My 1st EV, a one off roll your own

About 15 years ago I decided I wanted to design a little electric scooter that would have the potential to beat a Harley to 40 mph. I can tell you first hand those HD riders are not amused by a electric scooter taking them out.

Etec motor with a peak hp of 25.7, 48 volt, 400 amp controller and (4) Odyssey PC-680 AGM batteries. Range was only 6.5 miles. I built this before lithium cells but now will probably swap out the lead acid AGMs for a bunch of 18650 cells which should save 50 lbs at the same range.



This is my nephew and my dad in the background checking out the little monster. Had this scooter been a rodeo bull, it would have a perfect record, 5 friends/family tried to ride it, and even after a good preflight on the instant torque characteristics of an electric motor, all 5 lost control on take off.

rjcbox said:

oh, you can't tease us like that and not post a video of that little thing blowing away a Harley lol

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I'd love to but at the time it predates GoPro. Love the fact that you have 10.8 kW of solar.

I do have a GoPro video of the car in my avatar having a 2 second romp from 40 to 80 mph on a uphill on ramp to a freeway on a grade. It is about the only place I can go full throttle for 2 full seconds. Doesn't have as much power as a P85D (427 producing 526 hp) but it weighs 3146 lbs less and instead of 7.14 lbs per hp, it is 3.40 lbs per hp. A real hoot to drive.

tomas said:

You made my day, that is awesome! I'm selling my ICE scooter (aprilia) because I just don't want any more ICEs around... planned to revert to 100% bicycle in 2 wheel weather... but if you were to publish plans for this I might have a new hobby!!!! We could have an annual rodeo challenge!

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Did the rodeo thing with the gas scooter folks, results as you would expect. So the next year they decided to have a 50 mile run on historic Route 66 in Arizona with the thought that would curb my performance. I decided to go for it anyway, even though my 720 whr AGM batteries were only good for 6 1/2 miles, I decided to tow a battery trailer with (6) 8 volt golf cart batteries (remember this is pre-lithium) for an additional 7920 whr, but at a weight penalty of my 105 lb scooter hauling my 245 lb body and 495 lbs of batteries and trailer, total 845 lbs. The Etec is one strong motor.