Project Aims

  • <$10,000 conversion
  • Top speed of +100kph
  • Range of +100km
  • Make a bike that is able to be registered
  • Make the bike look like the standard petrol version

Design Specification

  • Regenerative braking
  • 1990 Suzuki Across
  • 216VDC @ 15A (~3.2kw) VRLA battery pack (~90kg) for proof of concept
  • 3.3kw 3 phase induction motor

Thursday, November 22, 2007

The Battery Pack

After much investigation I have come to the conclusion that lithium rechargeable battery's are the battery of choice. They are the best value for money in terms of power to weight ratio. I have to keep the bike somewhere in the original weight range to get it registered, and i also want the bike to have as great a range as possible with the latest technology available. I am looking a making a battery pack consisting of 40 3.2V 40A lithium battery's that weight about 1.5kg each. So that gives me a total battery pack with a nominal voltage of 128V at 40A and a weight of 60kg. This works out to be a ~5kw battery pack. So it should run the 3kw motor for at least 1.5 hours.

I am going to make 40 fake batteries of the same dimensions that i am looking at using to make sure i can physically fit them in the bike. I have the leftover room where the electric motor is and petrol motor was, i also have some room up front near the headlight that I may be able to squeeze a few in and also where the air-cleaner was and of course under the seat where the petrol tank used to be. I also have to be careful to leave enough room for the battery charger and motor inverter.