Cost of a Vespa project?

vintage18650

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May 14, 2022
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I have a fully restored GL that I'm looking to convert. The more the obvious idea only recently struck me and this board has been an incredible source of info. Of course the first hit on the google machine is Retrospective Scooters. They appear to make a pretty nice kit and have been really great about answering my initial questions.

I'm curious about the costs of the DIY approach? Anyone with experience doing a Vespa have any tally of costs? Exclusive of the actual scooter and any restoration, as I have that in hand.

The Retrospective kit is £4k GBP plus shipping to US.
They use an LG 72v 35Ah battery, which they sell separately for £1395 and have a £100 tray to hold it.
I see similar battery packages for $900-$1100, which seems to make sense.
Hub motor - $300-$500?
Controller - $400?

I saw one build thread list about $2k in motor, battery, electronics.

Anyone else do a fully accounting on a DIY? @kingkongshrimp @Voltspa @scusi
 
Feel free to check out the parts list from my conversion. The retrospective kits look really nice, and would need less work to get up and running. I wanted to do most of my build DIY as a way to learn, and I just enjoy that stuff.

The custom swingarm was the hardest part and could cost more if you need help with fabrication. I tried to find an off-the-shelf part for this without luck. The custom battery I built was really fun, but it was pretty expensive compared to the prebuilt packs you can get. it was $660 for 200 18650 cells, but I wanted to pay for quality cells.

Overall, I'm glad I went with the DIY approach and I think once I resume the project, it will be easier to add more custom features since I know the ins and outs, but it certainly had lots of challenges that probably wouldn't be there with a kit made for your specific Vespa.

Good luck!
 
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