Are any lowcost Electric mopeds good value? Commuter/GF

[Kin]

Update: kind of wrapping up the thread quickly.

Hey everyone. It looks like right now I'm leaning towards taking my time and looking for good used deals, and perhaps putting together something nice for her one of the times soon when I get over there.

I don't see any killer option (like, "Look here! This brand is pretty reliable at $1200 new and $700 used + throw in $300 of good batteries."), but I am encouraged to know there's a good market of used e-scooters/mopeds..

But if anyone has any additional thoughts/input, I'd listen with open ears.


Original thread below:


Ello,

So I am aware there are some pretty nice electric scooters/mopeds. Like Vectrix or whatnot.
I also have seen a few crappy lead acid $400 electric scooters/moped.

My suspicion is that there isn't any particularly good frame new until you get up in price, but that I might be able to find a good deal on something used.

But I'm trying to see if there are any slightly better ~$1000 Electric scooters/mopeds that would make sense for a replacement for a comparable cheap gas moped (presumably the gas one would be ~300-400 dollars cheaper.) My gf brought up the fact she was considering getting an electric scooter for mid distances (2-5miles) and the hills in the berkeley/san francisco area, since her apartment this year is further from campus than last year. A regular bike is great for those short distances, except that during the school year she's caring around a metric ton of books and exhausted 75% of the time.

If I were in the area, I would be more comfortable pushing for a diy electric bike or even heavily modded scooter, but as it stands I'd only be able to offer her distance tech support and occasional replacement parts (like a controller.) She's studying engineering, so she can do a bit of work and won't electrocute herself, but she's not interested in tinkering all the time. She also feels safer in a moped than an electric bike, but I remind her that in eithercase she needs to be serious about the road/car/machete wielders jumping from the bushes.

I'll also keep a lookout on the used forum for items in the san francisco/berkeley area, but right now I'm trying to get input from anyone more experienced with electric scooters.

TL;Dr?
I'm trying to get input about scooters/mopeds, and to see if there are any reasonable quality still-low-cost (~$1000 max) electric scooters that could handle 2-5 miles in the relatively hilly berkeley,CA area.

I'm not sure if it's because I've never kept my eyes open on ES for electric scooter builds, or if they're just not as commonplace in the U.S.

SO words of advice or links to some thread that I should have found myself, either would be very much appreciated.

 

[cal3thousand]

Ello,

So I am aware there are some pretty nice electric scooters/mopeds. Like Vectrix or whatnot.
I also have seen a few crappy lead acid $400 electric scooters/moped.


But I'm trying to see if there are any slightly better ~$1000 Electric scooters/mopeds that would make sense for a replacement for a comparable cheap gas moped (presumably the gas one would be ~300-400 dollars cheaper.) My gf brought up the fact she was considering getting an electric scooter for mid distances (2-5miles) and the hills in the berkeley/san francisco area, since her apartment this year is further from campus than last year. A regular bike is great for those short distances, except that during the school year she's caring around a metric ton of books and exhausted 75% of the time.

If I were in the area, I would be more comfortable pushing for a diy electric bike or even heavily modded scooter, but as it stands I'd only be able to offer her distance tech support and occasional replacement parts (like a controller.) She's studying engineering, so she can do a bit of work and won't electrocute herself, but she's not interested in tinkering all the time. She also feels safer in a moped than an electric bike, but I remind her that in eithercase she needs to be serious about the road/car/machete wielders jumping from the bushes.

I'll also keep a lookout on the used forum for items in the san francisco/berkeley area, but right now I'm trying to get input from anyone more experienced with electric scooters.

TL;Dr?
I'm trying to get input about scooters/mopeds, and to see if there are any reasonable quality still-low-cost (~$1000 max) electric scooters that could handle 2-5 miles in the relatively hilly berkeley,CA area.

I'm not sure if it's because I've never kept my eyes open on ES for electric scooter builds, or if they're just not as commonplace in the U.S.

SO words of advice or links to some thread that I should have found myself, either would be very much appreciated.

I think it depends on your definition of reasonable quality.

I would also think that for $1000, a person could make a pretty sweet scooter if given enough time and patience. I consistently see X-treme scooters that people are just throwing away for $50-$250.

A decent $500-$700 battery pack and another $100-200 for random bits needed. Since you aren't modding for power, the stock motor / controller with a new battery should fit the bill.

 

[Kin]

So, that's something I have considered. The limitations are

A) I don't know if the X-treme scooters are reliable enough in terms of suspension. If I end up being California for a month or two, heavily modding one is one of the options I'd consider. But I probably will not be.

B) The modding part is not something she'd have the time for. I could see her changing out the batteries with a cell-man pack, but that's about it. She'd also have to find one that was in suitable condition in terms of suspension and wheel conditions. I don't want to recommend she get something that disintegrates on her.

C) Do you really see them for $50-100? I was assuming the cheapest I would find the scooter would be $200-300. That's just because I see the electric kick-scooters with 500 watt motors at $30-60 used. And they're smaller

D) I'm not sure if the motor could deal with the occasional long/steep hill.

