Long range Electric scooter adventure.

[richtolly]

Hi all. I'm currently planning a trip from my home town in Suffolk to Barcelona Spain on Evo 1KW 48V electric scooters. Me and a good mate are riding the 1000 miles in 4 days in September hopefully doing 300 miles per day in 100 mile stints taking 3 hours with a 2 hour charge in between. Our trip takes us through London down to Dover and then down through France and Spain to arrive in Barcelona. I'm currently working on fitting the first scooter with enough battery power to get us the 100 miles between charges. We'll be bulk charging at food stops and hotels in the evenings. If this years trip is a sucess I'm considering making it an annual challenge for anyone who wants to have a go and see if they can make the 1000 mile trip in the 4 days. I know this year's run isn't going to be a walk in the park! Anyone got any thoughts on my idea or any suggestions on this year's trip. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ykick]

Cool idea. Not to be a party pooper but have you ever ridden just one 100 mile 3hr stint (33mph avg.) and recharged in 2 hours? Seems like that would require major charging gear and equally serious power outlets?

 

[richtolly]

No Ykick the most I've done in one hit is about a third of that and it was a lot of fun. Saw the same scenery 6 times and all whilst standing as i have no seat on the test scooter, but it was still a blast. Yes carrying the charger is going to be a mission but in in the name of adventure. Let's hope the outlets are up to the output we need. I can hear fuses popping and circuit breakers clicking already!!! It's never an easy task being a pioneer!

 

[Karmannghiagirl]

Maybe you can figure out a way to use electric car charging stations?

 

[WeeChumlee]

I like your spirit but must say I am a bit dubious about your time frame.
33mph average on a scooter for 9hrs per day sounds like a pretty steep target, even if the roads and paths your are going to use where nice and smooth - and a lot of them will be far from that.
I think it is great that you are going to try and I wish you the very best of luck. I do hope though that you have a "logistics manager" (which in my case is the chick driving my van)

 

[Ianhill]

Very interesting and intreging challenging to say the least
I run my 36v 1000w motor at 50v 3kw and it still only does 32mph downhill, the extra amps help keep the revs high under load at the cost of extra heat and power usage, I would say im on the limit of speed and reliability for my brushed motor and still only average 20mph on a 8inch tyre 5-1 gearing and only weighs 23.5kg ive got a thread here.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=78948
Theres a few vids u may find of interest have a look. so a 33mph average on this 48v motor would need 60v and more without the extra weight added.
I think for a 100 mile run you will need 8 200ah trojan deep cycle batterys in series to run the scooter then for charging you have two options charge the battery's from both scooters in 2s 8p fashion with a 200amp+ forklift charger then you would need 16 6v cells for 2 48v packs and would take at least 8 hours to full charge from empty and you woukd need a 410v 3phase supply or you could series them all up to 96v and try charge from a higher voltage source of some sort the battery's would be around 10 million watt hour and weigh a ton the scooters defiantly won't be lifted or handle the extra weight even.
If you change the time scale to 14 days 20mph average 50mile rides and use 6p 12s 8000mah lipo that battery would be around 2 and half million watt hour weigh a lot less than batterys above the chargers will fit in a large rucksacks but it won't be a 2 hour charge without big money it may be cheaper to buy a train ticket but I don't think it be so much fun, you will need spares too or it be suicide. A brushless motor would be my first choice for a long range scooter.

 

[SlowCo]

Anyone got any thoughts on my idea or any suggestions on this year's trip.

Yes, take at least many more days to do it as you're never going to get 33 mph average on 1000W

Was your test ride also 33 mph on average? Including hill climbs? Because to average 33mph all the way to Barcelona you'll need to have a top speed of 40+mph. And if the scooter you're talking about is the same kind as I have I wouldn't want to risk riding 40+mph in traffic.
Are the scooters road registered and insured as such? If not, chances are you'll be stopped by police many times. And even if they let you go and allow you to keep the scooters that will get the average speed down quite a bit.

