LightningRods
1 MW
I’ve had my eye on the Motoped for years, mostly because of its clever jackshaft design. I hesitated because it had already been converted to electric a few times and the Motoped company never responded to any requests for information that I sent them. Finally a customer sent me his Motoped Pro to rework and that settled it.
The customer, Ian, had already paid for an electric conversion using a Golden Motor 3kW mid drive motor. This actually should have been fine, but for some reason was very disappointing. Not helping the situation was a 50 lb LiPo pouch battery pack that I nicknamed “The Footlocker”. Over the course of more than a year Ian and I kicked around the idea of a bigger controller for the 3kW or a 5kw GM mid drive with even more controller. I didn’t recommend my own Big Block back then because I didn’t feel it would be enough of a performance bump from the GM 3kW.
While we were deliberating about the Motoped, good things were happening to the Big Block. Alan Hu at Electric Race Technologies hooked the Big Block up to several different ASI controllers and started getting crazy power and rpm out of it. Before I knew it my 6000 watt 4500 rpm motor was a 9000 watt 8500 rpm motor. And then I found a new factory that makes an Internal Permanent Magnet motor that is more advanced than the old motor, produces hall signals that high tech controllers like, and has imbedded magnets that won’t come loose when you scream the snot out of the motor. Plus the biggest of the new motors is wider than a Big Block and weighs 32% more. Enter the XL Big Block. Test runs on an EEB produced performance that Alan referred to as “frightening”. The XL Big Block seemed ready for the Motoped.
Most builders who have done a Motoped electric conversion have used both the upper and lower gas engine mounts on the Motoped frame. I've always felt that the gas engine sits too high in the frame and so the electric versions did the same. I wanted my motor in line with the driveline. So I used the lower frame mount as the upper and designed a hard rubber split block to grab the frame backbone for the lower mount. I also designed a battery pack that wasn't just a cube.
Here is a 3D printed PLA mockup of the drive. You can see the PLA print of the lower split block here. I'll pull a RTV mold of these pattern parts and cast the blocks in semi rigid 2 part urethane. Most of the sheets will be laser cut 6061 aluminum.
The mock up installed on the frame. I made a dummy motor using the lightweight side cases and spacers. The 13 lb XLBB would break the plastic parts.
I also printed PLA tests of the new sprockets that I designed for this build. By converting to #219 racing kart chain I gained 40% more reduction in the same sprocket diameter compared to the Motoped 1/2" chain. #219 is good to 20 hp.
The 3D printed sprockets are exactly like the metal versions will be so the chains can be installed to check chainline and sprocket clearances. The final sprockets will be laser cut from T303 stainless steel.
This build is ongoing so more progress photos will be coming very soon.
The customer, Ian, had already paid for an electric conversion using a Golden Motor 3kW mid drive motor. This actually should have been fine, but for some reason was very disappointing. Not helping the situation was a 50 lb LiPo pouch battery pack that I nicknamed “The Footlocker”. Over the course of more than a year Ian and I kicked around the idea of a bigger controller for the 3kW or a 5kw GM mid drive with even more controller. I didn’t recommend my own Big Block back then because I didn’t feel it would be enough of a performance bump from the GM 3kW.
While we were deliberating about the Motoped, good things were happening to the Big Block. Alan Hu at Electric Race Technologies hooked the Big Block up to several different ASI controllers and started getting crazy power and rpm out of it. Before I knew it my 6000 watt 4500 rpm motor was a 9000 watt 8500 rpm motor. And then I found a new factory that makes an Internal Permanent Magnet motor that is more advanced than the old motor, produces hall signals that high tech controllers like, and has imbedded magnets that won’t come loose when you scream the snot out of the motor. Plus the biggest of the new motors is wider than a Big Block and weighs 32% more. Enter the XL Big Block. Test runs on an EEB produced performance that Alan referred to as “frightening”. The XL Big Block seemed ready for the Motoped.
Most builders who have done a Motoped electric conversion have used both the upper and lower gas engine mounts on the Motoped frame. I've always felt that the gas engine sits too high in the frame and so the electric versions did the same. I wanted my motor in line with the driveline. So I used the lower frame mount as the upper and designed a hard rubber split block to grab the frame backbone for the lower mount. I also designed a battery pack that wasn't just a cube.
Here is a 3D printed PLA mockup of the drive. You can see the PLA print of the lower split block here. I'll pull a RTV mold of these pattern parts and cast the blocks in semi rigid 2 part urethane. Most of the sheets will be laser cut 6061 aluminum.
The mock up installed on the frame. I made a dummy motor using the lightweight side cases and spacers. The 13 lb XLBB would break the plastic parts.
I also printed PLA tests of the new sprockets that I designed for this build. By converting to #219 racing kart chain I gained 40% more reduction in the same sprocket diameter compared to the Motoped 1/2" chain. #219 is good to 20 hp.
The 3D printed sprockets are exactly like the metal versions will be so the chains can be installed to check chainline and sprocket clearances. The final sprockets will be laser cut from T303 stainless steel.
This build is ongoing so more progress photos will be coming very soon.