How about a trailer (or sidecar) with extra batteries? I realize you
eventually get to the point of diminishing returns.
- SteveS
damon henry wrote:
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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