7 Build Your Own Electric Motorcycle - FULL - 7 Batteries

[@aorusaki]

what an AMAZING resource. Wooow. God bless you and your work. What wonders the internet can do.

[@FBPrepping]

Exactly what I´ve been looking for. My fabrication skills are way too limited (and my tools), and finding FeLiPO4 batteries (the best for my application) is nearly impossible in my country under the current circumstances. I bought one of those for my motorcycle and I was very happy with the result. Two years and a half, and ran like new, while I was condemned to buy yearly one of lead-acid, with a "T" shape configuration that was nearly impossible to find in stores. I´m subscribing to your channel, Ben. Ride on!.

[@fasteddie67]

Thanks for sharing your videos! They are very comprehensive and you break it down barney-style.

[@ehsrock]

Hello Mr Nelson, thx for the videos. I have a electric scooter that uses a 72v 20 amp batterie, I work as Uber eats in France but my autonomie is very short, between 30 and 50 kilometers per charge, that takes up to 6 or 8 hours to charge, i was wondering if I could use 3 x 24v 100 amp car (motorhome) deep cycle batteries to generate 72v and more amps. Do you think it could work?

[@LavaLaugh]

I am a bit late to this, but you propably could, if you put them in serial and have the space, you also have to make sure to have something solid like lead acid gel or lithium ion batteries. There are also a lot of other things around the corner like a different controller etc.

[@EvenNinegaming]

I've been working on a build, and after doing some math I had massive sticker shock at some batteries I was looking at. Thank you for pointing out the many options for this because I burned slot of money on some lithium batteries.

[@claymills6643]

thank you so much for these videos. im just getting into this hobby and looking to make something truly my own. im excited to see more of your content!

[@tipSnGlitches]

What this guys said!

[@hansmontenegro]

Wow so nice those videos. I have a Question. I have a 72v battery pack (6x 12.8 27ah lifepo). But each battery has seven wires ( red and black thick, and five small wires ( red, black, white, yellow, blue). I don't know the fonction of those small wire. Are those five wires to charge the battery? Thanks for your time and help!!!

[@MrAeos]

Are they not for the BMS ? Perhaps they call it something else I. German/Austrian

[@aryansha7558]

Thai guy is Truly the human version of Wikipedia..for batteries.. .. or.. even better ✊🏼🔋😄👍 Greetings from Norway ! 🇳🇴

[@AjeetKumar-ms9ck]

What was the power and price of your battery

[@AjeetKumar-ms9ck]

If I want to give double the speed of your s than what power of battery I need

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

On a DC motor setup, you want higher VOLTAGE to spin the motor faster. Consider a 96V system for high speed.

[@felonebike9859]

Hey I'm sending a message for help put about my ebike build. I put a 1 minute video up showing how I'm not getting the right amount of volts out of my bms and when I plug into my controller the volts drop down to 0 or 1 volt. Of you could watch the video and possibly help me out with some advice I would GREATLY appreciate it!

[@timmax4817]

You didnt mention the importance of " Deep Cycle" which i thought you would cover since you talked about EVERY MINUTIA! When are you going to update this for Lithium batteries? Since that is what people will be using

[@RexSmithII]

hi, nice video. is the contactor a must, is there a way around it. heres my build , this is a off-road mini bike type, so no need for horn or light or ignition key. I just want to turn a switch and be able to go or just plug in the power wire to controller maybe with a anti spark connector. here is my setup ME 1012 Motor Kelly controller 200-500 amp 96 volts bat 20ah 88-100v(24s) I cant seem to find any contactors that can handle up to 500 amps and be at 100v , any suggestions would be great thanks

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

There are plenty of 500+A contactors out there. The trick is to look at an EV parts supplier. Here is an example of one. www.evwest.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=2_13 For a really simple project, you could also use something like a heavy-duty battery disconnect. Just make sure to get a high-current, good quality one. But for what you would spend for one of those, I don't see why you wouldn't just get a contactor. Remember, what the contactor is really there for is a quick and easy way to kill the power. There are so many ways you can can do that - ignition switch, dead-man's switch, inertia or tip switch. Those all work hand-in-hand with a contactor for killing power.

