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DIY Electric Motorcycle Kicks Butt, Gets 300 eMPG

ecomodder.com — A year ago, Ben Nelson got an old, non-running motorcycle and converted it to electric drive. He ’d never had a motorcycle before and wasn’t an expert with electric vehicles, but in true DIY nature, he learned as he went along. Check out his story and the videos he made about this bike..

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maddvibe 65 days ago, made popular 64 days ago

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FuryOfThor, on 06/25/2008, -2/+19Love it.
- sjl127, on 06/26/2008, -5/+1Hate it. Only 15 miles? Hardly practical. LOL!
  - rabidbob, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2Practical for what? For nipping around town it's practical. For me for commuting it wouldn't be practical. The cost of ownership of the bike means that for running around town trips it's a great way of saving money, time and pollution.
    - noahhoward, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2For me in america, nipping around town is more than 15.
    - linagee, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Don't forget that "around town" miles are the worst. (You are going slow and stop and go which is the absolute worst conditions for an ICE car. Maybe 10-15MPG in a civic, less in a truck/etc.)
metapop, on 06/25/2008, -2/+14...i'm speechless. this is incredible. i must make one immediately.
mwomorris, on 06/25/2008, -2/+7Check out the videos at the bottom. The creator says it costs less to charge than it does to run a light bulb.
- sjl127, on 06/26/2008, -8/+4Yeah, to run a light bulb for a million years... You can't create energy out of thin air.
  - mwomorris, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2... not was I was implying.
    
    Run a lightbulb for say twelve hours = charge this thing.
    - boobsbr, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3let's do the math:
      
      55 Ah each battery x 4 = 220 Ah
      12 V
      
      E = P . t and P = V . i, thus E = V . i . t
      E = 12 . 220
      E = 2640 Wh or 2.64 kWh
      
      you can round it up a bit to include the losses to convert from AC to DC, lets say 5% of loss because we don't know how he charges it (transformer and bridge or switching). then we have 2.77 kWh.
      
      a typical lightbulb is about 60 W, so 60 W . 12 h = 720 Wh = 0.72 kWh.
      
      it looks like running a light bulb for 12 hours is cheaper than charging the motorcycle.
      
      multiply 2.77 by the price of the kWh in your city, divide by the mileage of this bike and we get the $/distance ratio. compare to your car's, maybe it really is cheaper than gasoline.
- linagee, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Mine uses around 600W (measured using a kilowatt) and takes around 6 hours to completely charge from near zero. (A little more than 3 kilowatt hours. What does that cost in dollars? $0.60 or so to "fill up"?)
stonebear, on 06/25/2008, -2/+10I like an electric bicycle @ 1/3 the price, and gets you up on the sidewalk, when needed, without freaking out The Man too much. EZ conversion kits on the net await your Googling. I think it's necessary to append a fat kid advisory to this though.
- SVOboy, on 06/25/2008, -2/+8Electric bikes are definitely great, the only limitation is the low speeds keep you from being "part of traffic" on a lot of roads.
  - solidus636, on 06/26/2008, -3/+4Well this one is about 2000 bucks and gets 45 MPH. I don't know what city this guy lives in(does it even say?), but on most roads here in San Jose, CA 45 MPH is perfect for going along with traffic, since the speed limit for most roads is about 35 MPH.
    - linagee, on 06/26/2008, -2/+1More cops enforcing the 35mph limit would solve this, raise more town revenue, and create a space for lower speed vehicles that actually do 35mph.
- mrjhmm, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1Some electric bike kits go 45 mph. No driver's license needed. 30 mile range.
  
