JPanichella
Been Around the Block
I'm building another electric bike, except this time I promise to finish it. Some of you guys might remember a few years ago when I was working on an electric CB750, but unfortunately I had to sell that project to fund a move to California. Now I've got a job and some time, and things have changed a little bit in battery tech to make this project a bit more affordable.
I bought a titled Ninja 250 with a blown motor (somebody took it on the freeway without any oil in it) last weekend and stripped it down. I decided to get a ninja 250 mostly because it was dirt cheap, good enough brakes and suspension, and uses the engine as a stressed frame member, leaving plenty of room for the batteries and electric drive system. I want to keep the entire high voltage system (batteries, motor, controller, main disconnect, battery management system, etc.) as one big "module" that will bolt in place of the engine. The tank will have the underside cut out to conceal the battery charger, and DC DC Converter (reduces the pack voltage of 72V nominal to 12V for lights/horn/etc.) and any stuff I need for the 12V system.
There's a place in vegas that sells NOS Nissan Leaf batteries for a great price. Up until recently, home made electric motorcycles either carted around big lead acid batteries, or big chunky prismatic lithium cells (the ones I was using for my first build). No other form or lithium was practical, you could either try to assemble large, complex battery packs from 18650 cells, which is what Tesla does. Or you could try to work with a bunch of hobby RC lithium polymer packs, but the cycle life was shitty (like 400 full cycles), the quality control was terrible, and they liked to catch fire if not treated well. These Nissan leaf cells are safe, easy to package and connect, and fairly energy dense, especially for the price.
My batteries arrived today, they're a bit smaller than I expected and should fit great. These are only 4 of them, but there will be a total of ten, packaged in two stacks like this:
Went into CAD and mocked up a relatively close frame to show what I'm thinking so far.
My expectations are:
80 MPH top speed
40-50 mile range (50 is probably optimistic)
Motor is capable of 35 or 40 peak HP
Under $4K
This will be mostly for commuting in city traffic, but should be a fun little lanesplitter. If you have any specific questions let me know.
I bought a titled Ninja 250 with a blown motor (somebody took it on the freeway without any oil in it) last weekend and stripped it down. I decided to get a ninja 250 mostly because it was dirt cheap, good enough brakes and suspension, and uses the engine as a stressed frame member, leaving plenty of room for the batteries and electric drive system. I want to keep the entire high voltage system (batteries, motor, controller, main disconnect, battery management system, etc.) as one big "module" that will bolt in place of the engine. The tank will have the underside cut out to conceal the battery charger, and DC DC Converter (reduces the pack voltage of 72V nominal to 12V for lights/horn/etc.) and any stuff I need for the 12V system.
There's a place in vegas that sells NOS Nissan Leaf batteries for a great price. Up until recently, home made electric motorcycles either carted around big lead acid batteries, or big chunky prismatic lithium cells (the ones I was using for my first build). No other form or lithium was practical, you could either try to assemble large, complex battery packs from 18650 cells, which is what Tesla does. Or you could try to work with a bunch of hobby RC lithium polymer packs, but the cycle life was shitty (like 400 full cycles), the quality control was terrible, and they liked to catch fire if not treated well. These Nissan leaf cells are safe, easy to package and connect, and fairly energy dense, especially for the price.
My batteries arrived today, they're a bit smaller than I expected and should fit great. These are only 4 of them, but there will be a total of ten, packaged in two stacks like this:
Went into CAD and mocked up a relatively close frame to show what I'm thinking so far.
My expectations are:
80 MPH top speed
40-50 mile range (50 is probably optimistic)
Motor is capable of 35 or 40 peak HP
Under $4K
This will be mostly for commuting in city traffic, but should be a fun little lanesplitter. If you have any specific questions let me know.