Aero reverse trike project: Ninja 250 or Lifan 200 with electric assist/EV mode

[todayican]

Hi Guys, ive been lurking a while and have been a bit more active over at the EV forums.

Here is the plan:

I have built 5 reverse trikes so far, this will be a 6th. Ill likely use a ninja 250 motor or possibly a lifan 200cc as "gears 3 through 9"

Here is what I mean...

The trike will have a 12v winch motor (4.8 hp rated pushed to 24v and about 7 hp) serving as reverse and low gear for taking off, the electric motor will take the vehicle up to about 20 mph then "retract" from its own seperate drive chain (looking for input on a design for this)

After that, the gas engine would take over.

The trike will have about the same frontal area of a motorcycle 8.5 sq ft and hoping for about .16 or .17 cd so cruising hp should be between 5 and 6 by my math.

The idea is to gear the gas motor so its 5 or 6 gears (Kawi or Lifan) so its 1st gear is what its 3rd gear is (if that makes sense)

Any input or ideas would be most welcomed :-)
Tom

[MetroMPG]

Tom - sounds fun! Have you started the project yet? If so, you should definitely start a thread to document it here.

[todayican]

Just getting the first bars of steel cut :-) I also have a build log over at belaero.com

Heres a fun dilemma, any engineers in the house?

for this to work, the winch motor has to disengage from whatever sprocket or gear its on while driving the wheel at low speeds.

Anyone have any links to successful instances of this? say reverse on a motorcycle?

Heres one way I was thinking it may work:

Use a 1/2" wide flywheel ring gear, fab a center section for it and mount it outboard of the drive sprocket on the wheel.

Then mount a pinion gear on the winch motor and mount the motor on a "track" so it can be moved toward and away from the ring gear.
Think this would hold up?

[eco_generator]

Some sort of clutch would be best. When you downshift... is there going to be a switch on first gear that shuts the engine off?

[MetroMPG]

Split the discussion into its own thread, Tom. I think you'll get more interest/participation rather than buried in Bryan's thread.

[todayican]

Thanks Metro :-)

Eco-G Im thinking no clutch because the only times the e-motor will be used is 1st and reverse, first, it goes then removes itself from the drive line, reverse, same.

I can live without downshifting into first from a higher gear I beleive.

[MetroMPG]

You could use an electromagnetic clutch.

Too bad the motor has to run both directions - if you only needed one direction, you could use a sprag clutch.

[todayican]

This may well be in the forums in one place, but ill ask anyway.. :-)

On a motor like a ninja 250 or a lifan 200, what are the most popular engine mods (that don't necessarily take the power level down) freeflowing exhaust, and close attention to the carb jetting, any other fun tricks?

[Boreas]

I was thinking maybe an electric clutch from a car air conditioner. You could use a switch to control it. I think it would work in reverse but I'm not sure. Has anyone tried to run an AC clutch in reverse?

[bengry]

I think the electric reverse on motorcycles uses the starter motor. A solenoid that engages a toothed drive sprocket like a starter would be a good way to do it. Only issue is if you fall out of the "3rd gear" power band you would need to stop to be able to use the electric motor to get you going again.

or a simpler solution...
How about having the electric motor drive one of the front wheels and the gas motor drive the rear wheel.