Ordered an electric 'motorcycle', err... scooter

[ClodMaxx]

Green Bee just posted this:

Green Bee Metro 1 and Metro 2 use our very own SLUNCE batteries that are silicone salt based batteries which are non toxic, recyclable and have better performance than lead -base toxic batteries

apparently it uses technology from their sister company, http://slunce.us.com/

[ClodMaxx]

got an update on saturday. they told me to pay shipping and tax applicable for my state: $350 and $75 respectively. then they issued a refund the next day of $75, and the note said 'you sent too much money. we are returning the rest. thank you.'

i'm curious as to how over-engineered the system is. can i use a 52v battery pack instead of the 48v it comes with to get a little extra speed?

[x-y]

1250$ is very cheap for a electric scooter ;)

[ClodMaxx]

she just got here this afternoon. it's currently charging - the battery was just about completely depleted, so i'll take my first test ride when i get home from work. she's more sophisticated than they advertise: it has regenerative braking, an alarm that senses if someone is rolling it and locks the hydraulic brakes, and an ignition feature that locks the handlebars all the way to the left so it can't be turned.

[snellemin]

Nice scooter man. So when are the upgrades coming in??

[ClodMaxx]

i've decided to wait until i ride it a few times and have a chance to tear it apart and see what i'm already dealing with (space, etc.). then, all bets are off.

[jayjay283]

These electric jobbys are incredible for night missions. Need a switch that shuts the lights all off, and 2nd paint the white black and get a black seat cover. Around here we have bike paths going for miles (not legal for the scooters) get from point a to b in 60 seconds though

[ClodMaxx]

found out last night the LVC on the charger is bad. gotta call them today and get a new charger (and possibly a new battery). it has 2 red lights, and when the battery is charged/balanced, one turns green. i was told it only takes 4-5 hours to charge a fully depleted battery, i had it on for 7+ hours...thinking it was the first time it was charged and it would take longer. grrrrrr..... Green Bee has some bugs to work out! lol

(i was talking with the guy who delivered it, and he said they're assembled at their plant in CA, but they switched to Chinese components. most likely like the charger)

oh, and it goes faster than they say, too - 40 mph, 45 on a slight downhill. :) the throttle is sensitive too - just the slightest twist makes your head snap back!

[Semi Pro]

very cool, makes me wish i had room for one, oh well if i put it in my kitchen it make a good conversation piece lol

[ClodMaxx]

bombed around on it last night to run a couple of errands, and took it to
work today for the first time. i get some weird looks, i guess trying to figure
out why what looks like a vespa doesn't make an engine noise, lol. it's fun -
just hop on, turn the key to 'on', twist the throttle and go.

called the guy who delivered it and explained the charger problem, and they're
sending me a new one. so far their customer service rocks.

[mistercrash]

Love your scooter. It looks good with that retro look. I don't know if you opened it up to see what's inside yet but at almost 400 pounds, I suspect you have a whole lot of Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Batteries hidden in there. At 1200 bucks, I don't expect that you have a lithium battery in there. No worries though, if you want more speed and torque and want transform this scooter into a low speed motorcycle that goes up to 70 or even 80 km/h then all you need is some knowledge, some time and a lot of money lol. Have fun with it, I know I have a ball playing with mine. These things can become a hobby even more addictive than RC.

[ClodMaxx]

thanks - i love it. i can see already the need for more speed - but for now, i'm fine with 40-45.

i'll open it up real soon to check out the powertrain, but the batteries have me intrigued. this is the most technical info i found - a spokesperson from Green Bee
said in a post on facebook: 'Green Bee Metro 1 and Metro 2 use our very own SLUNCE batteries that are silicone salt based batteries which are non toxic, recyclable and have better performance than lead-base toxic batteries...'

i have NO clue. all i know is that SLUNCE is a sister company to Green Bee, which deals with solar power. i'll have to pick up a lithium pack that's the same voltage and find the harness to hook it up to.

[mistercrash]

If they have a sister company that does solar stuff then I'm guessing here that they are using batteries in the scooter that they also use for storing power in their solar systems. It also looks to me that they are trying to glorify what is basically SLA batteries. Like I said, almost 400 pounds is extremely heavy for this scooter so it must have a lot of heavy batteries hidden in there. I'm just guessing here. I run a very similar scooter and after I took the SLAs out of it, it weighed 180 pounds. I put a 25 pound lithium battery in it and ran like that for a while at 205 pounds (was 300 pounds with the SLAs). It is unbelievable the difference it makes on how the scooter handles when you take so much weight out of it. It accelerates faster, transitions faster and brakes faster. It's like a totally different machine.

[ClodMaxx]

oh i believe you - there isn't enough to the scooter to make it almost 400 pounds except batteries, lol.
i'm not interested in building my own batteries, so i'll have to look for prismatic cell packs already built.
plus, it'll be nice to take the batteries out of the scooter to charge them - something i currently can't do
with the current configuration.

do you have a vendor you recommend that sells already-build packs? i haven't read through many e-bike
threads here, maybe i'll do that. thanks for the help & insight!

[mistercrash]

There's a few out there, the most talked about are Ping batteries and Cellman. On a budget go with Ping, with more money go with Cellman. But I've read about so many already who ran with Ping with very good success for more than a couple years. I read that you have a 60V controller and a 60V charger.

60V 30Ah Ping