<$1k DIY Neighborhood Electric Motorcycle

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by Daox

Any idea on what kind of range you have?

I'm guesstimating I will only be getting 15 practical miles of range out of this set of batteries. Deep-cycle batteries in this size would probably get me an extra 50% increase in range.
Lithium would get me double or even triple, dependent on how much of an increase in pack size I went with.

A 1.2kw pack is pretty small.

I haven't even begun road testing beyond just riding around the parking lot below 25mph to make sure the chains aren't slipping.


Left To-Do
1. Fix front turn signals
2. Make chain drive cover
3. Make storage compartment for extension cord

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Daox

Looks amazing Captainslug. Very nice work!

Any idea on what kind of range you have?

Interested in what the final cost is?

Also, if you can find an old Eureka Vacuum, they have a recoil spool that winds the cord up into a small reel, and it's like a 30 foot cord, IIRC... maybe you could use something like that?

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by Christ

Interested in what the final cost is?

Also, if you can find an old Eureka Vacuum, they have a recoil spool that winds the cord up into a small reel, and it's like a 30 foot cord, IIRC... maybe you could use something like that?

$1,700 including the few things I broke and the fancy-pants parts I added to the build (like the 800 lumen LED headlight).

Interesting idea. But I'm just going to go with a short self-retracting coiled cord that extends from 1 foot to 5 feet. It will go in a storage compartment I will be adding soonish.

[Christ]

$1700 isn't bad.. What's the MPGe on it? (Obviously, you need time to evaluate this properly, but I'd like to see an educated guess now that you've finished it, and have ridden it around a bit... what do you "feel" it should be capable of?)

[captainslug]

Went for a test drive this afternoon. Top speed on level ground is 38MPH.
Not sure what the range is going to be.
I need to add a stronger spring to the drive chain tensioner before I ride it any further.

Originally Posted by Christ

What's the MPGe on it?

Presumably it's going to be somewhere between 200 and 400. It's too hard to guesstimate and could vary by up to 100MPGe depending on riding habits because of how difficult it is to measure accurately with such a small KWH figure.

[Christ]

If I ever make it down to VA or the surrounding area, I think I'd like to see it in action. Odds are that I won't any time soon, so it may not be possible, but still, I'd like to. on a great job and a more-than-reasonably built project!

[captainslug]

Upgraded to much heavier springs on the chain tensioners.


I'm going to install a temperature monitor on one of the motors before I do any further testing. Neither of them were getting anywhere near as hot as the previous motor, but I still want to be able to monitor them.

I'm also probably going to add a fan to the chain guard I will hopefully be making by this weekend.

[captainslug]

Bad News, and I need a break from this project.

The lower freewheel is destroyed.
I'm going to have to rethink the drive system a little bit. Probably by switching to having just one freewheel, and using static sprockets to link the two motors.

[solarguy]

It seems like every significant project has a few setbacks. Maybe I'm just a crummy designer, but I figure on at least three major revisions of any prototype.

The first version proves that the concept could conceivably work, but it reveals several unplanned difficulties that are deal breakers if not resolved.

The second version fixes most of the major difficulties, and could actually be useful with a few band aids and workarounds.

The third version usually works pretty close to what the original intent was.


Hey, you're dangerously close to the third revision...


HTH,

troy

[captainslug]

I've already figured out how to solve the problem. The bottom motor will be given the freewheel from the top motor.
The two motors will then be linked by 11-tooth #35 sprockets which I will have to drill and tap so that they screw onto the end of the drive shafts in place of the hex nuts.
Since the motors are rotating Counter-Clockwise and the thread is right handed they will automatically tighten the sprockets onto the shafts. But if they slip I'll just have to weld them in place.

All of the above will require a new motor mount plate, or a revision of the existing one. But it will involve fewer parts and will only cost me $40 to make the changes.