  Here's a video of a guy going 45 mph on his electric bicycle:
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvxaQD6KYmQ
  
  Here's an electric bicycle forum:
  
  http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=258
dougvfr750, on 06/25/2008, -2/+16Awesome idea. I'd like to see the range be in the 80-100 mile distance though. Probably could be done with Lithium Ion or NiMh batteries, but of course it would cost more.
- bono4u, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1There was an article on digg some months ago of new battery for electric vehicles which could power a mid-size far for about 800 miles.
  - spawnfree, on 06/26/2008, -2/+5i think the oil industry read about it too and yelled
    "to the market-domination-mobile".
    which, in a delicious irony, is an electric powered vehicle.
    - MacEnvy, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2Of course it's electric. After all, the first rule of the drug dealer is don't get hooked on your own merchandise.
- drgruney, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Just get a long extension cord.
matt247, on 06/26/2008, -6/+1i assume he dosen't need to change gears, so he could get more miles if he put it on a scooter since it's lighter and he could add more batteries underneath the seat or in extra storage if available.
- SVOboy, on 06/26/2008, -1/+6Scooters actually have less available battery room because you stick your legs where the normal engine/battery space would be.
LordSkywalker, on 06/26/2008, -2/+5Awesome. The Brammo Enertia does get about 45 miles per charge, but like he said, it costs a lot more. I also saw a video with the manager of Brammo saying they may switch from a chain to a belt to cut down on noise. I'd love to see how a bike like this would do on NIMH or Li-ION batteries.
- linagee, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Those types of batteries cost more with very little increase in energy storage density.
clesch, on 06/26/2008, -11/+3so this thing drives 300 electric miles with just one gallon of electricity? thats nice!

oh wait. fail.
- Stormwern, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4The energy content of a gallon of gas is 131 MJ, the mc runs 300 miles on that amount in electricity.
  - eengineer, on 06/26/2008, -1/+1I dont quite buy his mpg conversion or whatever you want to call it. I didnt read his whole linked thread but it seems he is assuming 1 gallon of gas gets converted into electrical watts at 100% efficiency from the power generation station to his bike. Can anyone confirm or correct this?
    - Stormwern, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Depends on what type of power plant. Wind, water and solar have essentially infinite efficiency, since they need no fuel to run, coal, oil and nuclear have around 40%.
- metapop, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2i guess you're right, let's go ransack their servers with pitchforks and torches and make sure these videos are seen by no one ever again.
  
  don't crucify the guy for attempting to put the real cost per mile in terms that people will understand.
AnthonyJK, on 06/26/2008, -4/+3It's pretty cool, but 20 miles per charge? That's pretty *****.

Maybe if it had a longer range.
- bono4u, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1There was an article on digg some months ago of new battery for electric vehicles which could power a mid-size far for about 800 miles.
- linagee, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1What is the average distance to an electric outlet in a city? 100 feet? If we were all a bit more social or had a way to meter our electricity out and share it, electric bikes like this would work great.
chkdg8, on 06/26/2008, -4/+9The guy is going to work for free and that's all that counts at the end of the day. Plus, his non-exhaust isn't killing anybody and that's the best part of the story.
- boobsbr, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4not for free, he must recharge the batteries.
  
  his bike is not emitting CO, which is great, but generating electricity can generate CO too, like from coal or gas plants and from the decomposition of organic material in damn for hydroelectric.
  
