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I took the first step towards an EV motorcycle conversion today. I took my wife's 1996 V6 4x4 Tacoma to Rancho Cordova (an annex of Sacramento) to look at rolling chassis at a salvage yard. I had to go to Sacramento for this as there is absolutely no motorcycle salvage market in Reno.

On the way there I took SH 395 South through Carson City to SH 50 West. I went over Spooner Summit, through South Lake Tahoe, over Echo Summit (which isn't as steep, high or twisty as Mount Rose but is even narrower and had 1-foot higher snow walls) and then dropped out of the Sierras and into Rancho Cordova. Distance: 143 miles.

Here is s shot of the salvage yard:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/salvage_yard.jpg


I was there to look at 4 chassis but only the first one fit my needs. It's a 1988 Kawasaki Ninja 600R:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/salvage_left_side.jpg

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/salvage_right_side.jpg


We agreed on a price of $700. I spent another $100 on some broken lights/missing parts and they threw in the seats and a fuel tank shell for free.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/salvage_loaded.jpg


The odd thing is that the engine actually runs. It's nothing less than ironic that it's the only chassis in the yard with a working engine, and I'm one of the few customers they'll ever meet that simply doesn't need one. :p

I expect to make back a good chunk of the purchase price by parting out the engine/transmission and the exhaust system.

After I finished my business there I had to head to my company's data center colocation in Natomas, another annex on the North side of Sacramento. There was some work to be done that took about an hour, and the best part is that because of this I will get reimbursed for most of the day's mileage by my company at $0.505/mile. :cool: Distance: 19.4 miles, mostly inner city

When I was finished at the data center I drove back to Reno over I-80 (Donner Pass). Distance: 141 miles

Total MPG for the day: 24.756

Keep us up to date on this one, Brian -- I know I'm not the only really interested in how this project goes for you!

Keep us up to date on this one, Brian -- I know I'm not the only really interested in how this project goes for you!
this is true

I was just out at Ben Nelson's house this weekend. He converted a motorcycle to electric as well. It was very cool and fun to drive it (despite it being in the 20s outside). I messaged him about the post so hopefully he'll chime in.

Hey There,

Looks like you got a good start on the project.

Electric motorcycles are crazy fun!

I converted a Kawasaki KZ440 last summer to run on an Etek and 3 Optima Yellow tops.

You can read about it at my web page (http://web.mac.com/benhdvideoguy/iWeb/cycle/Welcome.html)

It is also mentioned in an article for Edmunds.com. (article here (http://blogs.edmunds.com/GreenCarAdvisor/256))

I have also been on Ecomodder.com quite a bit lately, including a thread about building an electric Geo Metro in my garage. Go to Ecomodder's front page (http://ecomodder.com/index.php) and scroll down til you see "Electric Kawasaki"

Feel free to ask me any questions about conversion. It was a fun project and is a blast to ride.

-Ben Nelson
Oconomowoc, WI

Are you basing the project on the El Ninja by John Bidwell?

http://www.21wheels.com/elninja.html

http://www.evalbum.com/703

Good luck with your project!

Phil

I would recommend "El Ninja" to anyone.

I mostly did a lot of reading and looking at web pages before starting my conversion. Because of all my research, there really wasn't anything I didn't know in there, but there is some great info and charts, and it's all in one place.

Also, since you are converting a Ninja, there will be a few more things in there that apply to your cycle that didn't to mine, like options for where and how to mount the motor.

Hi Ben,

You and I already chatted about all of this in your EV motorcycle thread here on CleanMPG. ;) I plan to go with the El Ninja design of a pancake motor on the swing arm as I need all the space for batteries that I can get. I've got to place 6 Group 24 batteries in there in order to get 72V and enough amperage to get me over the mountain.


Hi Phil,

Yes, I am basing it on El Ninja. I bought a copy of the book last year and have studied it. I didn't mean to copy the bike model so closely but when I put out my feelers for a late 80's/early 90's rolling sport bike chassis this is what I ended up with.



Disassembly was going good until last night. I'm ready to pull the engine out but when I knelt down to look at something last night I tweaked my right knee. I can't put any weight on it right now so I'm at a stop for a few days.

On my project, pulling out the engine was the hardest part! I have no idea how they got that thing inside the frame to start with!

Did Brian's knee heal? Will the Ninja ever run again? Is there a thread more forgotten? All these questions and more can be answered here. :D

bump for a 15+ month old thread.

:D I had totally forgotten about this thread.

My knee healed but it was a long process. I was on crutches for nearly 3 weeks, was biking by mid April, mountain biking by early May, and after about a year and some massage therapy it finally quit "loading and popping" every time I raised my leg (which was quite an event while snowboarding). It's been back to 100% for a few months now.

Sadly, I gave up on my EV bike project. I stripped it all down and like Ben mentioned getting the engine out requires patience, tactics, floor jacks, cribbage, cargo straps, lubrication (for you), etc. But i was able to sell it for $250 to a young man that needed some parts from it. I also managed to sell the cooling system, and then dumped the rest of the loose stuff with a recycler for a few dollars. All in all I made back about $400 of the original $700 investment.

Just 3 days before I was going to order in all the EV parts something happened that I'd been trying for for more than 1.5 years: I got a carpooler. Then I got another carpooler. This negated the justification for spending another $4,000 or more on a single passenger project. Around the same time manufacturers were starting to demo their own EV motorcycle builds and they sure looked nicer than the 20 year old heap in my garage.

The underlying theme for this project was to learn the skills I would need in order to build my own EV car, which is much more expensive than an EV motorcycle. But around that time auto manufacturers were also starting to talk seriously about creating battery electrics again.

I still have the rolling chassis as 2 recyclers have flaked out on picking it up. Perhaps I should put it up on CraigsList...

Hi Brian:

___I suspect you will be on an OEM, Li-Ion equipped BEM in very short order and the joy of biking while at the same time as green as can possibly be obtained for your summer time daily grind will be realized shortly.

___The Zero-S (cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21037) is just a start. If any of these manufacturers include Regenerative braking as the recently announced KLD highway capable scooter (cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23127) does, your ride will be as close to emissions and $'s free as can reasonably be achieved :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Brian,
Glad your knee is 100%. Massage therapy for a knee. I would have never thought it. Now I have a good reason to go to Madame Kim's massage and fried rice emporium. :Banane21:

As for the Ninja, that's too bad. Not such a happy ending. :p - Dale