Upgrading a 1500w engine for higher top speed

NoobGoneWild

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Oct 25, 2022
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Hi, I have a cheap e-motorcycle from china with very basic components:
-72v30ah lithium battery
-1500w brushless hub motor
-This controllerWhatsApp Image 2022-10-25 at 16.40.50.jpg
Currently, it has a top speed of 60kmh (37mph) and low acceleration, which is to be expected from such low power components.

My goal is to up the top speed to 100kmh (60mph), I'm learning slowly but surely.

Right now I'm wondering, can I use a 3000w controller with the 1500w engine? How much of a speed increase can I see on average?

If this is a bad idea, what would you do? what parts would you change that won't be too costly.

Thank you all for your help, i'll be sharing my progress on this board
 
More speed takes higher voltage (or a motor wound to go fast on lower voltage) to make the motor spin fast enough, and higher power (watts) to overcome the air resistance at the higher speed.

Voltage vs speed is linear, but power vs speed is not, it takes way more power to double your speed than just double the power. At a guess something between 5-10kw of motor power (and because the system is nowhere near 100% efficient, the battery will have to provide even more power than that, by a large margin), depending on how aerodynamic you and the bike are, assuming flat roads and no headwinds. More power will also give you faster acceleration.

How much power you need you can use the simulator at http://ebikes.ca/tools/simulator.html to guesstimate, for the specific conditions you will be riding under. It has instructions and explanations below the graph and tools. It'll probalby take more power than it estimates, since it's designed around bicycles, but if you know the Cd numbers for your bike you can put those in to get closer results.

A new controller is probably needed, and possibly a new motor if you need continuous power well above it's "rating". (motors can often handle a fair bit more than "rated" for short periods, if there's enough cooling they might handle it a long time).

The battery must supply all that power, so if your present battery can only supply the power the present controller can demand, you would need to replace the battery with one that can handle the higher power; this is probably going to be pretty expensive if you need any range out of it.

Additionally, since you'll be using up the power at at least a few times the present rate, even if your present battery will supply that much power, it will give you proportionally less range (so if you get 20 miles out of it now, and it takes 5 times as much power to go the speed you want, you'd only get about 4 miles out of it then).


Another consideration is "how well built is the bike itself?" Is it built well enough to handle the faster speed, on the road conditions you have? Is it's suspension capable of handling it? Are it's brakes and tires able to handle stopping you from that speed? Is the wiring capable of the currents you'll need?


My guess is it could be cheaper to buy a bike that already does what you want than to rebuild this one to do it, but it depends on the compromises you're willing to accept and the reliability and safety you expect from it.

If you look around at the various motorcycle conversion / build threads, there are discussions about power, controllers, batteries, motors, etc., to do faster speeds, that may help you determine what budget range you'll need to expect.
 
My power and speed calculator suggests you'll need about 9000W at the wheel to hold 60 mph on the flat, so that's about 12kW from the battery. It's highly doubtful that any part of your bike's electrical system would do the job.

If you want a highway capable motorcycle, get one of those. You're going to waste time and money if you try to "upgrade" your current motorbike to do what you want.
 
Do you have a pic of the bike?

The E-Groms that have been available for years in the US/Canada have 2000w motors and 72v20ah sla batteries and can have the stock speed increased from 60kph to 80kph by overvolting (adding 2 more batteries). Their stock controller is beefier than yours tho and can handle the 96volts, so your controller is a weak point and would need to be upgraded along with the battery if you upvolt with the stock engine.
 
My two conversions use a bout 7,6 and 8,8 Kw power in to hold 100kph on a flat ( both ways to rule out headwind..i always use the same strip on near windless days)

So a good 7kw cont. motor will be the minimum to have a reliably 90-95 kph bike
and a bat&controller to go along..

oh - and my bikes are fully faired


just for reference
flo
 
The 4000W QS hub motor (don't know the model off the top of my head), check this build thread: https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=109761&start=150 on my E-vespa can do 100kph no problem.

It can sustain that. Power consumption at that speed on a flat with no wind is about 4000-5000W. That motor can handle 8000W no problem, and even bursts to 15,000W.

I've got a 20s8p battery made with 21700 cells, and a Kelly controller (see thread above for details).
 
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