  i hope that in the near future we can generate electricity from clean sources like wind and solar power (nuclear power generates nuclear waste, and nowadays what we can do to dispose of it is put it inside a block of lead, inside a barrel full of concrete and store it underground).
- ninjacob, on 06/26/2008, -1/+1Just wait until the poor guy gets hit by a car because they couldn't hear his bike. The exhaust is an important safety tool for motorcycle riders. Being heard is just as important as being seen.
  - dcode, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2Loud pipes have nothing to do with being more safe, that is a myth. The sound is directed backwards, so by the time I would hear a motorcycle, it is already past me. See http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/ ...
  - ninjacob, on 06/29/2008, -0/+1WRONG! I bet you don't even ride a bike. I can guarantee you from personal experience times when a bike has been BEHIND ME or in my BLIND SPOT and I did not see him, only heard him.
mcbridea88, on 06/26/2008, -4/+1Give me one
- Shaggy63, on 06/26/2008, -1/+4***** make one yourself.
colourclassic, on 06/26/2008, -9/+2Looks Slow As *****, Not That Hippies Would Care...
tchynerd, on 06/26/2008, -7/+5Man if motorcycles wern't so inherently unsafe I would totally build one of these!
- linagee, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2Motorcycles are typically unsafe because they are all zooming at high speeds (65mph+, 90mph is typically in california from what I see.) Going this fast on a motorcycle also makes you get terrible gas mileage.
- mrjhmm, on 06/27/2008, -0/+1Most motorcycle deaths are alcohol related. It is pretty hard riding a motorcycle with even a slight buzz. Reaction times are a lot longer.
bigsteve3OOO, on 06/26/2008, -7/+6$2000/$5=400 gal gas he could have invested
average motorcycle gets 40 miles to the gal
400*40=16,000 miles this pile of engineering has to go at 45 mph before he breaks even.
Ill lay odds it don't go that far before it dies optima batteries wrong application here.
he should have went w/ 6v golf cart batteries and a side cart or a pull behind cart so he could get 100v or better then he could move at a reasonable rate. good try for a first attempt. I wonder if the lack of a dump resistor caused his drive to fail? did it fail in re-gen article was vague on this.
- apeweek, on 06/26/2008, -2/+6What good is gas without a motorcycle?
  
  You forgot the price of the gas-powered motorcycle, maintenance and insurance.
  
  Electric motors need no maintenance.
  - bono4u, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2i am not so sure about that, say they need less that might be right
  - CrazyZ, on 06/26/2008, -4/+8Kawasaki Ninja 250 - $3500 out the door. Insurance on a 250cc motorcycle is dirt cheap even for full coverage. Maintenance costs are less that this pile of *****. Oil and filter every 3500 miles and a good once over every 8000 miles...
    
    It's a no brainer if you want a bike.
    - MacEnvy, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4And the new models look HOT too. I used to have an 05 model, and I got 70+ mpg.
  - ninjacob, on 06/26/2008, -1/+2His electric bike will most definitely need maintenance. Those Optima yellow tops are going to die and need replacement. They don't last very long and if they run dry too many times they stop holding charges.
- minigig, on 06/26/2008, -0/+5most motorcycles of that size get closer to 80mpg
- Ravatar, on 06/26/2008, -1/+3Average motorcycle gets about double that BTW. Unless you're referring to harleys.
  
  Edit: wow beat by seconds
  - ATLien74, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1My Harley gets around 50-60mpg. Even with gas over 4 dollars, it's only about 13-14 bucks to fill it up....and I use Premium. I can go about 130 miles on a tank before I have to hit the reserve.
- Stormwern, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3Because regular motorcycles are free? The one he stripped to make this one was scrapped.
- PrintScrn12, on 06/26/2008, -1/+3Remember when comparing to the alternatives you don't just compare gas. You have to remember you have to buy a vehicle, lose it's depreciation, service it and insure it, which goes both ways. The average motorcycle also has to be bought, serviced and insured not to mention the safety gear (which is included in the $2000).
  
  Then again a regular motorbike isn't really an suitable alternative, as the guy isn't just looking for a cheap bike. He did this as a hobby project, a pleasure a regular bike might not fulfil.
stevenhatfield, on 06/26/2008, -4/+3The "e" in eMPG stands for "eventually you'll get there". The motorcycle has a range of just 15 miles!
CrazyZ, on 06/26/2008, -5/+4Dumb! 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 250 - Voted one of the best bikes of the year. 60 - 75 mpg, good horsepower, speed, range etc. $3500.00 out the door and insurance is dirt cheap for a new rider even with full coverage. It's a no brainer if you want a bike.
- Shaggy63, on 06/26/2008, -3/+7How many ***** times are you going to say that. Once is enough.
  - CrazyZ, on 06/26/2008, -4/+4Until you people realize that these "save the universe by getting off gas" articles are ages old and full of *****.
- ATLien74, on 06/26/2008, -5/+2The Ninja 250 is a pussy bike. It might be a good one for your little sister. Haha
  - CrazyZ, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2As compared to the bike in the article? It's one of the best entry level bikes out there, though it's not one of the bikes in my stable. You probably run a Hyabusa that you go very fast on.......in a straight line.......(rolling eyes.).
    - ATLien74, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Alright I'll give you that, it's better than this electric bike and near the same cost. But for 2000.00 you could go through craigslist or cycletrader and find a good used one, or maybe even something better.
      
