Useful Links & Info For Purchasing Electric Motorcycle Parts In North America

[ElectricGSXR]

*Edit - Under Construction*

I have been searching for items but it's not easy when you're scared to pull the trigger and buy off AliExpress. Well so far, living in North America I have found these to be the best options for me for trustworthy sellers. There are other options of course.
I originally wanted to get a Fardriver controller which I heard would be my best option for example, but I cannot find the one I want sold anywhere in North America. Only from Ali Express. I'm sure it is a great option for my motorcycle, but it is not the best option for me in Canada. I don't want the stress. Too many mixed reviews from Ali Express.. no support ect.
I had to do a lot of searching and I actually came across the Kelly website from a YouTube video of a Cafe Racer electric conversion build. They included it in the parts list thankfully. Now Kelly are a Chinese company yes, but it looks like they have a HQ in the United States. Their website has all the info you could ask for. They have good reviews online and in the YouTube video of the cafe racer conversion I watched, the guys ran into issues with the controller and I got to see first hand that Kelly has really good support. This is why I chose to go with them.

-I found the ANT BMS site I think: ANT BMS – ANT BMS
Can anyone confirm? I'd rather purchase from them than Aliexpress or get a lesser version from a Canadian store. They have the 230A / 575A peak version I wanted along with their full line up.
There is also: Canada's Most Affordable Electric Bicycle Kits - Canadian option but geared more towards Ebikes rather than motorcycles. Can get a BMS that will work though.

-Kelly Controller seems to be the best option I have found to buy safely in North America: Kelly Controls - Motor Controllers, EV Parts Everything I stated above. A lot of clear information. Looks like good support. Good reviews online. From everything I have seen they work great in electric motorcycles. I will review mine once I get it in and working. I'm sure it will be way better than the stock one I had.

- Batteries drove me crazy. Honestly just find a place that recycles car batteries and other new/used EV batteries. That is the best way to go about it in my opinion. Thank you to @Dui ni shuo de dui for telling me about EV batteries and everything else.
I spent way too long looking at batteries on Ali Express thinking that was the only way. Nothing but spelling mistakes and lies in the spec sheets and it's just crazy hard to put faith in that. Even if you get the batteries delivered all the specs are almost 100% all lies and you have to check what they really gave you. If anything gets damaged in shipping or lost good luck.
Compared to GreentecAuto.com on the Nissan Leaf gen 2 page:
"Each module is tested for actual capacity.
The test discharges the module from 8.3V down to 5V at 20A.
The resulting capacity will be labeled on the module so you will know the exact capacity of every module you receive.
We sort our modules based on the tested capacity and ship groups within 1Ah of each other, usually less. In large orders we might have a larger range."
Very honest, upfront and very easy to talk to.
This is where I got my Nissan Leaf battery modules: Hybrid Battery Replacement | Honda & Toyota Hybrid High Voltage Batteries They are very helpful and answer fast. They have a lot of different batteries.
I am still waiting on this place to contact me: Ingenext - EV Conversion, Used EV Parts, Tesla modifications Wont bother answering them now. They are Canadian however. More expensive though I think. Unsure of the Ah rating they sell or if they have options I don't remember there being options. Greentecauto had a choice of Ah to choose from and just feel much better dealing with them. They seem quite honest and upfront about everything with clear information on the site. I can't say enough good things.
I asked if they could modify a different battery they sell to be smaller to fit my bike, but they do not offer that service.

If anyone has any other helpful links for people to use when they are building upgrading or repairing.. I know something like this would have really saved me a bunch of time so I hope maybe it can help someone in the future. If there are better links than the ones I've shared feel free to make improvements or add more to this list.

 

[amberwolf]

I have been searching for items but it's not easy when you're scared to pull the trigger and buy off AliExpress.

Items for what specific project(s)? With what specific requirements and uses, etc?

Can't really suggest anything without details.

But i will say that I myself would not buy anything mission critical from Ali*, ebay, amazon, etc., at least not without backup parts / plans, and some research on the specific seller and part that would be used to be sure they're trustworthy, etc.

(I do buy cheap stuff on these places for experiments and whatnot, but I don't actually expect it to be any better odds of working than what I find at yardsales and thrift stores. :lol: ).

-Kelly Controller seems to be the best option I have found: Kelly Controls - Motor Controllers, EV Parts A lot of clear information. Looks like good support. Good reviews online.

Best option for what requirements and use(s)?

There isn't any one "best"....for myself, for instance, I wouldn't want a Kelly. There are many systems and builds that would not be best done with any of the Kellys for various reasons (size, software, hardware, etc).

