Homemade electric scooter

L.W. sent in some photos and info about his hacked together electric scooter – “Here are some shots of the contraption I rigged up from the off-road version of a KickBike plus a “go-hub” electric wheel. I used an old footplate from an electric scooter that died long ago. All it took was a little bending by hand and drilling new holes so it would fit in place of the too-narrow stock footplate. Also, I had to remove the disk brake from the KickBike & replace it with the caliper brakes off my mt.bike. (I further had to make the front bag more stable than shown, but that didn’t warrant a photo, and the kickstand demonstrated itself to be essentially dead weight, so I took it off.) It rides very quiet (no chain), and is far easier than my previous electric scooters to scoot by foot when I have to.

The last shot shows how I reinforced the Topeak rack to get it to stay on & stable while filled with 3 heavy lead-acid batteries. The frame was a little wobbly under the battery weight – there’s only one frame-tube, after all – but the extra reinforcing for the rack helped dampen the sway. That support arrangement wore out after about 1500 miles, so I did an alternate reinforcement to the rack itself, mounted it higher, and replaced the 36V of lead-acid with 48 of NiMH – much faster; less weight. It is a touch higher, tho, so is still a bit wobbly, but plenty stable for the 14 miles I travel each way (about 1 hour with street crossings and traffic lights for 4 miles in town). This requires a recharge after each trip, so I carry my chargers in the front bag.”

Related:
EV Discussion list – Link.