      I ride a Custom Harley Springer Softail.
    - CrazyZ, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1I get your point, and the Springer is a beautiful bike. I own a Sportster, VTX1300, and an FZ6. I ride the FZ6 90% of the time...
jonr, on 06/26/2008, -1/+18Wow... lot's of negativity here already. For ~$2000 this guy has a way to commute to work without worrying about gas. And it is a cool DIY project. This guy deserves a medal.
The Brammo is pretty cool, but it costs over $11.000. Electronic motorcycles/scooters are the urban transporters of the nearest future, the days of the personal car (1 person per car) are over. Families will probably still own a large car, but will probably make more use of public transports.
I have my eye on a $4000 scooter, even though I think it is still too expensive (gas scooters costs around $1700 here) and I could hardly use it during the winter.
(The gas costs around $12/gallon here )
- linagee, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2People are pissy about their oil addiction.
mwomorris, on 06/26/2008, -3/+2Holy negative comments batman...
Stereotype77, on 06/26/2008, -1/+4Pretty neat, just do it again on a cooler bike....
shanealeslie, on 06/26/2008, -0/+7The DIY principle is nice to see - but he's reinventing the wheel there. About 4 months ago I picked up an electric assist bike for $800 - it goes ~30 Kph with a 40 K range. It has pedals to supplement the battery, and because it has pedals it requires no license or insurance, and I can ride it in the bike lane or in the regular lane depending on how busy the traffic is. You can get more info about a bike like mine at http://blueavenue.ca/WebSunrisePage.html. And there are a lot of different models - including a cargo trike that converts it cargo bin into a passenger bench.

The cost of transit here in Toronto is about $110/month - so by the end of the summer it will have paid for itself, and next year I commute to work for free!
- boobsbr, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3not for free, you still have to recharge.
  - catbeller, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Says here that the yearly cost of recharging is less than 20 dollars. That's your fuel cost. You'll spend more than that on snacks in a month.
thisguy457, on 06/26/2008, -4/+1So, this is only useful if you have less than 7.5 miles to work (7.5 there 7.5 back.) With that limited range, it makes more sense to ride a bicycle. For $2,000 you can get a really good road bike, which, of course gets a whole lot more than 300 mpg. Plus, there'd be less people with the beetus if more people were on bikes...
- MacEnvy, on 06/26/2008, -0/+6Yeah, and then I'm all sweaty and gross dealing with clients for the rest of the day. Great.
lester1024, on 06/26/2008, -1/+6I know it would be cool to have electric, It's awesome. For 1500 bucks you could have a brand new gas powered, street legal Chinese bike that gets 70mpg and goes 80mph.
anewname, on 06/26/2008, -3/+2Insurance Agent: How many cc's is it?
Owner: Uhm.... Zero.
Insurance Agent: So I can't charge you $10,000 a year for it? Damn.
umdigger, on 06/26/2008, -1/+2Cool story and I love electric vehicles, but when they show a picture of that bike, and then say that he did it so he could ride around town in style. I guess he has the 'busted old motorcycle' style going on.

He should at least pretty it up a bit.
vanguardanon, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2Ok, so this particular bike isn't the right fit for most people. At $2,000 it's more like a hobby and he'll probably be replacing those 4 batteries, at $160 each, a lot more often than you will in a regular car. That's not the exciting part.

