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Old 06-21-2021, 10:12 AM   #54 (permalink)
Stubby79
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Victoria, BC
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Firefly EV - '98 Pontiac Firefly EV
90 day: 107.65 mpg (US)

Little Boy Blue - '05 Toyota Echo
90 day: 33.35 mpg (US)

BlueZ - '19 Nissan 370Z Sport
90 day: 17.19 mpg (US)
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I got ambitious and annoyed with my lack of progress with the e-motorcycle/bike, so I stuffed the motor in to an old, cheap ebike frame that happened to have an almost wide enough drop-out to hold it.



Was supposed to be quick and dirty, so I could just try it out. A day project. Ha!

One morning to get the bike together with the motor, swapped out front fors for disc brake ones, and wider tire mounted.

Another full morning to build a battery from my Ego packs:



Wasn't satisfied with how un-secure the battery would be just strapped in, so another full morning and most of the next building a box for it:



Then it was time to wire it up. Hid the "1500w" controller in the old battery box with all the wiring:



Managed a 5 minute ride, at which point I was already cutting in to my sleep.

Had a nice top speed:



And very useless brakes! Talk about death trap!

Fixed up the brakes the next morning. They're adequate now.

It's oodles of fun! I can accelerate up the steepest hills, and if you aren't careful with the throttle on take off, it will lift the front wheel. Oops!

I took it for a real ride yesterday. Conservative on the way out - 17.5km, and very spirited on the way home, and the battery or controller cut out one block from home when I tried to accelerate. 52V, 15ah...~22 watt-hours per KM. Very similar to my 500w electric scooters. Would assume more like 30wh/km all spirited riding. Meaning my battery is a bit too small for my needs. Better add more batteries!

@52v I'm running the motor at 1/3rd rated continuous power, a bit over half the torque it would have with my 3000w controller...I don't think I want to find out what it's like on takeoff with nearly double the amps!

I highly recommend buying an over-sized motor and running it at a lower power, vs having a matched motor and controller of half the size...the torque is stupid fun!
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