MrDude_1
100 kW
So this is my build of a 40mph electric GoPed.
How this came about:
For most of my life, my hobbies were building cars, electronics and motorcycles.
I have ridden motorcycles for all of my adult life. I built/raced cars for all of my teenage and early 20s. I got bored with it, and I sold all my cars. I spent a little over seven years of my life with no car, just a bunch of motorcycles.
I always moved from one bike to another, usually upgrading in power or performance in one way or another. Until I bought a new 08 CBR1000. I rode that for 3 years, putting 75,000+ miles on it. No, that’s not a typo. I rode it a lot. Then I bought a 4wheeled vehicle, met the woman who became my wife, and rode less.
A couple years ago, I decided to get a second job to save some money up for our wedding. I found out about a local service that took a gas powered GoPed to bars, picked up drunk people in their own cars, with the scooter in the trunk, then rode it back. Given that I love two wheels, I like riding at night, and I can deal with drunk people easily... it sounded perfect.
It was fun. I didn’t make much money, but I also didn’t spend money when working. I got to ride all over town on a GoPed, and loved riding them.
Then some dumb drunk almost ran me over. He didn’t as I am alert and pay attention, but as I was pulling out of his way I tripped, hit my knee, and hurt it. Long story short, That was my last night doing that, and I didn’t go back to the gym or anything for 2 years.
Still, I like stand up scooters now. I know they're "legal" here in the City of Charleston, as long as they're GoPeds. The exception was placed there for that same company I worked for.
So I could just have bought a gas powered GoPed, mod it a little for speed, and be done with it.
Except for one little thing. I like building electronic projects. I sometimes commute by bicycle, and an ebike would be a natural things to build.. I SHOULD be doing it... but I have wanted to build an electric motorcycle for years. The only thing stopping me is the cost. To do it the way I want, would be at least $25,000 by the time it was done. Sure it would be "bike show winning" quality... I could tone it down to be more reasonable, and then I could afford it, but I can’t bring myself to do a project that isn’t what I want.
So I decided I would build an electric GoPed. Fun. Unique. and a good start for everything I need to know for my future motorcycle build.
Straight out the gate There was a lot to overcome. First of all, I needed to buy one. Since I was already planning to heavily modify it, a used one seemed like the best bet.
I won’t go into the full hell of finding one, but let’s just say the main GoPed forum disappeared.. it’s like the ebike world if endless-sphere went away.. everything points to it, and its gone.
cutting to the end... I purchased a GoPed ESR750 off eBay.
Pre-build:
I rode the stock goped to work a few times. Very fun, but it had issues.
First issue was the rear brake... there wasn’t one. GoPed only put front brakes on ESRs from the factory. Their add-on rear brake looked tacked-on and hung off the wrong side of the frame.
So I modded the wheel to fit a disc, found the thinnest caliper I could, and thinned it as much as I could, and fit it all together.
Next issue is the pole/handlebars were a little loose. Added a clamp to the bottom, and fixed that.
I also fixed the throttle (housing cracked), battery wires(loose crimps) and a few other things (handgrips, etc)
I now had a solid base. a GoPed that I could BEARLY ride to and from work on the stock lead-acid batteries. Fun, but it slowed a lot before I got to work. Even though it’s a max of 35mph between home and work, I had to stick to the sidewalk because I maxxed at 20mph and was going about 15 or less by the time I was at work. Eventually It wouldn’t make the entire trip at all.
So for my first upgrade, I did a little controller research. I figured out my controller will work with 33v. So I stuck 8 bricks of 4s lipo in the battery tray. I also added a bright LED front light, a tail-light, and a voltmeter. I cleaned up the motor and checked the brushes. The scooter was much improved. It would hold 20mph easily, and get there faster. I’ve touched 25 a couple times, but that was on a slight downslope. All would be great, except I was now slowly cooking the brushed motor. Not good.
So the next step is where I am at now. And where this build thread begins.
The build:
It’s hard to take a project as complex as this and lay it out in a format that makes sense for someone to read with others commenting.. but I am going to try anyway... I have a lot of ideas that are how I think I am going to do something.. but I am holding back most of that until I actually try to do them.. otherwise this thread would just be full of random "hope this idea works" theories.
There are several sub projects:
Here are the stats on the final project build:
Motor Build:
I was going to run a sensored 80-85 motor. The motor was sold to me unassembled by Thud. He was kind enough to part with one of his 80-85 motors and include everything I should need to put it together. Hall sensors, paper, and all...
This is my first time winding a motor, so feel free to laugh, but give me any tips you can. I know my first try at this sucks. Badly. I will redo it and start over. I will keep doing this motor, trying to get it better and neater, until I get the hang of it.
Until then… I just found a motor on here for sale… so I’ll buy that motor and keep moving forward.
How this came about:
For most of my life, my hobbies were building cars, electronics and motorcycles.
I have ridden motorcycles for all of my adult life. I built/raced cars for all of my teenage and early 20s. I got bored with it, and I sold all my cars. I spent a little over seven years of my life with no car, just a bunch of motorcycles.
I always moved from one bike to another, usually upgrading in power or performance in one way or another. Until I bought a new 08 CBR1000. I rode that for 3 years, putting 75,000+ miles on it. No, that’s not a typo. I rode it a lot. Then I bought a 4wheeled vehicle, met the woman who became my wife, and rode less.
