[BenNelson]

Hey everyone!

I wish to convert a 50cc scooter to electric.

Can you recommend a good motor?
I have seen a number of scooters on the AustinEv.org page, but they are either factory made or don't have much detail on the motor.

I would love to find a decent hub motor for a scooter, otherwise any advise on the right size and where to get a motor that would work best for this would be great.

you can take a look at my first electric project at: http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/1133

-Ben

 

[le blond]

hi

why do not put an etek motor like the one on your motorcycle it will probably cost you less than a brushless hub motor powerful enough to propel your scooter

 

[BenNelson]

The ETEK motor seems like overkill for a scooter, although I am sure it would work great, it is also a little large.

I guess I was thinking a hub motor would be great because it would take up no additional room on the scooter. An ETEK would take up a lot.

The other option would be a smaller motor (couple hundered dollar range) that was still powerful enough to push the scooter, and hook it up with a chain or belt.

Does anyone have experience with a specific motor they could recommend?

 

[rbgrn]

Be the first to put a warp 9 on there and we'll all commend you.

 

[CommonBear]

Which scooter are you planning on doing this with?

I have been recently kicking around the idea of trying an EV conversion with a Honda Ruckus, which (to me) seemed an ideal bare-frame bike to start with.

 

[BenNelson]

I think a Ruckus would be perfect for this type of thing.

The scooter I have is your typical 50 cc. Think "Spree" or Honda Metropolitan, but not as cool and Euro-styled.

The problem is that they are not big enough for a huge rack o batts and a large motor.

I thought a smaller motor that would fit in place of the engine and tranny would work. Possibly use smaller, flatter batteries and put them on the foot-rest area with a false floor on top of that?

-Ben

 

[CommonBear]

I guess it would depend on how much motor you are needing, and what kind of drive-train you are planning on using.

One of the reasons why I had thought of the Honda Ruckus (besides the fact that I currently use one as my daily commuter) is the fact that it already uses a centrifugal force gearing system... so (being highly uninformed) it would be a simple (???) matter of just replacing the one engine with another.

The only question I would have is the RPMs involved. The 49.4cc (approximately 4-5 HP) engine Honda currently uses tops out at 8850 RPM, and I know several people whom have disabled the limiters and regularly push them to 10000 RPM without noticeable engine wear (above the norm). Glancing at some of the links to small electric motors it seems like 3500 RPM was the standard (and tossing my idea out the window).

Battery location and weight would be a major issue, I agree. For the Ruckus, I figured using a smaller/flatter battery located in the empy space under the seat, or alternatively, removing the small 1.3 gallon gas tank from under the floorboard and doing something custom there... or both.