| Owner | Ben Nelson | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner's Other EVs | 1996 Geo Metro 2007 Vectrix VX-1 | ||||||||
| Location | Oconomowoc, Wisconsin United States map | ||||||||
| Web/Email | WebPage | ||||||||
| Vehicle | 1981 Kawasaki KZ440 Junk cycle with dead engine and transmission, home- converted to battery electric. My very first EV conversion. | ||||||||
| Motor | Briggs and Stratton Etek brushed Permanent Magnet DC used Etek motor off Ebay | ||||||||
| Drivetrain | 14 tooth sprocket at the motor to #40 chain to a 72 tooth sprocket on the back tire | ||||||||
| Controller | Alltrax 4830 Alltrax AXE 300 Amp Programmable. Acceleration is set to "ease into it" and I slowed the response to the throttle a tiny bit so that every bump in the road didn't make me change speed. | ||||||||
| Batteries | 4 Optima YellowTop, 12.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, AGM Spill-proof 55 AH batteries. Over 800 cranking amps. Two of the batteries are mounted "sideways" to neatly fit inside the frame. As of October 2014, I'm working on building a new battery pack using NiMH cells from a salvaged Ford Escape Hybrid battery pack. | ||||||||
| System Voltage | 48 Volts | ||||||||
| Charger | I've charged with: A cheap Chinese 48V scootercharger, A recycled 48V UPS, also powering my house off it in a blackout, A 48V Solar panel mounted on my child's backyard swing set. | ||||||||
| Heater | The warm feeling I get inside. All jokes aside, one advantage of converting a motorcycle to EV is that it doesn't have all the complexities of heater, air-conditioning, power-steering, etc. that a car has. | ||||||||
| DC/DC Converter | Artesysn BXB100 33-75v to 12v converter. I think it is used in computers. Got it for $10 on E-Bay 100 watts. Works great! | ||||||||
| Instrumentation | Cheap multimeter, speedometer. 0-300 amp ammeter built into gas tank. | ||||||||
| Top Speed | 45 MPH (72 KPH) 45 mph - 52 downhill, 40 up big hills. I am mostly in city at 25 mph zones, and only one area of 45mph speed limit, so I geared the cycle to it. (Changing my front sprocket, a $20 part, could get the top speed up to 60 or 65, without changing anything else on the cycle.) I HAVE gotten a speeding ticket in an electric vehicle..... | ||||||||
| Acceleration | peppy - got to be careful how I pull away from a dead stop Reprogrammed controller - much smoother excelleration now - nice! | ||||||||
| Range | 30 Miles (48 Kilometers) Most my trips are about ten miles or so. To town and back - library, work, grocery store, post office, etc. | ||||||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 100 Wh/Mile Using a kill-a-watt at the wall, into the charger and dividing by miles, usually comes to right around 100 watt hours per mile | ||||||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | Just me - Does have passenger pegs. Rides fine with a passenger, but acceleration suffers | ||||||||
| Curb Weight | 400 Pounds (181 Kilograms) Weighed on the big scale down the street at the landscaping place. Weight includes onboard charger, gas tank (just there for looks right now) and 4 55ah sealed lead batts. | ||||||||
| Tires | Nothing fancy, but new tires summer of 2011. | ||||||||
| Conversion Time | This was a summer project. I have never worked on motorcycles before, so that took a little time to learn how everything works. Knowing what I do now, I think I could convert a cycle to electric in a long weekend. | ||||||||
| Conversion Cost | Etek Motor - $500 Kawasaki Frame - $100 Alltrax AXE controller - $300 Batteries - $800 nuts, bolts, connectors - $50 custom rear 72 tooth sprocket - $100 title and registration $123 Not having to stop at the pump - Priceless | ||||||||
| Additional Features | Household blackout protection. I have a salvaged 48V UPS. It can be used to charge the motorcycle OR convert the DC battery power to AC and back-feed it to my house. I can run my whole house from the motorcycle in a blackout. I call it the "Poorman's Smart-Grid". I also now have a 48V solar panel. I run power straight to the cycle from the panel, through a DC disconnect switch, a Xantrex C40 charge controller, and to a quick disconnect on the cycle. I really can't think of any way simpler or more efficient to charge and electric vehicle. There's no grid transmission losses and no DC/AC/DC conversion losses. Literally couldn't be simpler. | ||||||||
