1986 VFR700F electric conversion

because it was either that, or let the bike get scrapped....

plus, I'm an electrical engineer, it just goes without saying...

I dunno, I decided to do an EV, got some info, and looked at a bike as a starting point. I didn't want to do a chopper, they're ugly. i wanted to start with a good looking bike with fairings to hide the "business" side of things, and keep the stock look. I was doing an Electric motorcycle either way, why not start with something I'd be proud of riding.

 

Just keep keeping on, frodus; they laugthed at Thomas Edison too!

 

I've been busy, but here's a video of the rear tire spinning.... we're working on the battery trays now, should be moving soon.


YouTube - electric motorcycle test

and updates on my website:

http://www.evfr.net

 

Thanks a ton for the support. I know, I felt bad tearing into it... but I think there will be more and more people converting cars rather than spend 50-100k on a car that runs on bats 200 miles. As gas prices go up, people will look for alternatives.

We've got my next project pretty much in the works, 8" DC motor, 600A controller and we want to do a Miata or a Del Sol.

A hybrid is a great idea. I thought about maybe doing a 1kW propane/gas generator that I can put on the bike kinda like a luggage rack for extending range. Propane would still pollute... but you'd have an alternative to gas. In fact, I've already found the generator that I want, I'd just need to figure out how I'd hook a quieter exhaust on it. Of course, it would detach for normal use. I'd have to make it so I can have it generate enough for me to run on.

 

Travis, great idea for salvaging a bike! As an electrical engineer myself, and work experience in power electronics, and very interested in electric vehicles in general, I've thought about what kind of performance once could get building/designing an EV/hybrid bike (or converting, as the case may be).

My initial thumb in the wind estimate was that there isn't enough room for energy storage / power density for an EV motorcycle to be much more than a glorified electric scooter, but I never ran any calcs... very interested to know how your project will turn out.

 

do a search for the lithium R1 someone converted... pretty nice. Also quit-gas on youtube. Both nice bikes... pretty fast.

This one won't be balls to the walls like it used to be... but it'l be MUCH better than a scooter.... This is with off the shelf 18Ah batteries in series for 144V. I'm going to Lithium as suppliers make them more available and include balancing.

the bats I'm using are 200A max for 5 seconds, I'm doing 144V thats somewhere around 28800 Watts for 5 seconds, 11,520W continuous. We figured the original engine is somewhere around 50,000 Watts. It won't be terrible... but thats battery amps. motor amps can be much higher...at lower RPMS.

Plus, all my 50ftlbs of torque (42 on the original engine) will be at 0RPM, not 4000+. The torque curve is fairly flat with RPM up to like 3400rpm. Its not really comparable, so I'll just have to see how it goes next week. Also, unlike others who use six 12V batteries for 72V, I can configure my pack for 144V series, or two 72V packs in parallel for more amps, less top speed.

Its been a fun project, learned alot, and it'l be one of the nicer looking conversions people have done. Its almost like it was made for a conversion, the frame is perfect for batteries (even the larger 12V batteries fit nicely) and the fairings look like they were made for the motor I chose. Fairings fit on without hitting anything, with plenty of room to spare.

 

Another little update:

 

hmmm now you've got me thinking...

When I bought the bike, it came with spare:

frame,
forks,
wheels,
sprockets,
1/2 seat (seat and subframe had been modded, unfortunately I already threw the chopped up subframe away)

Seems like that's enough to start an EV bike project with, no?
I'll need a subframe eventually.

 

do it man!

You can basically build it off what I have done if you want... might use different batteries, but yeah... Use a simlar motor, same mounting points, same style battery tray and you could mold a new cover for where the gas tank goes. Its been a fun project. If you decide to do it, I'll let you blog on evfr.net and post pictures to the gallery.

Just make sure its got a titled frame. Subframes come up on ebay alot, under $100. The rest is just to make it look perty. I've got some old brakes front and rear if you need them, as well as a rear shock that could be used until you get a new one.