The exciting part is the culture that's forming around bypassing the oil companies. At $1.00 a gallon we were all content to listen to the nonsense Exxon told us about pursuing alternative energy sources. Now everybody from the random hobbyist to well funded startups are looking into something that uses less gas or no gas. As I drove to work today I learned about people looking into the bacteria that lives in nuclear waste as if they may somehow decontaminate it for us. Wouldn't that be great? If nuclear power (or wind, solar, etc.) could be made clean and cars ran on electricity?
- drazen77, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Oh sure.
  
  You people need to think about all the angles when it comes to energy production.
  
  The problem is that you still have distribution problems with electricity, as well as efficient retention of it. Electricity transmitted over copper lines loses ALOT of its potential energy by the time it gets to where its going. Luckily there are some advancements in superconducting materials that may allow better power transmission. Previously the only way to achieve zero transmission loss was through supercooled superconducting tubes. But full scale replacement of current power transmission infrastructure is a long way off.
  
  Batteries are nasty, to produce and dispose of. Lots of nasty chemicals are used.
  
  Biofuels require farmland (large tracts of arable land), irrigation (groundwater supplies can be tight), and has pesticide/fertilizer run off. That is what you trade off for replacing petroleum.
  
  Nuclear gives you the best bang for your buck in terms of "clean" energy. It's the most efficient ratio of energy to lifespan.
  
  Solar energy is great but its hugely inefficient when put up next to hydrocarbon energy production. Also, to create the solar cells is a very nasty process involving lots of nasty chemicals.
  
  Wind turbines are always going to be "nice to have" to offset some of the traditional power generation sources... but its not ever going to be full time energy production.
  
  Tidal harnessing requires vast expanses of underwater areas, are hugely expensive to build and maintain, and has its own host of problems dealing with underwater ecologies.
  
  Sorry, Hydrocarbons are king when it comes to energy efficiency and will remain that way for the foreseeable future.
  
  I absolutely agree we should continue development of alternative energy and use it wherever possible... but lets not chop our ankles off in the process.
  
  Need more oil and need more refining capacity, domestically (U.S.) while alternative energy is phased in.
EclipseGSX, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Optima makes some fantastic batteries, but they're not a good choice for this project. Not only are they very heavy, but they only get about 300 full charge/discharge cycles.
- catbeller, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1How about the carbon-graphite foam lead acid batteries by Firefly?
  http://www.fireflyenergy.com/index.php?option=com_ ...
  Almost half the weight of conventional sealed lead acid, the usual corrosion problem solved, and a higher energy density and quicker recharge time. And little of the production problems of nickle-metal hydride or the lithium technologies.
  
  They are being sold as Oasis brand batteries, and are being tested for sleeper cabs this year. Love to see these in use for motorcycle projects and even electric cars.
  
  Aside that is somewhat on subject: while we investigate, and maybe re-regulate, the oil market flim-flams currently gouging us, we might want to look into the mirror gouging going on in the lead, nickel, and zinc markets. Yes, supply is shrinking, but the prices are tripling overnight - that's not market, that's gaming.
ATLien74, on 06/26/2008, -4/+1Much better than a SewGay. Now you just need to figure out how to extend the range and increase the speed. 15 Miles @ 40mph isn't very far or fast, but I think that's comparable to the SewGay atleast.
drazen77, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1If its going to compete with current bikes and cars it needs more horsepower and longer lifespan.

Sorry, I actually like to get from point A to point B within a reasonable amount of time.

40 mph and 15 miles isn't going to get you anywhere in any big city... like Houston, L.A., etc.
- MozzieTS, on 06/27/2008, -1/+135 mph and 10 miles isn't going to get you anywhere
  - MozzieTS, on 06/27/2008, -1/+130 mph and 5 miles isn't going to get you anywhere
    - MozzieTS, on 06/27/2008, -1/+125 mph and 1 miles isn't going to get you anywhere
    - MozzieTS, on 06/27/2008, -1/+1read the ***** article, it said 45mph and 20 miles.
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DIY Electric Motorcycle Kicks Butt, Gets 300 eMPG

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