# Recumbent trike (bicycle) motor size?



## ken will (Dec 19, 2009)

I think it might be just a little bit of over-kill!
I also think you might want to consider a motorcycle drive wheel.
15 KWatts will probably destroy the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

I like the batteries from Ping battery
http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-48V-LiFePO4-Battery-Packs/Categories


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## Dink (Jun 3, 2010)

ken will said:


> I think it might be just a little bit of over-kill!
> I also think you might want to consider a motorcycle drive wheel.
> 15 KWatts will probably destroy the spokes of a bicycle wheel.
> 
> ...


Ken,
A little overkill might be an understatement. But if applyed correctly and not over done why not? (my 500+ hp street car is overkill but its fun.) I planed on limiting the controller to 48v and 100amps max. The motorcycle drive wheel is an exellent idea. I'll defently look into that. Drive sprockets might be hard to get though. I hadn't heard of Ping's. I was looking at the Golden Motor LFP-4810s pack (48v-10ah) and running 2 of them in parallel. Or would it be better to by cells from Calb or ThunderSky and build my own pack? Thank you for the suggestions.


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## Salty9 (Jul 13, 2009)

Dink said:


> . . . . I understand the state limits at 1000w here in Wa.. . . . .


You might consider getting a licensed small motorcycle and modifying it into a reverse trike. I've been thinking about it.


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## Dink (Jun 3, 2010)

Salty9 said:


> You might consider getting a licensed small motorcycle and modifying it into a reverse trike. I've been thinking about it.


 Salty,
That would require a drivers license. Otherwise I'd do just that. Because I have a G.E. 6.7" motor, that would be interesting to put in a small motor bike/trike. I'm building a standard trike for a tow rig in the pits at the drag races, out of a golf cart rear axle assembly and chopper bicycle front end.


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## iion78 (Dec 10, 2011)

I plan on making a moped scooter with the me0909 and the alltrax speed controller. *http://www.evdrives.com/kits_conversion.html* This place sells the kit with throttle for about $700. Finding info on setup is limited. I plan on using 48 Headways 48v 10Ah (16cells)x3= 48v 30Ah. The OD of the wheels will be 10". I wonder what range and performance I could get from this setup. Any insight?


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## Dink (Jun 3, 2010)

iion78 said:


> I plan on making a moped scooter with the me0909 and the alltrax speed controller. *http://www.evdrives.com/kits_conversion.html* This place sells the kit with throttle for about $700. Finding info on setup is limited. I plan on using 48 Headways 48v 10Ah (16cells)x3= 48v 30Ah. The OD of the wheels will be 10". I wonder what range and performance I could get from this setup. Any insight?


Welcome to the forum. You do understand putting in that set-up is illegal without license plates. That aside. What type/brand etc.,scooter? What top end mph desired? Weight,gearing,hills,mph, and how you ride will all effect range. I have a 36v-1000amp tadpole recumbent that will do 20-25mph(flat ground) and go 5 miles with all the hills here, on 12amp hr sla's. Funny you mentioned evdrives, they are only 50 miles from me.


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## iion78 (Dec 10, 2011)

Yes by the state of Virginia a moped is defined gas or electric that does not displace greater the 50cc. I plan on having it registered. The frame will be welded together from scratch. I have been welding both with steel and aluminium for about a year and able to form and penetrate perfect beads. 
The speeds i'm looking for are around 35-45mph. Mainly used for urban commute in the city with mild hills. Rider weight around 225lbs. I'm not sure about the gearing ratio and need a second opinion. 
Carl from EVdrives stated that the me0909 runs at 2500rpm loaded. I'm assuming at 48v as he did not state at what voltage. Trying to discover the torque per square inch at different voltages is getting more granular than i want to get in already complicated setup. Don't get me wrong, torque is important to understand when it comes to sprocket size on the motor. For example, a gear calculator indicated a ratio of 1:2 to achieve speeds around 45mph. 10teeth to 20teeth is the same as 20teeth to 40teeth. This is where the motor design in torque becomes important. There are no posted information on the me0909 on torque that i could see on evdrives' website.
The most important issue right now is operating the me0909 at what voltage based on the above conditions? 36v or 48v? 
The other variables of tuning the controller by adjusting voltage and amp, changing out different spockets for motor and wheel are things that i could change easily, but I have to build the Lifepo4 battery packs with BMS and it would be alot of work and wasted money on the bms if I had the wrong setup on battery voltage.


