# Please help me choose a motor



## psych0hans (Oct 21, 2014)

Hi guys, I’ve been doing some research on building an electric motorcycle. It’s been a pipe dream for me since a pretty long time, infact, I made my first thread about it on this forum about 3 years ago. I’m finally getting my (KTM duke 390) rolling chassis together and will have it rolling by next week. 

What I’m looking for now is advice on which motor to get. I’m looking for something that can propel me and the bike up to 100mph and do about 20-30miles on a charge. I’m thinking a 96v battery pack should suffice, but I’m really new to all this. I saw and downloaded the excel calculator that one forum member was kind enough to make, but I really couldn’t figure out how to use it. 

Thanks for reading!


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

What batteries are you using? Do you know?

Motors for that bike, can vary. A lot of people used to use Series wound or Brushed DC Permanent magnet motors.

These days, with prices on the controls having come down and more widely available, people have used the HPEVS ACxx induction motors, as well as the Motenergy Permanent Magnet AC motors coupled with Sevcon or Curtis controllers.

What is the rough budget? That might dictate one direction over another.


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## psych0hans (Oct 21, 2014)

Hi @frodus, thank you for your reply. I've been looking at motors and prices online and the motor which would really make sense for me would be either the AC15 or AC20/23. That being said, considering the prices, I might just buy a cheapo 6kw PMDC motor to begin with and upgrade later on when I can afford to.

I want to use a 96v battery pack, most likely made with recycled 18650 cells, but here too I might need to compromise and begin with maybe just a 48v unit and double up when I can afford to.

The goal is simple, a track only bike, which can keep up with a 250/300cc class bike with up to 30miles of range.


I think the budget would be between $2500-3000 all in. Considering I already have all the parts for a rolling chassis, the only thing remaining is the power-train and bodywork.


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

I think you'll have a hard time getting the AC15/AC20 for under $2500, then you have batteries, charger and something to monitor cells if you're going to use 18650's. There are other options, like the Motenergy/Sevcon that could be a good choice (Shameless plug, I sell both HPEVS and Motenergy/Sevcon). All in, you could get the Motenergy/Sevcon under $2K for for a motor/controller/harness/contactor kit. That would be close to what a Zero SR would be, performance wise.

I think $3k for a track bike that can go WOT for 30 miles is going to be a tall order. Might adjust one of those parameters. IOM TT is 37 miles and some of the smaller bikes, still DNF'd because they couldn't carry enough capacity for those speeds. I doubt you'd get a pack built of sufficient size with motor/controller for $3k, unless you find some used parts.

For city/highway, 30miles won't be too hard. For racing when you're really on the throttle, it uses a ton more power, thus more energy and requires a larger pack.


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