eVFR Electric Motorcycle Conversion » The project begins….

The project begins….

To give some background, I was at work about a month ago talking with fellow engineers about the Testla Roadster and about what it would take to convert/build an electric car. I had seen people’s posting on converting, but hadn’t really read a ton on it. I started thinking, what about a motorcycle? I brought the idea up to my co-workers and it sounded like an great idea…. Little did I know, that day was the start of my project.

I posted on Craigslist, an ad looking for a sport bike rolling chassis with a blown engine. 5 people emailed me. 2 had a bike. I aquired a 1986 Honda VFR700F from him for free, with title (working on the title still). I picked it up and towed it home. The other 3 people that emailed me, were interested in my project and wanted to be kept informed about my progress.

Since then, I’ve gone to one OEVA.org meeting (oregon electric vehicle association) as well as a drag race at PIR (last night). I’ve met a few people along the way, all are interested in a small NEV (Neighborhood electric vehicle) convertion from a bike. I even met a guy in portland (David with http://www.synkromotive.com/) who is designing AC and DC drive systems for small vehicles (like mine). This could work out great. I offered to help with design, testing and real world applications. Offer my bike as a “test bench” of sorts, and hopefully we’ll both benefit.

Here’s some pictures (I’ll try and get some more of its current status once I remove the engine).

It may look a little rough, but the frame is straight. I’ve just ordered from ebay new brake calipers and master cylinders for the front and the rear as well as some fairing parts. I’m going to rebuilt the front forks, and then she’s ready for stage 2 of the project; Calculating the needed speed/torque from the motor, so I can chose a matching motor for the application. Before I met David, I was planning on a DC drive system. Now, I might be considering AC with full regen capability and programmability.

My plan (BD, Before David):

6 Sealed Lead acid batteries (SLA
Alltrax DC controller
PM132 or Etek motor
Custom built PIC controller with LCD to monitor the batteries and controller

My plan now:

6 SLA batteries
Symkromotive AC controller (in development)
DC brushless motor
Synkromotive management system (in development)

So thats it for today. Going to start tearing it apart this week, Then I should be able to get the weight of the chassis, add the weight of 6 batteries and motor and controller to get the total weight including rider.

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