 

So, she's actually running now. Click the pic below for the blog entry and some pictures. I posted a video, but its dark. I'll get more tonight and throw it up on youtube. I'll do a walkaround as well. Looks like frankenbike, but it'l be cleaned up. We just wanted to get it together so we can begin testing.

 

Nice!, I cant get the Video to play yet but good job on sticking to the project..

 

Holy crap, man. You've done it. Have you included the recording of the V4 engine? It is not a VFR without it, you know.
Looking forward to the videos.

 

I'll get them up on youtube tonight... it was 11pm last night when we took video, and you can't see anything...

I'll post more tonight (might be late).

Thanks for the support too... I've wanted this since August when the whole conversation about the Tesla Roadster peaked my interest... and I decided to get a bike.

I took my first ever streetbike ride last night too...only rode dirtbikes (a handful of times) when i was younger. The COG is LOW, and it turns pretty easy. Its not very top heavy, so we'll see how high speed turning is without the countersteer effect being as pronounced.

Pickup was "decent" but needs tweaking.

its an ongoing process, and very unknown territory.

 

Well, its been a fun week. We got it running Tuesday and spent all week trying her out, charging it and running around. Friday I went to the Ducati Dealership near the shop and showed it off, let them take it for a ride, they enjoyed it. There were a couple girls there and they were speachless..... its going to be a geekgirl magnet.

Anyway, I posted some video on youtube.
YouTube - frodus17's Channel

The accel sucks right now because the gearing is low (4:1) and the batteries are used and pretty tired. She scoots pretty well with a full charge.

We're deciding on the next batteries we want to buy (since we have to get a complete new pack to replace the free used bats we got for testing). We'll order a new sprocket from sprocket specialists once we know what kind of power the new pack can put out.

Its ongoing, so don't assume this is all she's got... This video was taken Wednesday. Thursday the batteries were charged, and there was a NOTICEABLE improvement. Then we charged them all the way Thursday night, and there was noticeable improvement again... then we tweaked some settings and there was more improvement. With a higher gear ratio like 5 or 6:1 we'll get more acceleration, less top speed. I'm find topping out around 70, as most of my driving is 50mph or below.

 

So last night, I dropped by Synkromotive to help Ives with some testing. We tried logging with the DataQ again, and it it kept failing, no matter what setting we used. Nothing seemed to help. We unhooked it, and I’m going to contact Customer Service. We need something to compare our measured values to.

We spent the rest of the evening getting the Old Tachometer (originally fed off the engine spark), to display the current on the motor side. Its pretty cool, as you give it gas, it displays current at a 50A per 1000rpm resolution. So 200A is 4krpm. I’ll likely print something to display actual A, but its great for testing. Its just a PWM signal to the original Tach line. I’m totally cool with keeping the stock look, infact, I’m HOPING to keep as much of a stock look as possible. Now I need to order a PB-6 to keep my original throttle, order a EV200 contactor and get the lights working.

David Boyd got the bike up to 60mph… wow! It was fresh off the pack, and pulled 300A or so up to 30mph, and then it started to drop… at 55mph, it was roughly half of that. Better gearing should help this, as less torque is needed. We’ll keep gearing what it is for now because we’re testing something new every day. I thought it felt kind of like a 250cc, but David said it actually feels more like a 500cc. I think the batteries are waking up a little too, so switching to new ones in the future, with higher current draw is definately going to help. This controller rocks!

I got a jacket the other day, and am going to pick up a Helmet this weekend. Insurance won’t be that hard (My agent has been really cool about helping me). Registering it should be ok, but I’ll have to have someone make sure they see it doesn’t have an exhaust/was converted to electric so I can be excluded from DEQ. I’m also going to get a Motorcycle instruction permit… and keep my riding limited to daytime, with a friend. Just need to take the Knowledge test.