| Owner | Chris Needham | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Washington, District of Columbia US map | ||||||
| Vehicle | 1976 Honda CB550F My trusty old classic Honda. I can't ride a motorcycle that gets worse mileage than my car so an EV it becomes. Originally named the gas bike "Estelle". Bike is charged by solar at work (13 miles each way). | ||||||
| Motor | Briggs and Stratton Etek Permanent Magnet DC | ||||||
| Drivetrain | Direct chain, 11t to 48t.Probably a bit low for the 45mph max speed that I need on my commute. | ||||||
| Controller | Alltrax 24-48V 300 Amp | ||||||
| Batteries | 4 Interstate SRM-24, 12.00 Volt, Lead-Acid, Flooded ~75A-hr I believe. Rated 25 amps for 140 min. Battery probably closer to 55Ahr total at my discharge rate. Only good for about 100 cycles to 70% DOD before I lose too much range. That's about 1000-1200 miles per battery set. Definitely go with "Deep Cycle", not "Marine / Deep Cycle" batteries. Those should be good for a whole summer per set. | ||||||
| System Voltage | 48 Volts | ||||||
| Charger | Dual Pro Eagle 9Amp Nice charger for a 48V system. Big, heavy transformer so I keep one at home and one at work. | ||||||
| Heater | dodging latte-drinking SUV drivers always gets your heart up a bit... | ||||||
| DC/DC Converter | 48V TO 12V Converter. The thunderstruck one. This doesn't give me enough juice to honk my horn (10A current, 12V supply), but everything else works. Having alternator voltage would have been nice as lights are a bit dimmer now. I suspect it is terribly inefficient too. I'm going to set up a separate 14.4V, 4.8Ahr A123 cells pack to run the on-board stuff in the near future. This will be my practice for building the main pack. | ||||||
| Instrumentation | mph gauge intact. Will get an Amp-Hr meter someday. | ||||||
| Top Speed | 51 MPH (82 KPH) Top speed of about 50 mph on level ground with this gearing. 40 mph up a steep hill 10 miles into my commute. Need 45 mph tops. 35 mph average. | ||||||
| Acceleration | Acceleration is pretty decent. 0-10mph is kinda tame due to my controller that really limits current. After that it picks up briskly. I'd say 0-10mph is 2-3 seconds, 10-30 is 3 seconds, and 30-50 is 4-5seconds (level on full charge). Overall, it keeps up with traffic well. | ||||||
| Range | 20 Miles (32 Kilometers) Range is quoted for 100% DOD and 35mph back-roads riding. Figured both with battery charge voltage and charger energy needed after a run. The bike starts to lose some acceleration after about 8-9 miles and my top speed drops 5mph. Commute is only 13 miles so this is ok. | ||||||
| Watt Hours/Mile | 145 Wh/Mile Measured as AC draw from charger through "Kill-a-Watt". ~10 stops and hills. | ||||||
| EV Miles |
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| Seating Capacity | 2 | ||||||
| Curb Weight | 450 Pounds (204 Kilograms) Haven't weighed yet. Should be about the same as before the conversion. The batteries are mounted so low if feels like a 250. | ||||||
| Tires | stock, and one is currently running backwards. | ||||||
| Conversion Time | ~150 hours, not counting years of considering it. Could do it again in 30-50 hours probably. | ||||||
| Conversion Cost | About $1400 not counting my old bike. I talked work into giving me the $1500 "hybrid credit" that they had. | ||||||
| This conversion used the original "Etek" motor which is designed to spin CW. This means I had to turn the rear wheel around to get the sprocket on the right side and rig up a system to carry the rear brakes from the right side to the left where they now live. I had originally run the motor backwards, but after approximately 1000 miles, the brushes were half gone. They should last a lot longer this way. The bike seems a bit peppier too. For this winter's project, I'm planning to go with A123 cells out of DeWalt packs in a ~60V, 35Ahr battery system, a regen controller from Kelly, and an on board charger. I think at that point, this bike will be finally done. | |||||||
1976 Honda CB550F
“E-stelle”
Last Updated 08-04-2008
Copyright © 1997-2008 by Mike Chancey