(thanks)

 

[Hillhater]

Kin. why dont you edit the thread title to make it more understandable ( mioeds ??) :wink:

 

[Kin]

Kin. why dont you edit the thread title to make it more understandable ( mioeds ??) :wink:

Thanks! Erm, somehow I had edited it from "scooter" into "mioeds." And that edit was originally intended to make things more clear, because I suppose mopeds are the more universal term for what kind of stuff I'm talking about.


At this point I have no idea what a scooter actually defines. I've gone through various stages of associating it with the tiny kick scooters, associating the word with motorcycles, and these days mostly associating it with cheap brushed beefy bigger electric kick-scooters.

 

[IBScootn]

What speed does she want to go? A lot of real inexpensive used scooters out there. Just no market for used lead/acid scooters so you can pick them up cheap. Wouldn't go for anything less than 2500w. Case in point, I know two guys trying to dump their old mopeds because they bought e-motos. They can't get any money out of them.

But someone like you can throw some lifepo into them, make some mods, and make it a reliable scooter.

 

[Kin]

Gah, this is good info to hear. It should have occurred to me that there'd be more usable scooter e-waste in lovely california than north carolina or boston.

So the only downside is that this option will be more finicky, because I would need to know the specifics of the scooter and I'd want to inspect it. I'm neither particularly familiar with the sea of scooters, nor likely to be on hand to inspect it. But, if the seller was known to be reliable, then I see no problem.

The upside is that if I can decide on a course of action she'll be fine waiting a few months to actually find the right used scooter and time the purchase sometime within a month of my visit.

I don't think she has any expectations of going faster than 30mph, more likely 15-25. Less if the area is uphill. I hope this is within reasonable expectations.

 

[dogman dan]

Much will depend on the actual grade of the hill she will ride. You might try to get that on map my ride or whatever. If there are no grades above 5%, anything will get up it. 10% might be more difficult. CA law may mean licencing of a more powerful scooter.

Battery reliablility should be pretty good with a largish pingbattery lifepo4, such as a 48v 20 ah. Especially for a ride that short, but you could use something like a cellman battery if he gets a supply of the cells again. A spare charger of course, already on hand.

Reliablility of the bike itself is the rub. Like the bike kits, same flaky connectors are often the problem. If you can't go there and work over every wire in the bike, making sure all the contacts are properly done, and no wires are chafing the frame or cover pieces, reliability will be chinese grade. Motor and controller, if it lasts two weeks, should last a long time.

 

[IBScootn]

Here in EV heaven (Colorado), low power scooters are anything above an ebike and below 4.5KW motor. You pay $5 every three years in registration fees. Wonder what it is there?

Main problems with cheap mopeds are connections, ign switches, and over heating motors loosening hall sensor magnets. So make to sure get a big enough motor that you won't be overheating it, put dielectric grease on all contacts to prevent corrosion, make sure ign sw isn't switching pack voltage (use relay instead).

 

[Lessss]

Find a dead gasser moped. Remove the gas engine. Order a motor hook up a battery controller etc and go.

[youtube]G7wid_8k_7k[/youtube]
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[Kin]

Hey everyone. It looks like right now I'm leaning towards taking my time and looking for good used deals, and perhaps putting together something nice for her one of the times soon when I get over there.

I don't see any killer option (like, "Look here! This brand is pretty reliable at $1200 new and $700 used + throw in $300 of good batteries."), but I am encouraged to know there's a good market of used e-scooters/mopeds.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[IBScootn]

Hopefully you can find something similar to this kind of deal:
http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/mcy/3171108085.html

I would expect anything that was somewhat reliable was $3,000+ new. There are usually three to four E-mopeds on Craigslist at any time in my area. So finding a specific model at a reccomended deal price is not easy and why people weren't providing the specifics that you were hoping for.

I would be careful going with the cheap x-treme XM-610 or 700. But a good forum for checking out reviews on low power scooters is:http://visforvoltage.org/

Cheers

 

[Kin]

That's a perfect example. Thanks, sir. (Or ma'am. Wow. I tend to assume people here are male, and it's mostly true, but terribly perpetuating to continue to assume.)

 

[cal3thousand]

Didn't see this thread since I last posted, but here's a couple examples of possible rides under $500:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/mcy/3207285994.html

http://ventura.craigslist.org/mcy/3141595236.html



That XB-700Li... I swear, I've seen a couple of the 500s going for $50 each. It happens every once in a while. I was keeping a CL app search for cheap scooters for side money since they are so cheap. But as someone else pointed out, the market for scooters is anemic. :|

 

[Dauntless]

Dang, thought I had posted this. Guiness lists this as the cheapest car ever, 'Time' called it one of the 50 worst. But wasn't supposed to be a CAR, really, more like a WWI era golf cart. Very popular with the luxury hotels of the time. The fifth wheel is what the engine powers.

In the 1920's Briggs and Stratton sold out the rights to the Flyer along with a supply of engines to a company that wished to also market an electric version. When the gas engines ran out, they refused to order more, but danged if anyone would buy their electric.

Can't imagine they'll allow that WENG on the road. If so, what about all the replicas of the Flyer that people have built?