[@sikandarhnp]

Kindly talk about lithium ion batteries , can it be used to to generate same volts & amp? If yes kindly make a video on this please.

[@winslowsolomon7882]

Would you suggest using a lithium ion or a lithium iron battery now that they are cheaper?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

YES. I originally built this project in 2007. At the time, a good lithium battery pack for a motorcycle would have cost $10,000. Lithium is definately the way to go nowadays.

[@jasashley3493]

So glad i came across your videos ,i need help with wht to do as far as upgrading my electric motorcycle i i have a dy-vnm sl electric motorcycle and dont fill safe driving it around other cars it doesnt pick up fsst enouhh to keep up with traffic

[@snjsilvan]

Hi. Is there a recommended minimum for wattage on an electric motorcycle? I have a motor I might want to buy, but it's 4.4 kw. It's from a golf cart. Is it big enough for city speeds? 36 volts, btw. Thanks

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Simple logic suggests that if a motor can push around a golf cart, that it would be able to push around a smaller/lighter vehicle at least as well. Keep in mind that most golf carts do NOT have fantastic acceleration. For a simple around town motorcycle, I would suggest using at least 48V and a 300A motor controller. I have a video of a friend's electric motorcycle where he used a golf-cart style motor, although it was one that was more powerful. You can see that at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZfMl5KbYtKnsNE

[@snjsilvan]

@@BenjaminNelsonX thank you. I appreciate your time.

[@charliebrownau]

Can you recharge those batteries via solar panels, say 100-200w panel setup ?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Absolutely, you can charge this with solar! I've charged this motorcycle a number of times using a 48V nominal solar panel. I don't have any videos of that, but I do have one of using the same setup for a 1970's 48V electric car. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHarhmeKpqZoeZI The main thing would be to use a solar charge controller and to make sure you have the rate of charge that you want.

[@TACOMASRT5]

I was thinking electric bike or motorcycle... I have a 10mile commute to work and a motorcycle license. Suggestions?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

I wrote this about the electric car conversion, but the same applies to motorcycles. 300mpg.org/buildelectriccar/

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Check out the Endless Sphere Forum for electrics on two wheels. You can also try Micah Toll's E-Bike book. amzn.to/33DijA0

[@RozetRides]

Mr. nelson, how far exactly are you able to go on a single charge? i know you have 2 12v bats wired to create 24 v, but you have a total of four batteries.

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

The batteries are wired in SERIES. Four batteries at 12V each in series for a total of 48V nominal. Each battery is rated at 55AH. 55AH x 48V = 2640 watt-hours or 2.6kw. A common rule of thumb is that an electric motorcycle will go 100wh/mi or 10 miles per kWh. So, in theory, the bike with these batteries should go 26 miles. (Do keep in mind that you want to avoid running the batteries all the way down.) After I first got the bike together, I did some testing and did two runs after a full charge. One at 45 mph until the voltage started dropping quickly, and another at 25 mph to the same voltage. I did 32 miles of range at 25 mph and 23 miles of range at 45 mph. Averaging the two of those is pretty close to the 26 mile estimate. Also, keep in mind that this motorcycle was built in 2007. In 2018, the price of lithium batteries has come down dramatically. Some commercially built electric motorcycles have 12kwh lithium battery packs with a range of well over 100 miles. Some of those also offer chargers that allow for very quick recharging for long road trips.

