Electric motorcycle conversions are popping up almost everywhere you look. This one began life as a Yamaha R1, ridden hard on the track and ready for retirement. Richard Hatfield and Todd Kollin had other ideas for the tired track day ride and pulled out all of the usual drive components like the engine, transmission, clutch, exhaust and radiator and in their place are 28 90 amp-hour, 3.2 volt, 6.6 pound Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. What’s interesting is all of the batteries together weigh less than what was removed and they are rated for 3000 charges.
… these LiFePO4, or LiFe, batteries, as they’re called, have only recently become affordable for the average Joe. They’re still four times as expensive as lead acid, but they weigh half as much, last 10 times as long and let a bike travel three times as far on a single charge.
The conversion cost $15,000 but they don’t say whether that includes the price of the used bike. The drive system is a single speed with potential horsepower at 70, maximum torque is 80 foot pounds, top speed of 100 mph with a range of 80 miles at 65 mph. Weight is 400 pounds. Recharge time is 7 hours with the built in plug in charger.
Hatfield and Kollin have a bike shop called Lightning Motors which produced this conversion. Kollin also runs Electric Motorsport which has been building small electric powered motorcycles while Hatfield imports solar panels. The bike was tested by Susan Carpenter of the LA Times but she had to be careful since the bike was just built and the batteries were not securely mounted. They have a video on their site which shows the bike in action and it doesn’t look bad.
Real electric motorcycle options are getting closer and closer. The speed at which these conversions are coming and the performance they have means one of the mainstream manufacturers will be considering these before too long. Who will it be?
Photo and links below:
Link: LA Times via TreeHugger
Link: Electric Motorsports
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Spaceweasel says
Too much fun! We are getting very close to a useable performance bike. Almost makes me want ot roll my own…
GenWaylaid says
All the back-of-the-envelope analyses say this or something very like it is going to be the first practical electric motorcycle.
Sean says
WOW, but is that rear sprocket HUGE!
Keith says
I’ve watched some electric powered dragbikes on video and show a lot of potential , they really haul ass.
ElectricMotorcycles.net says
“Real electric motorcycle options are getting closer and closer.”
Define real.
kneeslider says
“Define real.”
Interchangeable with a gasoline motorcycle in most usage situations without the necessity of undue planning for distance, recharge locations and/or time to recharge. I could add reasonable cost to the definition, too.
When someone can park an electric in his garage next to his old bike and freely choose between the two without making sure his trip is within carefully defined parameters, it’s a “real” option. If your riding is always within those parameters, they may be a real option today, but for most folks, not quite yet.
todd says
It’s funny how the design criteria to retain a “gas tank” still exists.
-todd
spaceweasel says
Funny, I just looked at their web site, and they claim 90mph top end and only 50-75 miles of range. Still cool, but as always, don’t believe everything you read.
Dominic says
To me 15K is lot, I found this site a while ago and they claim you can build for about $2000. http://www.21wheels.com/elninja.html
spaceweasel says
the el ninja looks like a much cheaper attempt at the same idea. The difference in $ is likely due to a)building it yourself, b) older donor bike, and c) much cheaper/older batteries.
Now I’m fascinated and considering doing this myself. Thrashed track bikes are cheap, but batteries are all over the map – looks like some research is in order.
Dominic says
spaceweasel,
I know it is cheaper build it youself, but to me it’s good buy.
If you think about doing this and you are looking for batteries go to
http://www.electricvehiclesusa.com/
http://www.evparts.com/firstpage.php
http://www.brailleauto.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=2
also
http://www.tekbattery.com/ (this was featured on kneeslider)
as for thrashed track bike this may help you http://www.motoconnection.com/
GenWaylaid says
After reading around, I believe I’ve found what model of battery is being used on the Lightning Motors bike:
Thunder Sky MODEL NO：TS-LFP90AHA:
http://www.thunder-sky.com/products_en.asp
They’re a Chinese company and I have no idea how to buy the batteries directly, but Todd sells a similar model through his Electric Motorsport shop.
http://www.electricmotorsport.com/PARTS/parts.htm
spaceweasel says
Dominic-
Wow, thanks for all the links. I found that lightning motors is selling the battery that they use for $100. Looks like this winter might be fun in the shed.
D says
i dont see why they cant cover all the batteries up and make it look more sleek and streamline
TK says
This was not the finished product. It was more of a case study to test the feasibility of such a vehicle. Obviously a production version would need protection for the battery and a reasonable sized sprocket. This was a prototype for testing not a finished product by any means. The bike started out life as a damaged 1998 R1 with a blown motor and bent sub frame. It took a lot of work to get it to were it is and there is allot more work to be done on the project.
TK
Kits for more affordable electric motorcycle conversions start at about $2000 http://www.electricmotorsport.com/PARTS/parts.htm
Travis says
@Kneeslider:
Except that the roundtrip range is totally within my commute distance. Sure, so I have to charge it every night, big deal, so I park and plug it in.
Neil says
The definition of ‘Real’ – useable and comparable: Range, speed and handling on par with gasoline.
Range is a weak link at the moment but we are getting closer and closer to electric drive being practical, and (just as importantly) accepted.
It will take time to get people to get their brains around not having to put smelly explosive fuel in their vehicle every other day.
Once you’ve made a trip in a good EV you’ll be hooked.
Folks are figuring we don’t want bobble cars and weeny-mopeds, they’re making ‘real’ bikes. Finally.
Gabriel says
He should have used a hub electric motor instead of that horrible sprocket and chain! There are some hub motors on the market!
ANYWAY: IT IS A START FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES…(WELL , KIND OF A “RESTART”…)considering that at the year 1900 the electric vehicle was king…that is until the ICE appear that offerd a greater range and power! The ICE engine actually was helped by the electric engine! can you run an ICE engine whithout the electric part? NO an electric vehicle can run whithout all that bulky ICE engine!:-)
bye!
JG says
we kept the gas tank only as cover for the batterys and controller placed right under it.The bottom of the gas tank is cut out to make more room under it.
JG says
To see more of what I build, (yes I built this bike)go to http://www.graywrxfabblog.blogspot.com
todd says
Justin, I still have that XR650L I bought from you (actually got it registered). Funny, I’ve been thinking of making it an electric bike for some time now.
Nice spread in PopSci by the way.
-todd
Alex says
Hello, can you sell me that (The R84) bike, I’m local, Irvine, or build new one for me. Thank you. mon.rouge@yahoo.com
FRE says
Gabriel stated that they should have used a hub motor instead of using chain drive with the horrible sprocket and chain. Unfortunately, at least with present technology, that would not be practical.
The size and weight of an electric motor bear an inverse relationship to the speed at which it runs. The weight of a hub motor would have been many times greater than the motor which they actually used. From the looks of the two sprockets, it looks as though the ratio was probably about 20:1. Thus, a hub motor would have weighed perhaps 20 times more, in addition to being very bulky and much more expensive.
The extremely large sprocket could be considerably reduced in size by interposing a reduction gear between the motor and the front sprocket. Presumably that would be done with a production electric motorcycle.
mike says
hey man sorry to say but is kinda lame i mean who would want to make a big like that it jusst has no meaning to me no massive hourse power no nuts it looks to me like its just all gear it kinda takes the point out of motorcycles its kinda disapointing but hey thats just how i feel bout it