Battery pack inside front wheel hub

[BjonktFoisper]

Hi all,

I have been playing with the idea to place the batteries inside my front wheel. It would be as simple as buying a completely stripped hub motor and putting the batteries inside. The axle already has a spot from where the wires can exit the hub, the batteries would have to be protected from the spinning hub, which also shouldn't be too hard. The MXUS 3k should have enough room for at least 80 18650's.

Motivation could be better weight distribution, extra batteries and aesthetics (for me at least).

Anyone who's has done the same thing/thought about this for an ebike?

These guys have done it on a scooter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChPTehvNv5k

 

[MadRhino]

It is very bad weight distribution, to add any unsuspended weight, and front wheel weight especially. So, if proper weight distribution is really your goal, forget this idea. Yet, some other reasons might be valuable, if performance and handling are not a priority.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Make sure that you put big cooling fins on that hub motor, because otherwise heavy use will cook the batteries.

 

[miro13car]

legendary Tidal Force ebike and excellent Eplus ebikes used front wheel mounted batteries.
both made in USA , both out of business right now /could not compete with China cheap/
unfortunately both brands used NMH round cells.
other than that legends for durability and electronics /both FOC cotnrollers.

 

[amberwolf]

There's a few threads about this that may have useful info. Some of them are in this list
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=batter*+front+hub*&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sr=topics&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

 

[Drunkskunk]

It's not a bad idea for a low speed, small bike. The faster you go, the higher and more centered you want your weight, but at 10-15mph, this would be fine.

 

[momus3]

I like the idea, but before you build it, maybe do a trial. Get an appropriate size hub and wheel and fill it w/ something about the same weight as the battery you have in mind so you can see how it handles. Some 15 oz cans of pinto beans w/ jalapeno duct taped together would be good, and you can use them for a nice chile (chili in New Mexico) later.

As you said, it will certainly lower the center of gravity, but it will also set up some centrifugal forces. I have no idea how that would play out, but because the extra weight will be so close to the center, it may be minimal. The heavier a rotating mass is, the harder it will be to stop, but that will be offset by the fact that once a heavier mass gets rolling it will tend to keep rolling more than a lighter mass. Not sure about changes in direction. Depends a lot on the weight.

I've been thinking of mounting my battery under the bottom bracket, w/ a skid plate for protection against road obstructions and the possible "thermal event".

 

[MadRhino]

What a heavy wheel does best, is inertia. It doesn’t want to turn, to brake or accelerate. So it has a delay, that might not be so bothering at 15 mph, but a significative handling and safety handicap at 60 mph.

What it does next best, is bouncing. The heavier the wheel, the harder the impact on obstacles thus the longer the rebound in return. Again, this is not a problem at low speed, but no rider likes his front wheel losing traction after a bump in a fast turn.

 

[Ianhill]

I had a modded maf1600 w electric scooter that done 50mph more or less under 30 mph fine, over that then the wind would take over and blow me across lanes on breezy days.
Cut a long story short I was apporoching a banked corner I would normally push 45 around but the wind blew like Jesus open his bowels and next Thing is was in wrong side of road fighting to miss parked cars mirrors if something was coming I'd of been broken up big time.
After that incident I decide with my body acting as a windsale stand up scooters have a limit of 35mph for a run of the mill and to get any faster will need serious design choices to get that stability, but it will all be at the cost of slow speed manovaribitly, so for me a slow fun ride is a scooter a serious mounting blaster is a bike with 200mm front and back suspension then it feels like a crosser but at half the weight if you don't mind 20 miles range or so and thats ideal for me, 38kg bike I can lift over fences nothing gets in the way I can go more place a that a decent racing 80cc scrambler, inclines ling as I can hold in up we go even nearing vertical.