[@istingingjellysquid]

Hi, I have a new etek briggs stratton 48v 15hp 150 amp motor , where to buy brushes ? I believe you have same motor

[@1dh11]

Question. If your motor can only draw a max of 400amps and your controller can deliver that, why have a battery that can deliver 870amps (cranking amps)? Do you get more power/acceleration by using a 870amp battery vs a 550amp battery even though the Motor can only draw 400amps?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

In this case, the motor and controller are bottle-necks compared to the battery in terms of instant power. The cranking amps power of the battery is really a property of the size and chemistry (and a few other variables) of the battery. The batteries that I wanted to use just happen to have a nice high crank-rating, but it's not as though there was a different battery, which was identical in all other ways, except for a lower cranking amp rating and also being cheaper. I was really looking for a battery with a good discharge rate, an appropriate size, maintenance-free, and in the end it was nice to have options in mounting the batteries (including sideways!) I would also bet that I probably DO get better acceleration than I would with a battery with lower cranking amps. Also, as batteries age, the total power you can get out of them decreases, and how long long you can draw that peak amps out would lower too.

[@1dh11]

OK thanks Ben, just looking for some info on batteries for a project I'm working on. BTW you make good Videos on a variety of topics, keep em coming.

[@larryscarr1929]

1dh11 my friend this guy was a pioneer.. tech has come a long way in a very short time.. you want to use a BLDC motor a sinwave controller.. keep researching before you commit to components.. check out A123cells.. I've seen 200mph top speeds and100m range with this configuration..

[@okechukuyohanceedwards8483]

Can i put a car battery in a RZ emotorcylc

[@leonardjones1077]

Hello please help me I have a 2000W E-Vader Electric Motorcycle I 2019 | Brushless 72V and I have only charged it like 20x and it seems to die faster. At first i was getting about 20 miles before battery dies and now its like 12. It is a lead acid battery and the people/company i bought it from dont know jack s@#*. So I dont know how to get a replacement one. (Help me Obwan Kenobi your my only hope)

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Sounds like one of your batteries is bad, and that drags down the entire system. Open up the motorcycle, figure out which battery is bad, and replace it with the same size/shape/capacity battery.

[@schinslam2358]

What battery is best for range (except lithium)?

[@JatPhenshllem]

I don't think right now there is a battery more energy dense that lithium ion. I guess every other battery, or the one used before li-ion would be next best

[@Adriano70911]

so which type is the cheapest?

[@retromaticmike5388]

People are getting leaf batteries from junkyard what do you think?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

I think junkyard electric car batteries are fantastic! Most people don't realize that cars are the #1 recycled consumer product today. All of those parts have plenty of use in a second life. I bought a Nissan Leaf battery from a salvage yard and friends and I built three electric motorcycles from it. You can see about the one I worked on (my Vectrix) at: kzbin.info/aero/PLmHss3DBZUinx-DxMLnax485Alj5i5Lcn Batteries from Nissan Leafs and Chevy Volts have both been popular with hobbyists working on DIY projects.

[@roanevergreen9054]

have you ever tried using a motorcycle transmission w an electric motor? or has anyone?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

For the most part, a transmission doesn't do anything to help an electric motorcycle. It's mostly there to convert enough power from the engine to torque for the performance required. Electric motors have more torque in a wider band of RPM than gas engines do. If you DO want an example of an electric motorcycle with a transmission, check out my buddy Russ' project - VOLTZILLA. He got a scrapped out forklift for free from his work, took it apart, and rebuilt all the components into an old CB550, and kept the transmission. It uses most of the space in the frame of the bike, so all the batteries had to be mounted out in the highway bars. It's still a GREAT showcase of DIY attitude and he basically built it for free! kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4TdoYSNh6qNg6c Russ has lots of other interesting videos, so make sure to check out his KZbin channel as well: kzbin.info/door/LuDKTNDFfat7iO7KGE7fQA As always, if you are interested in building a project, take a look first at what other people have done. The EV Album is a great place to start: evalbum.com/type/MTCY

[@roanevergreen9054]

@@BenjaminNelsonX It would be interesting to do a test. I feel like the electric motor would run more efficiently in a higher gear and with the flywheels inside as well. there May be an opportunity for Regenerative charging with the existing alternator. Thanks so much for the reply! I will check all that out

[@mohammed.u]

thanks, very informative .

