The battery box
OwnerAli Adham
LocationOttawa, Ontario Canada map
Email email image
Vehicle2012 Everyday Traveller
Rigid steel frame
Motor Brett White P2A Permanent Magnet DC
Australian-made Brett White P2A motor. Brushed DC geared this motor will eat hills for breakfast without overheating. Very efficient for a brushed motor, will consume only 6A at 38V when cruising.
Drivetrain3-speed
ControllerYi Yun JC-116
36V 30A controller with a peak draw of 45A. Able to pump up to 1400Watts to the motor at startup and about 250W while cruising. I secured 3x 63V 470uF capacitors in parallel going to the controller to filter out voltage spikes during operation...resulted in smoother throttle response.
Batteries80 Sony Konion 18650V, 42.00 Volt, Lithium-Ion
Made from 80 cells of Sony Konion 18650V in 10S8P configuration (10 cells series, 8 cells parallel). This battery pack can pump 5C continuous and 10C burst or 64A and 128A respectively.
Soldered with 24ga copper sheet
System Voltage37 Volts
Charger
A generic 36V 2A charger.
InstrumentationTurnigy WattMeter and Power Analyzer
Top Speed25 MPH (40 KPH)
Achieves 25mph with pedaling, 20 - 22mph on the motor alone.
AccelerationNot sure but it's very peppy.
Range25 Miles (40 Kilometers)
Range is dependent on terrain and riding style, if you peddle with the motor to get up to max speed you're doing the battery a big favour.
Remember the Peukert effect, the greater AMP load on these cells the less total capacity. I peddle at all times with this bike and have gone 35 miles on a single charge and that includes some hills.
Watt Hours/Mile16 Wh/Mile
EV Miles
Current:100 Miles (160 Kilometers)
 
    As of 5/6/2012
Curb Weight30 Pounds (13 Kilograms)
Tires26" rims
Conversion Time3 days
Conversion Cost$750
This bike handles great, much better than my other rear-drive motors and its also the lightest. The suspension seat post smooths things out a bit but no curb-hopping here. This bike does quite well on hills up to 10% without much trouble (so long as you peddle), I have yet to tackle a hill over 10% grade but we'll see soon enough. The width of the rear hub means that only a single speed freewheel can be used limiting the system to a 3-speed drivetrain. Help from the motor makes this a non-issue and its also easy to peddle when unpowered.
Originally built for my niece but like her uncle she wanted more speed eventually and 25mph max wasn't cutting it for her. The Turnigy Watt meter keeps track of the system voltage and power consumption to better gauge battery life than the dinky 3-LED meter that came with the throttle, placed in the battery box like a dashboard.

code by jerry