Forty miles range is very tough unless as Garret points out you spend a lot
of money on the batteries. The other option might be a very heavy lead acid
battery pack. In that case you could probably get away with around $1000 on
batteries, but the bike would need to be very heavy, and the batteries would
need a lot of space. In order to accomodate them it is likely you would
need to build a custom frame.
Twenty to twenty-five miles is much more reasonable. You say you do not
have much hope of charging at work. What about close to work? All you need
is to find an EV friendly house or business within easy walking distance of
work that will let you plug in.
Don't be enamored with the Etek motors. They are relatively expensive and
hard to find, and easy to damage from drawing too much current. There are
many other options available, although you do have to know somewhat what you
are looking for. Just about any 6 - 7 inch industrial motor that is series
wound for 24 to 48 volts DC and weighs between 60 - 100 lbs is a possible
candidate. It should have a shaft that you can get a sprocket on and you
might want to run it past Jim at [EMAIL PROTECTED], as he is
very knowledgeable and helpful. You might even want to start with him, as
he regularly gets motors this size going through his shop.
I doubt that you will find anyone on this list that has a bike that would
work well for your commute. Certainly not round-trip on a singel charge and
unlikely even with charging at work. Mine would not. I don't depend on it
for doing anything over 15 miles on a regular basis. It will go farther, but
my chances of getting stranded or damaging the batteries goes up too fast.
damon
From: Garret Maki <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: ElectricMotorcycles <[email protected]>
To: ElectricMotorcycles <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [ElectricMotorcycles] NOOB question: Ranges possible
(feasible)on EM's
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:53:43 -0700 (PDT)
The only way I see of getting 40 miles without a $10k battery pack is to
limit your speed. I've got a little mini bike with 300 watt motor at 24v
20ah that claims 20+ miles, but around 15mph.
I would look at the EV photo album to see what typical bike, motor,
battery combos are yielding. Since we all like to brag I would assume
those numbers as best case and your range will be reduced as the batteries
are used so account for some overhead in you design, maybe 20% more than
you need.
Aaron Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I looked through the archives, and did not see this
discussed. Also, I am totally new to this subject
area, so apologize if this question is too basic!
I would like to build an EM, and would like to know
what a feasible range would be to shoot for. I *need*
40 miles in order to commute to work and back. I'm
not very hopeful that I could come up with a charging
solution at work since our parking situation is very
bad.
I was hoping to use something small like the
brush-less Etek since it is relatively cheap and
light. I do not have a donor bike yet, so hopefully
that will help in the planning.
Any info would be great! Examples on the web, other
resources where I can find this, anything!
TIA,
Aaron Wright
Collinsville, IL
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