[ausev] EV Transportation - Motorcycle vs Car

[Chris Robison]

michael wrote:
> Look for the El Ninja book.  It has plans from ground up on building an
> electric ninja

The El Ninja is a pretty standard motorcycle conversion; it has one 
major difference from the design posted previously in the YouTube clip. 
The motor chosen for the El Ninja is a Briggs and Stratton Etek, which 
is a motor with a very different design from the normal cylindrical DC 
motor. The benefits are that it's very efficient and has a lot of power 
for its size. This means they can hang it off the side which looks a 
little weird, but may allow for a little more volume for an extra 
battery or two.

The main drawback is that it's very sensitive to abuse; it burns out 
quickly if allowed to overheat. I'll add that this is an assessment 
about the classic Etek, which ceased to be manufactured some time ago. 
The new Eteks are a little different and there are two versions (high 
torque and high speed) -- I don't know how robust these new versions 
are. There's also a brushless Etek motor, but it's a different animal 
though it may have some of the same internal structure. I haven't heard 
much about it but I've heard that it may not be quite as powerful.

The (brushed) Etek and other motors like it are examples of "Lynch" type 
motors: axial gap motors with laminated windings that kinda put the 
small motor industry on its ear with their high output and efficiency. 
The genuine Lynch motors are made by the Lynch motor company:

http://www.lemcoltd.com/

Whereas motors such as the Etek and Perm motors are made under license.


   --chris