First e-bike

[mak]

Hi everybody!

I'm planning to buy my first e-bike kit and so far I've seen good feedback on GM motors and some less good on their battery warranties.. anyways

I came here to get some tips from people who know more on e-bikes that I do

My plan is to buy a Magic Pie II kit but, I can't make a choice on the battery pack that would be the more reliable and adapted to my needs.

My bike trips will usually be 30-40 km trips untill I plug the pack in the wall, but I still wish to travel on a good speed 40-50km/h.

This in mind, the 48v 10ah lifePO4, 48v 20ah lifePO4and the 48v 12ah lithium-ion packs sold by GM Canada (because I live in Canada) are the packs that looked interesting to me.

The 10ah lifePO4 pack should handle the range, but I'm scared that by pushing it to those speeds it would draw to mush amps and eventually the pack will lose a cell and die

Then I thought about the 20 ah.. It will draw less amps from each cell, last longer, give me more range (that I don't really need) BUT cost me more $$

And finally I saw the 12ah lithium-ion pack but I don't really know if lithium-ion batteries are more/less good that the LifePO4 that is a more recent technology?

Any tips? Is GM Canada trust worth for their warranties? Should I buy a battery pack separately?

Thx for the attention and pardon me English isn't my first language!

Mak

[DirtyGinge]

hi there

The 12AH wont handle the range, the voltage drop at the end is too much...

The 20AH should just about cover it, either from canada or a ping battery from china ( check ebay)

The max speed you will get is about 40KM/H

Personally, i'd go for a n external controller. Its not as neat as the internal ones, but easy to change for another controller if something goes wrong

GM CAnada wont let you down , he really does work hard on behalf of the customer ...

[Hednztrüm]

Ive got a mp with 48/12 and I get a range of ~45km. Ive been running my kit since nov2010 almost every day even in snowstorm and -30celsius. The range drops slightly in cold weather
I cant drive faster than 27km/h(shorter bits of +40 is no problem but full throttle will drain the battery within 25km) if I want long range and I usually pedals on hills and other things that slows the speed
Top speed so far is 47km/h on flat ground with no wind

[DirtyGinge]

If you go with an infineon controller, then you can select option for extra speed boost...46-48KM, but this will need better battery for range.....

[o00scorpion00o]

Hi Mak,


Welcome to the GM forum!  


I agree with dirthginge, go with the infineon. A 40 amp is a good match to the Magic Pie and it's very powerful, however that depends on the battery you can afford. Your battery will need to be capable of supplying 40 amps constant, depending on your terrain, if you live in hilly areas you will draw the 40 amps more than on flats. A 20 amp 48 volt ping battery should be suitable. I don't think GM's batteries can  supply that kind of power, however GM's batteries will be fine with the Magic Pie with internal controller, but obviously with a lot less power than the external controller option! LiPo batteries are the only batteries capable of delivering very high currents from a small pack,  but if you are new to all this E-Bike stuff I would suggest a Ping battery for your first setup as Lipo is not as simple as plug in to charge and walk away!

EDIT-------- OF course I forgot that you can get LiFeP04 to handle higher C discharge, But the point I should have made is the fact you can build a smaller pack from LiPo that can output far higher C than LiFeP04 for a lot less money! Though th einitial cost will be high because of the fact the charging equipment can cost a lot!

The thing you really need to decide is weather you want to use throttle all the time or just use it for boost. If you just want boost for hills etc then the pie will really put a strain on your legs with the motor drag. I would suggest trying the 250 watt geared motor which is small and light and will make a bike feel more like a bike, and most of all it will freewheel with no motor drag. I have no experience with that motor and can't tell you how powerful it is, but it won't take you 50 kph, 40 maybe! You will still have to put in a lot of effort on hills but it should take the sting out of them!

There are more powerful geared motors around if you look around, they can have issues with gears breaking, though that's mostly because some people use them at power levels that are way above the rated levels!

You can't use regen for braking with geared motors but with E-Biking I would suggest a bike with hydraulic brakes anyway!

The other thing especially if you go with the Magic Pie is you absolutely must use 2 torque arms if you don't you can get seriously hurt if the axel spins in the dropouts! The pie will  shred dropouts on aluminum bikes!

One thing for sure there is nothing like the feeling of the first spin on an E-Bike!


Mark