If anyone has any other helpful links for people to use when they are building upgrading or repairing.. I know something like this would have really saved me a bunch of time so I hope maybe it can help someone in the future. If there are better links than the ones I've shared feel free to make improvements or add more to this list.

It would depend on what specifc things are being built or upgraded or repaired as to what links would be appropriate. A simple list of links to places useful for everything would be very long, and hard to use without some way to decode which places were good for what parts for what projects and needs....

There are a few "list" threads around, some of which are generic and some of which are more specific. Unfortunately a search on link(s) or list(s) even by title produces many non-useful results, and there's no good way to filter the results in the present xenforo search....

 

[ElectricGSXR]

I tried to edit it to be more specific. It's mostly for purchasing with peace at mind. Might not be the "best" items for the build in terms of performance. If you want to settle like I did for a greater feeling of security while purchasing and safety through support.. If you don't know what to do or If anything isn't working properly Kelly for example will talk you through everything and replace anything that comes to you damaged I have seen this in a YouTube video. (I mean this kind of security and safety over performance in terms of best items for top speeds or anything along those lines)
Using my Fardriver vs Kelly example is the best way I can describe it. I was recommended Fardriver in terms of best performance for my motorcycle (by someone who has used Fardriver, Kelly, and Sabvoton). I really wanted to go with Fardriver and I looked hard for a way to get the one I needed from a seller in North America. No dice. So instead of sacrificing security while purchasing, and the added safety I feel I get from having good customer support, I chose to sacrifice any (probably small) gains I may get on the performance side. I chose Kelly over Fardriver for my controller so I don't have to shop on Ali Express. Simply put it's all in my head. It's a mental thing, It is a peace at mind thing. That's what I want to help people with. If you feel the same way I do. I swear it was beating me up trying to figure all of this stuff out! Even with people helping me and telling me what items I need to get.
I just wanted to give people options as well. You don't have to shop on Ali Express. I just wish I knew sooner it would have saved me days and days and days and days of time. Reading through terribly written spec sheets filled with lies and spelling mistakes on Ali Express.

 

[amberwolf]

Ah, ok. The original wording sounded like you were also looking for solutions, not just posting info for others. It was also posted in the Ebike section rather than the Emotorcycle section (I just moved it now), which was a bit confusing given the "size" of the parts you were posting about; they were rather "large" for bicycle builds.

Seems like a good thread to help others with now, though.

 

[thebes]

-I found the ANT BMS site I think: ANT BMS – ANT BMS
Can anyone confirm? I'd rather purchase from them than Aliexpress or get a lesser version from a Canadian store. They have the 230A / 575A peak version I wanted along with their full line up.

I do not believe ant has an official site, at least we were not able to find one a couple months back and nothing seems to have changed since then. We looked at this domain you mentioned and the main point of contention was that it was registered in september of last year according to the whois records which really does not inspire confidence. Also were unable to find anyone vouching neither for nor against it, would advise against purchasing through it.

As for a north american bms reseller, Ive bought a couple ants and jbds from sriko batteries and never had any issues, shipping took a couple days to california from I believe chicago(?)

I spent way too long looking at batteries on Ali Express thinking that was the only way.

You could always diy your own pack, get cells from a reputable seller such as imrbatteries, liionwholesale or 18650batterystore (and nkon for people in the eu), pick up a kweld and go at it! (well of course not quite thattt simple but you get the idea )

Also yeah, everything you see on aliexpress/baba, amazon and ebay is terrible quality, usually shoddy construction, poor material quality and counterfeit cells, not recommended to buy packs or cells unless you possibly want to burn your house down

I would also comfortably recommend battery hookup, they are east coast based battery recyclers and generally have pretty good deals on used cells, I havent really seen any ev packs or modules as of late but they occasionally come in.


One final note, I dont fully understand the apprehension when purchasing motors/controllers/everything-but-batteries through aliexpress, ali is just an online marketplace to facilitate the purchase of goods between manufactureres and consumers. If your issues stem from ordering off aliexpress you can order directly from most of manufacturers that have a store front on ali as you would with say kelly, for example heres fardriver's site (and by extension heres qs's).
Just because a company has a location does not and should not immediately mean that they are untrustworthy or less trustworthy than a company that doesnt. And plus if you are paying using something like paypal that allows pretty lenient transaction reverses whats the worst they can do? Thats my take at least, please let me know if Ive somehow completely missed the point


Also good luck with your build! Seems to be shaping up to be pretty neat!

 

[ElectricGSXR]

You make a lot of really great points and gave some really helpful links. Thank you! @thebes