[@the-real-zpero]

Someone told me that lithium is not a good choice for a motorcycle because electric motors draw exponentially more current the more "loaded up" they are (so if you start it or accelerate on your motorcycle). Now I'm thinking the controller should be able to regulate the power right? So it shouldn't be a problem...? I haven't watched the video on the controller yet :P

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

You heard wrong. Lithium batteries are great! This project was originally built back before lithium was affordable for a project like this, so this project used AGM lead-acid batteries. All modern electric cars are using lithium, and they can draw plenty of power.

[@the-real-zpero]

BenjaminNelson I've been looking into Li-Po batteries on robot marketplace.com, and some of them allow for 100 continuous! Wow! But they still can only support 600 Amps (for a 6 Ah pack). If it's 7.4V, it'll take 10 of them in a brick to get to 74 Volts a nice number, and then 4 of these "bricks" just to have enough capacity to get to my university and back on one charge (I used to fact that a Honda Grom does 50 mph using a 7.5 kw engine to do some rough calculations). So here's my question : If four "bricks" are being depleted in parallel at, let's say 300 amps (this gives 30 HP, my target number) does that mean each individual cell is being discharged at 300/4=75 amps? That's a mere 12.5 C for these particular batteries. That should give me plenty of headroom for startup/acceleration, right? Sorry for the really long reply 😅

[@LabsiiMediaNetwork]

Can I use calcium maintenance free battery in electric bike

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

You can use pretty much any type of battery you want, just keep in mind what the advantages and disadvantages of each type are. The various flavors of lithium are the current go-to type of battery.

[@TheInnerHalo72]

Great video. Sad it hasn't aged greatly with the popularity of LiPo batteries

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

When I originally built this project, lithium batteries were available, but would have been about $10,000. Take a look at all the other videos in this series. Those are still pretty current.

[@TheInnerHalo72]

@@BenjaminNelsonX yeah I've been binging the whole series, I've done some EV projects in the past and I'm currently working on a powerwall project. The hardest thing for me to figure out is motors, where to get them and what I should be looking for. For my next project (looking at doing an EV bike) I'm thinking of using either a forklift motor or a golf cart motor.

[@sreckosmjesko2319]

Benjamin, you uploaded in 2018. video about outdated batteries, to be educational video about batteries? If your intention was education, you should update this series with new video about Lithium batteries.

[@n.v5969]

lithium batteries cost a fuckton more. they're better, but keep in mind he's educating us based on stuff he learnt like a decade ago, when lithium batteries cost even more than they do now.

[@girlsdrinkfeck]

@@n.v5969 can get a good branded fat litho cell for like £8 a pop and has twice the capacity of a 18650

[@kevinhornbuckle]

What about group 32 batteries?

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

"Group" numbers usually just refer to a specific size and shape of battery, and batteries of the same group number usually have similar capacities. Using a physically smaller battery can be advantageous in that you can put more of them in series, getting to a higher system voltage, but at the expense of battery AH capacity.

[@denisvernier5200]

how to fix a control damage box

[@braydenchamberlain1405]

My bike is 72 v and I’m making it 84 v

[@Zodiac83104]

Well now lithium ion batteries are cheap af lol

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

Yes they are. Please keep in mind that this video is from a 2007 project.

[@Zodiac83104]

BenjaminNelson ya ofc, but luckily they are! You should revisit this project if possible and checkout Batteryhookups cheap new Chevy modules, be cool to see you implement them

[@josuevillasante2546]

thats stupod man why you explain us about a boattery which you never will use

[@BenjaminNelsonX]

The gray battery shown in the video is exactly one which was used in my Electric Geo Metro conversion. There are all sorts of different batteries out there, and knowing the types and advantages and disadvantages of each enlarges your knowledge base for you to make an informed decision on what you might want to use on your project.

[@n.v5969]

the only thing that is stupod, my friend is the sorry state of your education in basic English spelling and grammar.

[@JatPhenshllem]

Grow up man