A couple years ago, I decided to get a second job to save some money up for our wedding. I found out about a local service that took a gas powered GoPed to bars, picked up drunk people in their own cars, with the scooter in the trunk, then rode it back. Given that I love two wheels, I like riding at night, and I can deal with drunk people easily... it sounded perfect.
It was fun. I didn’t make much money, but I also didn’t spend money when working. I got to ride all over town on a GoPed, and loved riding them.
Then some dumb drunk almost ran me over. He didn’t as I am alert and pay attention, but as I was pulling out of his way I tripped, hit my knee, and hurt it. Long story short, That was my last night doing that, and I didn’t go back to the gym or anything for 2 years.
Still, I like stand up scooters now. I know they're "legal" here in the City of Charleston, as long as they're GoPeds. The exception was placed there for that same company I worked for.
So I could just have bought a gas powered GoPed, mod it a little for speed, and be done with it.
Except for one little thing. I like building electronic projects. I sometimes commute by bicycle, and an ebike would be a natural things to build.. I SHOULD be doing it... but I have wanted to build an electric motorcycle for years. The only thing stopping me is the cost. To do it the way I want, would be at least $25,000 by the time it was done. Sure it would be "bike show winning" quality... I could tone it down to be more reasonable, and then I could afford it, but I can’t bring myself to do a project that isn’t what I want.
So I decided I would build an electric GoPed. Fun. Unique. and a good start for everything I need to know for my future motorcycle build.
Straight out the gate There was a lot to overcome. First of all, I needed to buy one. Since I was already planning to heavily modify it, a used one seemed like the best bet.
I won’t go into the full hell of finding one, but let’s just say the main GoPed forum disappeared.. it’s like the ebike world if endless-sphere went away.. everything points to it, and its gone.
cutting to the end... I purchased a GoPed ESR750 off eBay.
Pre-build:
I rode the stock goped to work a few times. Very fun, but it had issues.
First issue was the rear brake... there wasn’t one. GoPed only put front brakes on ESRs from the factory. Their add-on rear brake looked tacked-on and hung off the wrong side of the frame.
So I modded the wheel to fit a disc, found the thinnest caliper I could, and thinned it as much as I could, and fit it all together.
Next issue is the pole/handlebars were a little loose. Added a clamp to the bottom, and fixed that.
I also fixed the throttle (housing cracked), battery wires(loose crimps) and a few other things (handgrips, etc)
I now had a solid base. a GoPed that I could BEARLY ride to and from work on the stock lead-acid batteries. Fun, but it slowed a lot before I got to work. Even though it’s a max of 35mph between home and work, I had to stick to the sidewalk because I maxxed at 20mph and was going about 15 or less by the time I was at work. Eventually It wouldn’t make the entire trip at all.
So for my first upgrade, I did a little controller research. I figured out my controller will work with 33v. So I stuck 8 bricks of 4s lipo in the battery tray. I also added a bright LED front light, a tail-light, and a voltmeter. I cleaned up the motor and checked the brushes. The scooter was much improved. It would hold 20mph easily, and get there faster. I’ve touched 25 a couple times, but that was on a slight downslope. All would be great, except I was now slowly cooking the brushed motor. Not good.
So the next step is where I am at now. And where this build thread begins.
The build:
It’s hard to take a project as complex as this and lay it out in a format that makes sense for someone to read with others commenting.. but I am going to try anyway... I have a lot of ideas that are how I think I am going to do something.. but I am holding back most of that until I actually try to do them.. otherwise this thread would just be full of random "hope this idea works" theories.
There are several sub projects:
- Building the motor.
- Building battery pack.
- Testing the motor/controller.
- Modifying frame for motor mounting.
- Building spacer for deck.
- Mounting/wiring controller, lights and controls
- Test riding it. / revising controller settings / etc.
- building backpack light
- building backpack/bulk charger
- Final details, front/rear fender, etc...
Here are the stats on the final project build:
- 16s4p 20ah pack, charged to 66v
- Sensored 80-100 motor - wound with 6.5 turns 14ga-two-in-hand - with 3d printed impeller/fan for improved cooling.
- Lyen 12FET Extreme Modder Controller
- Currently geared for 6900 motor RPM at 40mph... this is easily changed as needed.
- Backpack will have 4 BRIGHT-BRIGHT-OMG-I-CANT-LOOK-AT-IT COB LED array lights flashing a holy-moly-I’m-gonna-have-a-seizure-pattern.
- Backpack will also be setup with 2 meanwell SP-500-27 supplies putting out 33v each... for a nice quick but under 1c bulk charge.
Motor Build:
I was going to run a sensored 80-85 motor. The motor was sold to me unassembled by Thud. He was kind enough to part with one of his 80-85 motors and include everything I should need to put it together. Hall sensors, paper, and all...
This is my first time winding a motor, so feel free to laugh, but give me any tips you can. I know my first try at this sucks. Badly. I will redo it and start over. I will keep doing this motor, trying to get it better and neater, until I get the hang of it.
Until then… I just found a motor on here for sale… so I’ll buy that motor and keep moving forward.