We've seen more
silly homemade electric vehicles than we care to
remember, but Ben Nelson's electric motorcycle manages to retain some of its original two-wheel charm while using only a penny of juice per mile -- roughly the equivalent of 300mpg. Nelson bought the bike for $100 and swapped out the original engine for a Briggs and Stratton 8HP DC motor he picked up on eBay for $500, using four $160 Optima Yellowtop lead-acid batteries for power. Nelson says he can get the rig up to a top speed of 45MPH, and he's got a range of about 20 miles before he needs to plug in -- enough to run errands around town. Best of all, the state of Wisconsin willingly registered his bike as a "hobbyist" vehicle, which means he's free to (silently) roam the streets at will. Ben first built the bike about a year ago, so he's accumulated a ton of useful info if you're interested in following in his tire tracks -- hit up the read link to learn more, and check the video after the break.
Read - Nelson's build blog
[Via
ecomodder]
posted June 26th 2008 10:15AM
"Best of all, the state of Wisconsin willingly registered his bike as a "hobbyist" vehicles..."
Can I have a "vehicles" too?
yes you cans
"Best of all, the state of Wisconsin willingly registered his bike as a "hobbyist" vehicles..."
Can I have a "vehicles" too?
lol, epic double post.
Everything is either epic or fail.
So not only can drivers not see him, but now they can't hear him either.
BRILLIANT!
Everyone complaining about how the bike "looks" obviously didn't "watch" the video, and just "glanced" at the photo.
SPOILER ALERT: It has shells on it in the video and looks like a normal bike.
Pretty spectactular handy work if you ask me. But the limited range is something that leaves a nasty taste in your mouth as well as 45 mph? errands ok, but if other electric vehicles can reach 65+ than why not this? I say sell the idea to a company like ford or others and profit away on your design. Hire a lawyer first!
we already have petrol motorcyles, for around $800-$1000, here in india that give about 100+ kms/litre (~350 mpg) so that 300mpg mileage on a $2000 bike isnt exactly impressive. we also have electric scooterettes for about $400-$700 and cost somewhere around $1 worth of electricity every 300kms, and have a range of 40-50 kms with a top speed of 40 kmph, enough for city riding... its not so much to do with environmental concerns as it is do with economics though
i reckon this bike could see an improvement of around 20%-30% in terms of range and performance if he replaced the bigass tyres, and heavy wheel and frame with something lighter and sleeker
Why so ugly?
Here's a conversion FOR SALE that rocks:
http://www.tronbikes.com
See http://www.tronbikes.com for one that looks a bit cooler. And its for sale even...
I agree with the posts on the 45mph top speed. That's the minimum speed on most interstates, and in Atlanta that's about the only way to get anywhere, interstates. Typically in a 55mph zone here we go 80mph plus. It's either that or become a hood ornament. Back roads this bike is fine, but I think I'll take a gasoline engine on it and not risk needing a charge. Can't you get a gasoline scooter for under $2k that would get incredible gas milage and smoke this thing?
i'm sure this thing would go a lot faster, and still smoke a scooter...but i doubt this eletro-bike has a transmission at all.
what kind of scooters? some of them have 250cc engines!
I cannot believe the negative feedback for this! Some of you people need to take your meds your just nasty! This guy made something that will work for him, no it’s not perfect it was made by a regular guy in his garage, what do you expect a Tesla Roadster? I think he did an excellent job. Sure its not going to replace his car, but he said it’s nice for running errands around town. I have had lead acid on me before, it itches and you wash it off. Optima’s are not filled with water they are more like a gel or paste, and when you touch it you don’t melt like in movies. This guy gets super geekfactor cool, instead of shallow, rich, spoiled, MTV cool.
And the odds of getting acid on your nads is rather slim, there is gravity and that makes things fall down, so if you were to get acid on you it would be on your legs, unless you broke the batteries and they were somehow above you, the batter I broke just leaked, they do not spray out. There is always a higher risk when riding a bike.