New to the Forum... G'day!

jonescg

jonescg

100 MW
Joined
Aug 7, 2009
Messages
4,336
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Hello everybody,

My name is Chris and I don't know if there is a specific thread for introducing yourself... So I'll do it here anyway.

I live in Perth, Western Australia. I love racing motorcycles, despite not being particularly good at it :) I own a CBR1100XX Honda Blackbird which does prettymuch everything I ask it to.

My E-Motorcycle project is to convert a 1985 Suzuki RG250 Gamma F series into a track-carving lightning bolt. Some photos are attached for your laughing pleasure. The chassis with fairings weighs 60 kg total. The original kerb weight of the RG was 130 kg, and put out nearly 70 hp. Not bad for a two-smoker! If I can get close to this and have a race competitive bike for less than $6000 I'll be a happy lad.

I've been in touch with Steve (of Jossbikes fame) and got some good advice from him. My background is in natural products chemistry, so electrical engineering stopped at highschool physics.

My idea so far is to use two AGNI motors, (start with one, then add another when I can afford it) and as many batteries as I can fit. Probably 20 Ah at 96 V, or some combination of these figures. Kelly controller looks good, but will take any advice if better ones are out there.

So hello, and nice work on creating such a cool resource!

CHRIS

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Bucket is where the motor will fit... just trying to find room for batteries!
 
Chris,

Welcome. It looks like you've got a good donor bike to start. A word of caution though....Unless you're looking for a high performance ride just around the block, you need a lot more than 20ah at 96v. 20ah at 96v is 1920wh, which realistically leaves you not a lot more than 1500wh of usable energy. 1hp is 750 watts, so you're looking at 2hp continuous for 1 hour with your 20ah pack.

I'm not saying what you want isn't possible. You just really need to look at what range you need along with a realistic power consumption in order to size your battery pack. I wouldn't consider less than 3kwh for any useful e-moto pack, but would really prefer more like 7-10kwh.

btw, I like the 1-2 approach with the Agni's. I plan something similar, but starting with a platform that is much lower weight, so closer to a bicycle than a motorcycle.

John
 
John in CR said:
Chris,

Welcome. It looks like you've got a good donor bike to start. A word of caution though....Unless you're looking for a high performance ride just around the block, you need a lot more than 20ah at 96v. 20ah at 96v is 1920wh, which realistically leaves you not a lot more than 1500wh of usable energy. 1hp is 750 watts, so you're looking at 2hp continuous for 1 hour with your 20ah pack...
John
Click to expand...

Thanks John,

I'm really limited with the room available on the frame, and based on the battery backs LifeBatt and the like offer, I doubt I can physically fit much more than this on the bike. 72 V is a popular running voltage for the Agni 95, so I might be able to cram a few more in parallell. My desire for 96 V stems from keeping currents as low as possible. Less chance of a fire that way :) I'm measuring up the frame with room for fairings and I might be able to squeeze 30 Ah at an absolute stretch, but that's a lot of Lithium (translates into lots and lots of coin). The upside is the light weight bike frame - I won't need as many amps to get it up to speed. Fun and games. Just waiting for a respectable supplier of Agni's closest Australia. Then the real money spending can start!
 
why not consider using mark's new 602 enertrac hubmotor. they got it to 80 mph with 38 40Ah thundersky packs. go read his thread on the lifan 200 build.

using the hubmotor will leave you space for batteries. you may be able to cut open the frame for more space for batteries too.

if you talk to jozzer, tell him we miss him.
 
Hello Chris. I haven't converted a motorcycle yet, but I am a fan of the 2-motor approach. I believe it can help range by using two motors for accelleration, and only the most efficient motor for cruise. Of course for racing you'd use them both all the time. That being said, here two pics from my files. A Kawasaki 750 with 2 ETEKs and a light bike with a 5XXX hubmotor and a cylindrical motor with a left-side drivechain and jackshaft.
 

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Drunkskunk said:
Welcome to the forum.
Those AGNI look like good motors.
Have you got a power range you're looking to hit?
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Something in the area of 45-50 hp. I want a top speed of 200 km/h if possible, but will settle for 160 km/h.
 
Args, first a 900ss and now a gamma.. you guys are killing me. I guess mebbe they're not as uncommon down there eh.

BTW- WELCOME. From another fellow m/c fan ES member. Here's that av blown up for anybody interested.. was using it for a desktop bg a while ago. IIRC it was an American rider on a (relatively unsafe) Chinese road course who did not even know he scraped the wall until after the race when an interviewer asked him about it and he looked at his leathers.
 

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Drunkskunk said:
40-50hp is 30,000 to 37,000 watts.
If you want to run full power for 30 minutes, you would need a 20,000 watt hour battery. Thats a massive battery. 250-400 lbs worth for lipo or LiFePO4.
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Really? That much? Wow. Man, electric bikes really are gay. What was I thinking?? I might go back to the old petrol powered bikes afterall...
:p

Seriously though, I know it will need a lot of Coulombs to get a bike up to that speed. I'm starting small and building up. A lap of Wanneroo curcuit (2.5 km I think) takes me 72 seconds on the Blackbird. The average race for most lower class racing is 5 laps, so 12.5 km at full noise, taking 7 minutes isn't exactly 12 kWh territory. But in time we'll see more e-class racing in WA.

CHRIS
 
As far a circuit racing, I think the one lap time attacks are the best venue for the present range/$$ level of bats. Time attacks are gaining in popularity for younger ICE car performance enthusiasts. Even in the ICE cars you can do it a lot more affordable style than the std. roadrace practice of banging doors, going thru piles of tires, and stacks of brake pads.

Maybe not as much ultimate fun as RR, but a better fun to dollar ratio. There are guys out there doing TT/attacks that could never afford road racing. Could do the same for EV's.. get electrics built and competing that could never be built do a 20 lap sprint races.

Suit the race venue to the vehicle characteristics, the other way around is too expensive..
 
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