| I made an instructional DVD set to teach other people how to BUILD THEIR OWN ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE - WebPage /> I also have some extensive "how-to" information on Instructables.com at: WebPage /> Below are notes from the project, in chronological order. Just getting started on the project. Very excited about it. I hope I can get far enough done to ride it once or twice before the end of summer. Everyone I have contacted through this web board has been great! I built a camping trailer from scratch last summer. What fun! The main thing is just to find other people who are into cool stuff like this! 6/6/07 - Got to work on the cycle a bit the last couple days. I made a motor mount plate from some aluminum scrap plate I found and mounted the motor. I am canabalizing the batteries from my electric bike for now to get the cycle to an "experimental" mode where I can just make it go for as cheap as I can. So, I am starting with 3 - 18 amp hour sealed lead acid. I know that won't make a motorcycle go far, but I just need to go down the street for testing. I ordered a 72-tooth rear sprocket from Sprocket Specialists about a week and a half ago. That's supposed to show up tommorow. Then I should be able to mount the chain and make the tire spin. 6/9/07 - MAIDEN VOYAGE Just tested it out. Went 4 miles altogether - goes about 35 mph. Only set up on 36 volts with 18ah batteries. I don't have turn signals, breaklights,headlights, etc yet. Also the front brake drags a bit. But it WORKS! IT'S ALIVE!!! 6/15/07 - MREA Energy Fair (www.the-mrea.org) Took my cycle up the the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. Had a great time showing it to people. I was the only one there with a DIY project. Lots of expensive hybrids and other vehicles out of my price range. I still have less than a grand in this whole project. Got lots of great info from people at the festival. Thanks to Jeff, Steve, Ed, Michael Paul, and anyone else who was hanging out there. 6/17/07 - Weight & Endurance road testing. I weighed the cycle down the street at the landscaping supplier. Bike weighs 280 lbs. I reset my trip odometer and zipped around my sidestreet at various speeds up to 30 mph, mostly flat, but also did the big hill coming back from the landscaping place. I had just over 8 miles when I got the volt meter reading to 36 volts no load. So I figure I have an 8 mile range on a full charge on my current 36 volt configuration. 6/20/07 Reprogrammed controller. Changed the throttle response - much smoother to pull away from stop signs - less touchy. I also activated the "High Pedal Disable" and set the max current output to 66%. That should make it so I can't pull over 200 amps at a time from the batteries - hoping that makes it harder to accidently burn out the controller or motor. Still has good acceleration and same top speed. 7/5/07 Just got the title and registration in the mail. It is registered as a "street modified" Hobbyist Vehicle. Hobbyist plates are only purchased once. You don't have to renew them every year (saves $$$!) Only drawback is you can't drive vehicle in January. I don't see this as a problem... 8/19/07 Got to work on the cycle a fair amount this last week. Installed a speedometer cable. Cut out the bottom of the gas tank. Wired up the left hand brake(rear brake) so that it activates the tail light. Got DC/DC converter working. Wired oil light in tachometer to now show accessory power and brake light on dash to activate when tail brake light does. Installed cigaretted plug for other accessories. Went to DMV and got my Motorcycle Temps. 5/26/08 Upgraded from 36 to 48 volts. Built a small metal rack to hold two batteries side-by- side sticking out from the frame so I could fit four total batteries on the system. New top cruising speed of 45 MPH!!! June 2011 - Built a custom steel rack out of angle to hold the batteries. Now, two batteries are mounted vertical, and two horizontal, so all fits in the frame real nice. I did have to notch a tiny bit out of the gas tank to make it all work, but it looks great. I also stuck a hole saw through the gas tank to install an ammeter there, as well as a green "the cycle is one and ready to go" light. October 2014. Time to replace the batteries. I got a salvaged Ford Escape Hybrid battery pack and took it apart to use the cells to build a new battery pack for the motorcycle. | |||||||||
1981 Kawasaki KZ440
“Electric Motorcycle”
Last Updated 10-30-2014
Copyright © 1997-2024 by Mike Chancey