Marque sent in this electric motorcycle conversion using (mostly) scrap materials –
We started with a Honda Rebel junker and a dream – to make a practical, zero emissions vehicle for commuting in San Francisco. After consulting with some plans available online which required chopping the frame significantly, Gxaoui suggested we figure it out for ourselves. Armed with a basic metal shop, we methodically convert the Honda rebel 250 into a clean quiet bike in about a week.
Marque Cornblatt – DIY Electric Motorcycle Conversion – Link.
22 thoughts on “DIY Electric motorcycle conversion”
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Very cool… Exactly the type of project that I can’t get enough of…
Bidwells designs are excellent. I own a converted Honda F4 with twin eteks, altrax controller and CVT based on the Bidwell El Ninja series. It’s the batteries though that’ll kill you. A good PMG 132 will set you back close to a grand, 500 or so for the controller, 800 or so for batteries…etc, etc.
It’s a project in all fairness that costs about $6000 to do right.
Oh, and you absolutely need a good MIG welder to do this since you have to split the frame.
Forgot to mention. Etek is no longer available from Briggs and Straton. And what’s pictured is the PMG (German) motor.
You can convert a bicycle into an electric scooter for much less cost.
How is it ‘zero emissions’? Unless he is using solar power to recharge the batteries, the power station just has to burn more coal/oil/gas to provide the electricity. The same goes for all these new fangled cars that you recharge from the power point at home. When will people realise this?
Thanks for the comments. I’ve gotten this reaction regarding “zero emissions” from several people. I do not claim that this motorcycle has NO polution footprint – no vehicle could make that claim. But the definition of zero emissions refers to the output of gasses from a vehicle while in operation or stationary – generally whatever comes out of the tailpipe is considered “emissions”. Since electric vehicles have no exhaust at all, they are considered “Zero Emissions”. Check this wiki entry for more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-emissions_vehicle
the energy produced at a power plant is a lot more efficient and clean. burning the same amount of gas that we use in our cars at a power plant yields more energy. cars only take advantage of the expansion that occurs during combustion. power plants on the other hand use several stages of turbines to suck as much energy as possible out of the combustion. not to mention the fact that because of size limitations on cars there isn’t that much we can do to scrub out the really harmful stuff out of emissions. power plants have no limitations on size, so they are able to clean the exhaust a bit more.
as a side note, what kind of range would this thing have with the four batteries he used?
The batteries I’ve used were scavenged from other projects and have been abused for years, so the range is limited to about 15-20 miles. I was told that using new high performance sealed batteries will deliver up to 50 mile range – but I’ll believe it when I see it.
I am doing this same conversion and I bought the plans for the EL chopper ET. There is way too much frame modification in the plans. I am using a Rebel 450 and there is enough room in the engine compartment to mount all 4 batteries without cutting the frame at all. I will have to mount the batteries then figure out where the controller and charger will go but I am confident I can fit it all.
have you considered using lithium ion battery packs? smaller, lighter, safer, longer lasting, and more powerful. plus, you could plug it in with a small power converter. has anyone tried this? if so, do you have any plans??