Electric Longboard on a budget? With additional requirements

[Alexstefan]

Hello guys! My name is Alex and I'm a poor student in the UK. My daily commute to uni and work is around 7-8 miles one way and I would love to get rid of waiting for busses that are late and hours spent in traffic. One of the first things that popped into mind was an electric longboard. My requirements are pretty simple: a range of over 16-20 miles per charge(would also accept the idea of swapping batteries if it was less expensive), I want it to handle uk's rainy days and I want it cheap(ish). What would be your suggestions regarding my situation. I don't have anything set in stone so I am open to any suggestions you may have.
PS:I stand 1.85 m tall and 90 kgs
PPS: I currently spend 13£ for the bus every week. The budget would be the equivalent of that X a sensible amount of weeks to cushion the investment
(I know my English is not the best)

 

[sl33py]

Welcome to ES Alex!

I think that "cheapish" is tough to gauge, but otherwise it looks mostly doable given your 13 per week on the bus. Your range requirement might be a challenge unless you can charge at uni before returning home? Swapping batteries absolutely would work and not require charging at school, but it requires a more elaborate enclosure to get access to swap batteries. Especially if you want to build for UK weather (reading this as rain?).

Are there many hills would be another question. Your weight isn't to heavy for a single motor setup unless you want to go super fast or go up hills. A single motor setup will definitely be less expensive since you skip the most expensive parts being in duplicate (motor, motor mount and gears, ESC, etc.).

Your english is fine. Welcome and hope this helps!

 

[Alexstefan]

Welcome to ES Alex!

I think that "cheapish" is tough to gauge, but otherwise it looks mostly doable given your 13 per week on the bus. Your range requirement might be a challenge unless you can charge at uni before returning home? Swapping batteries absolutely would work and not require charging at school, but it requires a more elaborate enclosure to get access to swap batteries. Especially if you want to build for UK weather (reading this as rain?).

Are there many hills would be another question. Your weight isn't to heavy for a single motor setup unless you want to go super fast or go up hills. A single motor setup will definitely be less expensive since you skip the most expensive parts being in duplicate (motor, motor mount and gears, ESC, etc.).

Your english is fine. Welcome and hope this helps!

Hello sl33py! Thank you very much for the warm welcome and really quick response! I can plug In at uni and at work I believe, and it would be a fantastic solution if the power brick I have to carry isn't really heavy. As for the weather, here in Manchester it does rain pretty often but usually no pools(that's how they're called?) of water form on the streets. The terrain is pretty flat, at least that's how it seems from the bus.

 

[whitepony]

bit worried about the rain requirements. your bearings will suffer hard from water and the motor will be in direct contact with a lot of water (and its bearings too). I would aim for a roughly 50% use and 50% bus and skip the rain requirement really because I dont see a reasonable way to ride on without constantly replacing bearings & potentially motors. besides that, wet roads and skateboard wheels is a slippy mess.

 

[Alexstefan]

From what I can think of right now, protecting motors from the water would be fairly easy with an extended axle and a case/shield around the motor. As for skateboard wheels and wet roads,that does make a lot of sense. How about using rubberized wheels(like mini bicycle wheels) with a higher gear ratio it should yield about the same range. Wouldn't that fix the wet road issue? Is it even possible to do that?

 

[Vulthor]

Hi! I will suggest you to take a look for a second hand evolve with pneumatic, for the requirement's and budget I personally think it is the way to go actually.
Building yourself will cost you at least equal if you don't have any tools, and will no be water resistant except if you have really high skills for doing enclosures for both electronic and motors.

This is just an opinion because I don't really know about Evolve water resistance.

 

[whitepony]

rubber/pneumatic wheels work better I guess - Im sometimes using my evolve carbon AT on wet roads, but the problem is that no top mount board in the world will ever cover up these large wheels and they will throw dirt and water right at you. its horrible and I look like a mess when I arrive in the office.

also not so sure if its easy to perfectly cover up a motor since a belt will attach it to a drive wheel on your skateboard wheels - there has to be a "leak" in that chain somewhere.

probably the "bearing in the wet" thing is doable with regular greasing/maitenance.

think for rain, id really just ride the bus or, if im that low on money, go with a regular bike. 8 miles in the rain on a skateboard ... I really dont know how much fun that is. :?

 

[Alexstefan]

Low on money, sick of waiting 40mins at the bus stop and thinking " maybe the forth bus will eventually show up", tired of missing lectures and labs and many many other reasons. As for covering the motor, an extended axle going out of the motor's case would pretty much make it "splash-proof". I'm not worried about mud because it rains too often for that to accumulate. And at the end of the day... Biking in the rain is no fun either(with the same or maybe more water throw+chain oil and all that). Maybe I am just too enthusiastic about the idea to see the cons :?
Ps: my options would be as follows: walk or skateboard or bicycle or scooter. I would greatly prefer the board

 

[whitepony]

Maybe I am just too enthusiastic about the idea to see the cons :?

yea

its probably all doable, but its probably as much fun as riding a motorbike in winter. when I was 16 it also seemed appealing to do that - with 20 I finally bought a car and admitted that I had been a fool all that time. :lol:

* hard to really waterproof case without irreversible ugly silicone/glue everywhere
* near impossible water proofing motor (especially without killing it by overheating in summer?)
* high maintenance on bearings
* slippery tires in the wet
* need to wear remote in your pocket or put a plastic sack over it
* the wheels will send water and sand flying directly at you

i really dont know ... :wink:

 

[Alexstefan]

Did you even see this?

I think I am going to start a new trend. I don't even know if I am joking right now :? :lol:
Ps: rain and mud and all that aside, any recommendations for parts like battery, motor and the controller? And actually what really scares me is the charger. Would love to hear more knowledge on anything(besides this being the dumbest idea you've ever heard)

 

[laurentxr]

Hi, I don't know how it works for other motors, but I've driven my Yuneec Ego in the belgian roads (soaked but no puddles, still as sad as UK roads) and the motor doesn't care.

The issue is not the rain, it's wet road. It can be sunny but if the road is still wet your wheels will project an amazing amount of bullshit on your pants, in your face or on your shoes. Even for 1/2 mile it's a mess, I don't want to think about 8 miles. I've siliconed all the battery so it's getting close to waterproof and I am designing some mudguards to be 3D printed but I'm not sure it will work properly and be practical on the E-go, and it can't handle 8 miles at full speed if you don't have perfect roads and flat relief.

I do believe that if you have a waterproof battery enclosure, sealed contacts with your motor and design good mudguards you could make it work, but on the shittiest days, I would still take the bus, or plan for a change of clothes (some plastic over gear for motorcyclist are actually practical and efficient (and quite cheap)).

I hope it helps a bit

 

[Grizzl-E]

Welcome to the forum! As you can see from the responses riding in the rain is no fun on a board. And no one has mentioned the numb feet I get after about 2 miles riding mine. That may just be the rough roads in Canada though.

If you are looking for an economic option you may do better building a cheap ebike. You may find that the eboard is more of a toy or a last mile transportation option. I know I wouldn't want to ride that far on mine every day. I would much rather take one of my ebikes.

That being said, if you build a single motor board with say a 6370 ish motor, you can always move the components over to a bicycle friction drive build later. Or even a mid drive if you are really
handy. Edit: here is an ebike made with the motor I have on my eboard. https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=71389

You have a long commute on a board. If you haven't rode an ebike, they are tons of fun too!