Electric Motorcycle conversion

[AnDoireman]

Just after reading through the whole thread, and I must give you kudos for the build, as well as the promotion of EVs and that sort of thing you've done with it.

A couple of questions. I'm thinking about a bike on a budget, and my idea is to basically get the cheapest rolling frame I can. The el ninja book, does it have specific dimensions and the like for you to follow, or are there recent rough guidelines? I don't mind doing a bit of cutting and welding if required, but wonder if it's worth my while to get this book if I don't end up with a ninja, or ninja-like frame. We don't have many motorbikes in Ireland anyway, so I sort of need to make the most of what I can get as well.

Thanks.

[bennelson]

"Secrets of El-Ninja" is a pretty good book overall.

If you are new to electric conversions, it's great to have just for all the reference information in it.

While that book uses a Kawasaki Ninja as the motorcycle to convert, almost all the information in there applies to all motorcycles.

[bennelson]

Since today had such nice weather, I went and picked up my EV Cycle from my storage unit.

I turned the key, and did just a real brief ride around the parking lot to make sure everything was still working. It rode fine, but the 12V system wasn't working - no lights or horn.

I usually "drive" the cycle up a ramp into the back of my S10 pickup. That is, I hold it steady and steer it while lightly pushing and turning the throttle very slightly, it climbs right up the ramp.

When I was doing this, the motor stopped working. !?!!?!?
Weird, but I got it up the ramp and lashed down. Once I got home, I put the multimeter on it.

2 of the 3 batteries were great, but the third was at 5.5V!!!!! Under load the total pack voltage must have dropped below the cut-off voltage for the controller!

Something must have had a small draw on that battery while it was in storage. The volt meter left on? Who knows? Next winter, I will have to COMPLETELY DISCONNECT the batteries for storage.

Needless to say the battery is on charge right now.

We still have a couple of snows left before spring, but maybe I can get a ride or two in before the next storm hits.

[bennelson]

I will be showing off my electric motorcycle tomorrow at Milwaukee Area Technical College's Green Vehicles Workshop.

Part of the event will be eco-friendly vehicles on display out in the courtyard. That student area is just off the busy streets of downtown Milwaukee, so it get's lots of visibility from the public.

I will also be on a panel talking about grass-roots clean transportation efforts.

On Saturday, I will show off both the motorcycle AND the Metro at Greener Oconomowoc's Earth Day at the Alternative Car Show.

[bennelson]

ROCK THE EARTH yesterday was lots of fun.

I showed off the car and the motorcycle. Plenty of interest there, and we had great weather.

Today, I took the motorcycle over to the Milwaukee Electric Car Club build day. Rich surprised me with some motorcycle parts: a front fairing, saddlebags, and rear rack.

With pretty minimal modification, we were able to fit the parts to my electric Kawasaki. The front fairing is pretty wide, but with a "shorty" windshield. It really changes the look and feel of the cycle.







The best part is the Skull LED stop and turn signals on the saddlebags!





Also, a guy with the same make, model, and motor as mine showed up with his electric motorcycle!
We didn't actually race them, but it was nice to see the similarities and differences between two VERY similar cycles.




More photos at:
http://gallery.me.com/benhdvideoguy#101320


The headlight will need repositioning still. Another possibility is to replace the headlight with one of these:

(only in green)
and then add two smaller headlamps on either side of it.

[Tango Charlie]

Cool!
So, how many pizzas can you carry NOW?

[bryn]

love it

[bennelson]

I still have to properly mount the headlight, but I DID now finally get an AMMETER!

It is a nice, second-hand 300 amp meter with matching 50mv shunt.

The cycle controller is an Alltrax 300 amp AXE, so it matches perfectly.

I zip-tied the ammeter to the handlebar and went for a quick ride to test things out.

Sure enough, the range does seem to be 0-300 amps depending on what I am doing.

Interestingly, the ammeter does NOT shoot straight to 300 when I twist the throttle hard from a dead stop. I think this is because I have the controller tuned for a softer throttle response, which makes it much smoother to pull away from stops.

The meter does hit 300, but takes a few seconds to do it to get up to speed. Once going full speed, throttling up and down quickly does sweep the meter full scale.

Cruising takes about 75 amps on the flat (was actually just slightly up-hill) at 40 mph.

[bennelson]

I just did an amperage test for one of the guys here on Ecomodder.
Right now, it took right around 100 amps to cruise at top speed.

I just read the above post, where I said it took 75 amps!

Keep in mind that right now, the cycle wasn't fresh off a charge, I haven't checked my tire pressure, and it was cold enough to snow this morning.

I think the main difference was the temperature. Cold just makes things harder to run!

[MadisonMPG]

I am sure this has been asked before, but what is your top speed?