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## Dink (Jun 3, 2010)

iion78 said:


> Yes by the state of Virginia a moped is defined gas or electric that does not displace greater the 50cc. I plan on having it registered. The frame will be welded together from scratch. I have been welding both with steel and aluminium for about a year and able to form and penetrate perfect beads.
> The speeds i'm looking for are around 35-45mph. Mainly used for urban commute in the city with mild hills. Rider weight around 225lbs. I'm not sure about the gearing ratio and need a second opinion.
> Carl from EVdrives stated that the me0909 runs at 2500rpm loaded. I'm assuming at 48v as he did not state at what voltage. Trying to discover the torque per square inch at different voltages is getting more granular than i want to get in already complicated setup. Don't get me wrong, torque is important to understand when it comes to sprocket size on the motor. For example, a gear calculator indicated a ratio of 1:2 to achieve speeds around 45mph. 10teeth to 20teeth is the same as 20teeth to 40teeth. This is where the motor design in torque becomes important. There are no posted information on the me0909 on torque that i could see on evdrives' website.
> The most important issue right now is operating the me0909 at what voltage based on the above conditions? 36v or 48v?
> The other variables of tuning the controller by adjusting voltage and amp, changing out different spockets for motor and wheel are things that i could change easily, but I have to build the Lifepo4 battery packs with BMS and it would be alot of work and wasted money on the bms if I had the wrong setup on battery voltage.


 I got into the electric gambit due to my sons science prodject. Yet as usual( last time was a scale trebutch)


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## Dink (Jun 3, 2010)

iion78 said:


> Yes by the state of Virginia a moped is defined gas or electric that does not displace greater the 50cc. I plan on having it registered. The frame will be welded together from scratch. I have been welding both with steel and aluminium for about a year and able to form and penetrate perfect beads.
> The speeds i'm looking for are around 35-45mph. Mainly used for urban commute in the city with mild hills. Rider weight around 225lbs. I'm not sure about the gearing ratio and need a second opinion.
> Carl from EVdrives stated that the me0909 runs at 2500rpm loaded. I'm assuming at 48v as he did not state at what voltage. Trying to discover the torque per square inch at different voltages is getting more granular than i want to get in already complicated setup. Don't get me wrong, torque is important to understand when it comes to sprocket size on the motor. For example, a gear calculator indicated a ratio of 1:2 to achieve speeds around 45mph. 10teeth to 20teeth is the same as 20teeth to 40teeth. This is where the motor design in torque becomes important. There are no posted information on the me0909 on torque that i could see on evdrives' website.
> The most important issue right now is operating the me0909 at what voltage based on the above conditions? 36v or 48v?
> The other variables of tuning the controller by adjusting voltage and amp, changing out different spockets for motor and wheel are things that i could change easily, but I have to build the Lifepo4 battery packs with BMS and it would be alot of work and wasted money on the bms if I had the wrong setup on battery voltage.


 I would go with 48v. I'm doing that now on my new trike project. As I understand things, volts is your rpm's, and amp's are torque. You still haven't stated tire size, that has a lot to due with gearing.


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## Rational (Nov 26, 2011)

Dink said:


> amp's are torque.


Ditto, amps x coil turns equals Magneto Motive Force, MMF. 100 amps x 1000 turns = 200 amps x 500 turns.

And if they only give you a torque curve or only a power curve for your motor you can convert between them using hp=TxRPM/5252, like in this graph
http://www.thunderstruck-ev.com/Manuals/AC15_Torque.png

With constant torque the mph vs. time/distance vehicle curve is easy to calculate; it gets a little messier when you take drag into account.


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