Ben, I really appreciate these videos. I'm looking to get into this and I like how you don't assume knowledge on the viewers end. It leads to covering some stuff that may already be known, but more importantly it builds confidence and aids in learning the stuff we DON'T know. Thank you Sir!
Hi mr benjamin nelson ,i am reddy from india ,i apriciate all your videos ,iwant convert my honda 150 cc in to ev please advise me bldc motor ,and battery capacities without gear box ,thanks in advance .
by looking at your windows edges and sills I'm thinking if you one of those lucky people to live in a cob or a strawbale house. If it's such a house do you have a video of constructing it? It doesn't look like a typical subdivision construction. :) Thanks for the great videos you produced.
George Carlin Sorry! It’s only a typical house, but the previous owners who built it gave this room a nice look by using rounded corners and natural wood window sills.
You COULD mount an alternator, connected to the motor. However, why would you want to use the electricity in the battery to spin the motor to spin the alternator to make electricity? It's much easier, more efficient, and compact to use a DC/DC converter to directly convert the main battery pack power from 48 Volt (or whatever the traction pack battery voltage is) to 12V for the lights and other 12V items on the cycle.
I once talked to a chemical engineer that worked on those particular batteries. He told me that there is no upper charge/discharge limit, just that you want to watch the temperature. I jokingly asked if I could charge them at 1,000 amps if I had them in a kiddie pool of ice. He said yes. In general, nowadays, I would recommend lithium batteries for solar and electric vehicle projects. But, if you already have them, Optima Yellowtops are pretty top of the line lead batteries.
Yes, you certainly could. Modern commercially-built electric cars often have a built-in charger and then also a port for a DC Fast Charger. The production version of the Harley Davidson LIVEWIRE electric motorcycle includes an onboard Level 1 (120V) charger and a port for a DC Fast Charger.
You potentially COULD build an electric motorcycle using power tool batteries, BUT you would likely find that it would be a lot more expensive and less energy dense than simply designing your own dedicated battery pack. Power tool batteries ARE great for electric bicycles! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yrJo-P1SrnI.html
It would be a good idea to put individual quick connectors on each battery and occasionally (perhaps once every 5 charges), charge each 12V battery individually for better battery health.
There were never any issues on this bike with batteries getting out of balance with each other, but battery terminals were easily accessible. I could at any time simply attach a standard 12V battery charger with typical alligator clamp connections. If a person wanted to do some sort of small quick connectors, that would work fine too.
A good test after a long ride, check the resting voltages of each battery and maybe even check it with a light load on it such as a 1A load. If the 4 batteries are within 0.1V of each other then they can be considered matched or balanced but if one of them for example is 0.2V (or more) lower than the others, then that one needs some special attention so in that case, it would be better to charge the 4 batteries individually.
I would like to have one of those overseas (Philippines) but I have to check the legality of them before I commit. Gasoline is more expensive over there (compared to USA) but electricity is cheaper, so an electric motorcycle makes more sense there. Here in USA, a cheap reliable gasoline motorcycle (such as my 2001 Bandit 1200 which I paid $1900 for maybe a decade ago), is good cheap transportation and 10 times as powerful as an electric motorcycle using a golf cart type motor (about 10 HP). I much prefer a top speed of about 150 MPH than say 50 MPH. That way when I am cruising at about 75 MPH, I am only using a fraction (maybe 25%) of the engine's maximum potential power whereas a 10 HP motor would be running "flat out" at about 45 to 50 MPH.
