ev buying advice please
 

So, in short, I want to find a street legal, vespa style scooter that is electric only. I have found a few that are around $1000 but none seem to be able to go over 30mph which, in my state at least, classifies them as bicycles I believe so, at most, I would be able to take them on 35mph roads and that's about it. That would be fine if I didn't live on a road that was a 55mph limit, literally, I live right off it. The thought of riding at 30mph in a 55 zone scares the living crap out of me so I was looking at other things and I found one that claims it can do 62mph, which is kind of along the lines of what I want, even 45mph would be fine really. The only hitch is that the extra 32mph will cost me nearly $5000 extra.

Does anyone know of an electric scooter that is street legal and can manage a speed of at least 45mph for around $1000? If you do, please let me know I would love to get one this summer since I'll have a good bit of extra cash lying around to do some gas saver work like this.

When I was looking for them ... this was what I found ... They have diffferent versions based on battery types this one is $2700.00

www.fun-ev.com

3000 Watt Electric Scooter, lead acid battery
Max speed: 50 mph
Max range: 25 miles at 45 mph, 20 miles at 50 mph. Battery lasts longer when not completely discharged.
Batteries: 40ah, 5 batteries.
Battery specification available at: http://www.bb-battery.com/productpages/EB/EB50-12.pdf
Brakes: Front and rear disc
Weight: 400 lbs (approximately)
LxWxH: 6.6'x1.64'x3.9'

Warranty: 6 months for defective parts.
Allow 2 weeks for shipping. Payment terms are up front.
This product has not been well tested and may not be safe. Use at your own risk.
Satisfaction guarantee: If you are not satisfied with in the first two weeks of receiving the scooter, we can arrange for terms for a refund. For example you can sell the bike and get a refund on the difference.

well, legally it won't be a scooter anymore (in most states) if it goes over 30 miles an hour (35 for some states). If it does, you'll need a motorcycle endorsement, the classes and you'll have to register it, title it, insure it and pay any taxes/fees associated with a vehicle.

but, some scooters can go over 30 miles an hour, they just don't advertise that. Look around on the forums, particularly visforvoltage.org and endless-sphere.com

keeping it under 1000 is going to be hard to do, especially with 45 miles an hour and having to live up to those standards of a motorcycle.

My dinky little stealth is about as powerful as you can get before you get into the moped world. And it doesent have near the power as a high end moped.

Basically, either modify and or build your own scooter to get what you desire, or throw in the cash. I've got around 600$ invested into my stealth, and just crossed 100 miles on the odometer. Actual use is around double that, since I didnt have the odometer for some time. Its good for cruising in town, but avoid main streets. I keep it on 25 mph roads and back roads only. No 55 mph zones.

A 72 volt motorcycle conversion would meet your specs no problem.

I didn't see how far you wanted to go at that speed. If it's not real far, 6 smaller 12 volt batteries would make a 72v pack and would fit in a smaller sized vehicle.

I went out for a ride the other day on a gas scooter, similar to a Honda Spree.
Steering and going over bumps was terrible! If you are trying to go 55, make sure to have some good large wheels & tires and good suspension!

The 55mph zone is at most going to be less then a 2 miles stretch. It's just a connecting section that crosses over I-75. I would avoid it if I could, but unfortunately it's the only and shortest route over I-75. The most I would be riding the scooter would be to my parents house which is a little over 11 miles from where I live. Other then that, the grocery store is right down the street in a 45mph zone and so is just about everything else. I could technically get to my parents in all 45mph zones but it's a bit more round-about to get there and will probably add about 3 extra miles. The only place I really HAVE to go and can't avoid the 55mph zone is to work...unless I can find some other shortcut that I don't already know about.

After I made that post I found a few other bikes that I would consider. They are gas powered mopeds, in the 50-150cc range. I know that whatever I get, if it's road legal, will be considered a motorcycle so I'm not concerned about all the stuff that goes with it. I have my motorcycle license, insurance on motorcycles where I live is < $400/year since they don't require a lot of it.

I'll keep looking around, it seems that the gas mopeds are a lot cheaper then the electric ones of equal speed rating. I found some 150cc ones for around $1300 and actually found one that is just around $900 so I might look more into those...but of course, the biggest trick will be convincing my parents they're safer then motorcycles because they said that I couldn't get a motorcycle a while back until they had absolutely no control over what I do (my dad was in a motorcycle accident in college, broke his leg), which is why I have my license and no cycle...

If you're going to get a big gas moped, why not just get a small gas bike?
A ninja 250 can be had for 1500$ and still gets amazing MPG and is a blast to ride around on. I learned to ride on one and its just such a small bike in comparison to what else I've ridden on.

It's the small word "motorcycle" that is why i don't get it. My parents still control my tuition money and they said that i can't get a motorcycle until I graduate or they will take away my tuition money. However, I suggested I get a moped, which implies a slow, friendly commuter vehicle that your grandparents use to go to the grocery store in florida, and they were perfectly fine with it...go figure, I'm just not telling them there are motorcycles with the same power displacement as the scooter I'm getting :)