I'm afraid your plan needs a little more reality... :wink:

 

[richtolly]

It's a great idea for a challenge though hey?! I'm thinking maybe 4 days is a push but 5 days should be the target! I love your forklift charger ianhill that'd surely give the cops an excuse to pull you over towing that down the road!! Yes I considered brushless, not sure yet though as always money is the deciding factor. Speed during the test ride was 24mph sat nav speed and that was on my off road test scooter. I'm on the verge of figuring it out (I hope lol) Who fancies a challenge?

 

[ElectricGod]

Have a support car that follows you with spare battery packs. It is improbable that you will be able to maintain the schedule you described without spare batteries that are ready and waiting when you run down. Also, even with serious charging gear that can dump current into your batteries at faster than discharge rates, you will still most likely need to wait til your packs cool down before charging them and again after you charge them at very high current rates. What about if your packs C rates are for discharge, but the charge C rate is much lower. You may be able to pull 20 amps continuous, but only charge at 5 amps. Your charge times go up significantly if that's the case.

Wattage...
I have an electric scooter that used to run on 48 volts. The scooter at the time weighed about 90 pounds and carried my 240 pounds. 30+ mph was equal to 1900 watts. Obviously lose weight and your wattage will go down too, but wind resistance starts becoming your biggest power hog after about 20mph. The faster you go, means more current draw. I was able to go 20mph on about 12-15 amps, but 32mph was a solid 40 amps. I have upgraded several things, but 40mph is 60-65 amps. My whole point is...travel slower so your charge lasts longer. You might be able to meet your charging schedule at 20mph, but you will also need to add a day since your speed will be much less.

 

[Ianhill]

Let's forget the fact you will be crossing country's and the rozzas will be hunting u like a granny looking for bingo if they issue a warning to you the first time they will watch you to see if u ride off to issue u a heafty fine and 6 points on your driving licence if u have one or when old enough/applied for it.
All that aside lets say its an organized event and your not giving the police heads up on a forum how much would the budget be as its all numbers that can be worked we not going to the moon and back but I think the challenge will be a fun one with a decent scooter the times I stated above are achievable if your handy with a spanner or two.

 

[richtolly]

Discharge and recharge C rates are well within what I'm planning for. Discharging at 1/3 of the C rating and recharging at 3/4 of charge C rate. I already know I can get 90 miles on one charge with the batteries I'm using, that's the limit that I can get in the standard battery box. My road tests have proved my theory! That is at 24 mph though. Little tweaking and I may just cracking it! It's not going to be easy I grant you that! Oh and we're fully Road legal don't worry about that side of it. Insured licenced registered etc.

 

[richtolly]

Stop cheating for next year's challenge trying to figure out what I'm running, lol
Budget say max £2000 no more! 5 days to get there. Ride through the night if you have to

 

[Ianhill]

Out of interest what is your battery setup weight of scooter ? I got 15 miles comfortably with plenty of steep ups and downs of the valleys off a 16ah 12s/50.4v lipo pack with 20% left, I think I can do 20miles ish if I eco drive the terrain was more flat and the wind was light. If I wanted one more thing from my scooter be a nice 50mile range so I can have a good day out up the mountains that be a 12s 6p 8000mah lipo pack my PSU is 12.6v 187amps I have three of these I can series them to 38v and deadly current so I just need 6 more of my lipo batts and a few icharger 4010duos and i can then balance charge in under two hours and at the 3/4 10a rate just below 1c

 

[richtolly]

Electricgod I only weigh 70kg or will do by September. If necessary we'll do 200 miles a day at 24mph it's possible. May pass out in Barcelona through exhaustion but what a ride getting there! I'm thinking if I can be as light as possible scooter and me, up the voltage and keep the current reigned in to find just the right balance to keep us a reasonable speed without drawing too much power. Maybe draw 22A at 60v or something like that.

 

[Ianhill]

When i first heard this i laughed till I had a little leak and thought what a mad man lock him up in a straight jacket.
But then u think of the full length of Australia electric race and think yeah its with in reach for most if we all used a combined effort, initiative and imagination anything is possible we break boundary's everyday so we just have to box clever.

