Want advice on electrifying Kona Electric Ute

M

Mountgreenwood

10 mW
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
22
Some assistance please.

I am looking to electrify a decommissioned 2011 Kona Electric Ute. The 250 hub motor was a bad idea for a cargo bike. Anyhow em3ev.com appears to ship to Ireland. I am looking at the 1000 watt Bafang mid drive but am a little overwhelmed by the ordering option. 75 kg rider, heavy loaded cargo bike, mountains. What combination makes the most sense. 1,300 euro budget. The battery location, shape and options are the main issue. Take a look at 2011 Electric Ute for the bike to see the battery spacing options. Thanks

electric_ute.jpg
 
The Ute looks to have a slide in battery on the rear rack, you could use that. Give em3ev the dimensions and see if they can make you a custom battery.

The Bafang Mid Drive is great, many people just love it. Your selection is a good one for carrying heavy loads, lots of hills because you can use the gearing of the bicycle as your transmission, putting the motor in its optimal range.
 
I’ve never seen the original battery but it had to be thin as the vertical space available is only 7.5cm. It is 13.5 cm wide and the thing could have been as long as 78 cm. I couldn’t find dimipensions for a replacement of it, I imaging the slickest install would be a fresh lithium rebuild held in one of those old cases.
 
I electrified two standard Utes in the past.
First had a pair of 500W direct drive hub motors and a 57V battery. The thing would climb anything.
Second had rear Magic Pie and front geared 500W Mac. It could do 65kph up a slight hill at 72 Volts.
Had both of them stolen. Both had quality suspension forks, never failed with the 500W hubs and dual torque arms.
Second had disc brake mounts so I decided to use 26 wheels which helped lower the center of gravity. The bike seemed quite tall with original 29er wheels. This Electric ute will be even taller due to the elevated rack that has to accommodate battery. All the load and battery mass will be even higher. So I really recommend to go 26er. Perhaps also get a suspension fork.
Definitely use a mid drive if you can. A dual hub motor setup would have similar efficiency and much higher power and speed, but would be heavy. Depends what you're after.
 
Sorry about the bikes. I definitely want to keep the weight low, 700 wheels on it now. I’m not happy on it down hill at anything over 35kph. Do you think the downtube will fit the shark battery packs?
 
Mountgreenwood said:
I am looking to electrify a decommissioned 2011 Kona Electric Ute. The 250 hub motor was a bad idea for a cargo bike. Anyhow em3ev.com appears to ship to Ireland. I am looking at the 1000 watt Bafang mid drive but am a little overwhelmed by the ordering option. 75 kg rider, heavy loaded cargo bike, mountains. What combination makes the most sense. 1,300 euro budget. The battery location, shape and options are the main issue. Take a look at 2011 Electric Ute for the bike to see the battery spacing options. Thanks
Click to expand...

You'll be a lot happier with either the 750W BBS02 or the 1000W BBSHD than with any hub motor of 1000W or less.

It looks like the locations of the old battery and controller are both available to you, and were underutilized by the original setup. I'd take some measurements to figure out what size rectangular battery can fit in each of those spaces, and let EM3EV suggest as solution that goes with the motor you choose.

As for the Bafang mid drive, you should fit it with the smallest steel chainring available (42T I think) and get a bigger rear cassette for your bike. The most affordable way to widen your rear gearing is to get a SunRace CSM680 cassette with 11-40 range, plus a Wolf Tooth Road Link to drop your derailleur a little bit so it clears the larger sprocket.

That gearing combination, with your 700x47 tires, will give you, at a constant 90 pedal RPM, a low speed of 12kph and a high speed of 45kph.
 
Get a BBSHD and a 52v Jumbo Shark pack, which should fit just fine mounted to the water cage mounts on your down tube. I would go with the throttle option as it will aid in getting started from a stop mostly. You are going to need a new front wheel anyway so make sure it is disc compatible so you can upgrade to disc from the original V brake.
 
I agree with the BBSHD option. Reliable and enough power. But you might keep the 250w front hub motor in commission. You might it useful at times, especially if you have drive or electrical issues aft.
 
I had on my mind something like this
https://bmsbattery.com/parts/638-carrier-rack-for-alloy-07-battery-case-parts.html
https://bmsbattery.com/parts/485-16012-rack-for-our-03-and-05-battery-case-parts.html#/307-rack_color-black


Since the Ute's rack is apart of the bicycle, I would fabricate up a battery holder.

Ute.jpg


If you want a lower center of gravity, then have a two piece battery thats in the bags.
 
Solid ideas, I need to see if em3ev is cost prohibitive due to customs and vat charges. There doesn’t seem to be a Bafang dealer in Ireland but I did find one in Germany, FasterBikes. I’m steering away from the UK to avoid any brexit issues. Any ideas to source motors and batteries in Ireland would be great also.
 
I don't know about Ireland, but there are two more sources in Germany:
petto-bikes
Ebike-Solutions
Although they usually only sell the BBS01b. I guess you could ask them to get a BBS02 or BBSHD as well. But then you can order from fasterbikes, too.

I have a question for you: Where did you get the Kona Ute in Europe? I am unable to find a dealer.
 
I read that EM3EV is some english guy doing business in China, nothing but good reviews, solid chap. Not sure if english means briton or not, or speaks english, probably the first. V.A.T. charges are expensive, no doubt about that, FedEx likes to throw sand while they mount you from behind.
 
EM3ev is a solid vendor. English is his first language.

For a cargo bike, if it is to climb any steep hills, there are two solutions that work well.

One is the big ass hub motor, like 2000,3000w. I went that way simply because I had the motor. Two smaller motors, one on each wheel works similarly, adding up to 2000w.


Or the mid drive, that allows 500w or less to very slowly grind up the steep hill, despite the weight of cargo.


If you go with one normal size hub motor, your weight limit for steep hills will be about 300 pounds. That you, the bike motor and battery, and cargo. If you weigh 200 pounds, and the bike with battery weighs 80, then you only get to carry 20 pounds of cargo. That's fine for groceries, but not for a camping trip, or extra passenger, up a hill.
 
Thanks gang put in an order from EM3EV . 1000 watt midrive with a rectangular 52v battery for the rack. In the frame seemed too tight for fitment. Now for a wait and hope get me.
 
Rack battery fine on any long cargo bike. Good choice IMO.
 
more and more cargo ebikes hauling commercially in nyc

not diy hobbyists

damn near fleet constantly running around manhattan and boroughs

long wb mostly bbshd equipped

someone knows build formula
 
kcuf said:
more and more cargo ebikes hauling commercially in nyc

not diy hobbyists

damn near fleet constantly running around manhattan and boroughs

long wb mostly bbshd equipped

someone knows build formula
Click to expand...

Must be an area out of the Fuzz take your e-ride area.
 
markz said:
kcuf said:
more and more cargo ebikes hauling commercially in nyc

not diy hobbyists

damn near fleet constantly running around manhattan and boroughs

long wb mostly bbshd equipped

someone knows build formula
Click to expand...

Must be an area out of the Fuzz take your e-ride area.
Click to expand...

Almost certainly a class/race thing. "Good" (= rich white) people in that neck of the woods have cycle school buses. "Bad" (= poor wage slave) people have cheap Chinese delivery bikes. Even semi-retarded cops (cop median) can tell the difference between good and bad.
 
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