Build Your Own Electric Motorcycle
 |
 NEW COMPOSITE PLASTIC CAR AUTOMOTIVE RAMPS STANDS LIFT 6009 $49.99 Time Remaining: 10d 6h 57m Buy It Now for only: $49.99 |
 FOUR COMPOSITE PLASTIC CAR AUTOMOTIVE RAMPS STANDS LIFT 6009 2 $84.99 Time Remaining: 10d 6h 57m Buy It Now for only: $84.99 |
Help me pick the best battery for the job?
I just started my degree in mechanical engineering (but I'm not about to pretend I have any clue what I'm doing) and out of curiosity have decided to build an electric motorcycle on my own time. Everything has gone pretty smoothly so far, and I'm at a point where I can start picking the batteries and engine. I plan to get a 10 hp engine for the job (I've done a little research and with the right gear ratio this should get a 450lb bike up to 65mph).
But here is the problem, I only have a budget of about $500 for the batteries. This probably won't be enough for several lithium phosphorous batteries, and I don't want to go with straight lithium because they're explosive. So it's probably going to be acid-gel of some sort. but what brand of acid-gel batteries should I get? what should the voltage be? And what does AH a measure of in a battery?
I'd really appreciate any help I can get on the subject. Thanks for your time nice people!
I'll have to start by unpicking some of your parameters. A typical 125 cc bike with a 10 hp engine will get to your 65 mph but it will weigh only 150 kg (330 lb), so you'll have a bit of weight to shave off. As far as batteries go, there is no such thing as a straight lithium battery. The most popular rechargeable lithium batteries are lithium-ion and lithium polymer, and they will also catch fire if mishandled. They do, however, weigh very much less than acid-gel batteries. If you are going down the acid-gel route, then you are going to be somewhat limited in range. A single 12 volt 40 Ah battery, which is quite large, is going to offer you 0.48 kWh of energy, which ain't a lot. I have found an electric scooter at
http://base.google.com/base/a/4054080/D4820328578625316854
which runs on a 36 V battery and certainly will not make 65 mph, I would be interested to know how you get on.