 

[richtolly]

Thanks Ian! E3000 ride to Spain? Nice long board Matt! Reckon it could make the 1000 miles? OK so I've decided to play it a bit safe for my mates sanity and gone for the 5 days idea. 200 miles a day in 2 stints, apart from day 1 which is gonna be a long one! 250 miles that day. Also day 5 is slightly shorter so we get a chance to soak up the Barcelona atmosphere without being too knackered! This also means we've only got one charge on the road as we'll charge at the hotel of an evening. It makes sense. Was thinking of cutting our UK riding by crossing overnight to Hook of Holland to arrive charged and refreshed ready for the long ride but haven't decided on that one yet. I'm already looking forward to dipping my toes in the Med!

 

[4LivesPerGallon]

Hi all. I'm currently planning a trip from my home town in Suffolk to Barcelona Spain on Evo 1KW 48V electric scooters. Me and a good mate are riding the 1000 miles in 4 days in September hopefully doing 300 miles per day in 100 mile stints taking 3 hours with a 2 hour charge in between. Our trip takes us through London down to Dover and then down through France and Spain to arrive in Barcelona. I'm currently working on fitting the first scooter with enough battery power to get us the 100 miles between charges. We'll be bulk charging at food stops and hotels in the evenings. If this years trip is a sucess I'm considering making it an annual challenge for anyone who wants to have a go and see if they can make the 1000 mile trip in the 4 days. I know this year's run isn't going to be a walk in the park! Anyone got any thoughts on my idea or any suggestions on this year's trip. Thanks in advance.

OP: Please cross-post this in Adventure Rider, where you will get excellent advice. Also, look up a recent article at Green Car Reports as there are a few who have done long-range electric rides, and the interviews will be of help.

 

[richtolly]

None of you intrepid adventurers willing to join us to make history (of sorts)?

 

[Ianhill]

Iam afraid my multistory lipos won't have enough charge cycles left to make the journey back
Ive looked at charge stations and they have three supply's
1 slow charge single phase 230vac 13/16amp 3kw
2 single or multiphase 230vac 32amp 7kw-22kw so 1 or 3 phases of 230vac 7kw
3 3 phase 410vac 63a 43kw
So if you have a registered EV in UK I imagine u can apply for the charge pass and have access to these wonderful voltages free along your trip, 230vac 32amp looks a good choice for a nice 20s fast charging setup.

 

[4LivesPerGallon]

Hi all. I'm currently planning a trip from my home town in Suffolk to Barcelona Spain on Evo 1KW 48V electric scooters. Me and a good mate are riding the 1000 miles in 4 days in September hopefully doing 300 miles per day in 100 mile stints taking 3 hours with a 2 hour charge in between. Our trip takes us through London down to Dover and then down through France and Spain to arrive in Barcelona. I'm currently working on fitting the first scooter with enough battery power to get us the 100 miles between charges. We'll be bulk charging at food stops and hotels in the evenings. If this years trip is a sucess I'm considering making it an annual challenge for anyone who wants to have a go and see if they can make the 1000 mile trip in the 4 days. I know this year's run isn't going to be a walk in the park! Anyone got any thoughts on my idea or any suggestions on this year's trip. Thanks in advance.

OP: Please cross-post this in Adventure Rider, where you will get excellent advice. Also, look up a recent article at Green Car Reports as there are a few who have done long-range electric rides, and the interviews will be of help.

Long-distance rides on electric motorcycles: here's how they do it
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1103094_long-distance-rides-on-electric-motorcycles-heres-how-they-do-it

 

[richtolly]

Can't see any stand up scooters there having done the trip!

 

[4LivesPerGallon]

Can't see any stand up scooters there having done the trip!

Didn't know that was the plan. Have gone many miles on stand up Currie Flyers, which had no suspension, and was very hard on the knees. The practical limit of "no suspension" stand up scooter imo is 4 kms on one trip.