so I'm thinking my range will increase as the batteries get some more cycles on them. Two out of three have good volts for a long time. The other battery dipped below 10 volts by the time I was at home. Here's hoping a little regular charging will bring it back to life. I'm equilibrating them with a 12v charger when one is lower than the rest.
I could have gone probably 20 miles if I really needed to. That would have been about it though for now. A fairing/coroplast is in my near future for sure! This thing rolls half as far as the VX on the same routes.

Oh, the charger uses max 910watts at 120volts AC. So, if my math is right, 7.6 amps. It's been charging almost two hours and is nearly charged. So, how many kilowats is that?
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[theholycow]

910 watts is ~10% short of a kilowatt. Two hours at 910w is 1.82 kilowatt-hours.

[GasSavers_Erik]

It seems like the charging rate (and power draw) would decrease as the batteries got closer to a full charge so I wouldn't be surprised if it really took less than 1 kw to charge them up. Your library power meter will tell for sure.

[MarkM68]

Originally Posted by benfrogg

I might borrow one of those meters from the library. They are free to take out and accurate. I could measure appliances while I'm at it. For now, I'm just going to put some EV miles on and see how things go.

And I thought libraries just had books.

[benfrogg]

Libraries have to have more than books these days because most young people don't read books!
Well, unless they are on the kindle or ipad that is.
So, I figured out how much a kilowatt costs here in Maine. I divided my bill by the kilowatts used (since you pay for the service and the supply differently here and taxes). It comes to about 14.8c a kilowatt. So, if it takes less than two kilowatts to charge, that should be 32cents to charge each time? Let's say it takes 3-4 hours from full dead. That would be more like 64 cents a charge.
I was able to get 22 miles (although the last few were TIRED) on a charge with the headlight on last night. So, say 20 miles on 64 cents.... The price of gas here is just over 4$ a gallon, so that puts me at about 133.3 mpg? I think. Need to get to that library now!
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