Aprilia Scarabeo electric conversion
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- I have been off and on modifying an Aprilia Scarabeo 50cc scoot to electric. I will remove all of the gasoline components and replace them with an electric drive system. The rear tire will have an in-wheel / hub motor.
Parts:
For the swingarm I could not find what I liked so I bought two and mixed the parts together since they were interchangeable...
Monkey bike Swingarm - the main swingarm with chassis fittings
www.aliexpress...
NIU aftermarket Swingarm - robbed motor mounts/fittings
www.aliexpress...
DC-DC step down converter (≈87V to 12V)-
www.aliexpress...
Motor speed controller -
www.aliexpress...
BLDC Yuma hub motor -
www.aliexpress...
Brake caliper set -
www.aliexpress...
Left hand brake pump -
www.aliexpress...
Rear brake 1700mm hose -
www.aliexpress...
Twist throttle -
www.aliexpress...
Dash gauge - original Aprilia speedo combined with coulomb counter/shunt -
www.aliexpress...
BMS - 2A 200A
www.aliexpress...
Lifepo4 cells - I do not recommend buying cells from Aliexpress. They are often used/recycled. Alibaba direct manufacturers are a better source since you can get sequentially produced cells which will match each other much better. Unfortunately I bought these which came without terminal screws and so I was forces to solder the cells together.
www.aliexpress...
Shock absorbers -
www.aliexpress...
Aluminum solder kit-
www.amazon.ca/...
Other parts like shock mount and aluminum sheet for battery boxes all locally sources and or fabricated.
Thank you. I really liked working on the Aprilia even though it took me a year and a half to complete. I like it much better than the Yamaha BWS that I worked on previously.
Cool build, fun to watch! Three quick questions/comments. 1. Do the batteries generate a lot of heat when in use? 2. I was surprised how well the unfinished aluminium looked. Did you consider painting it before assembly? 3. Nearly 1000 subs, well done!
These batteries do not produce very much heat. I have a temperature sensor in the battery box that monitors them. These are lithium iron phosphate (lifepo4) cells rather than Li-Ion. With all the battery fires happening I decided to try Lifepo4 cells to see if they are viable for electric motorcycles since they do not catch fire. So far I like them better than Li-Ion even though they have less energy.
I am not ready for painting. The development/fabrication process is slow and requires various iterations and sometimes complete redo's. Painting is the last step before final completion.
Thanks Paul!! I hope to get monetized so that this can be my retirement hobby/job/income. Once I hit 1000 subs I still need to get many many more hours of views before that happens. I guess I will have to grind out a lot of vids to get there. But I do not want to make useless vids just for that sake.
Great job really enjoyed your video
Thank you! I love doing this and I hope that I can afford to keep doing this. Eventually I want to convert a side by side UTV to electric.
Great work! Like it very much. I am thinking to do something similar with my aprilia sr50 scooter but problem is that I dont have rear fork so I must make one. Maybe I will try with front wheel conversion. Too bad I dont have sxarabeo :) Cpnversion with that rear fork looks much easier
Really nice work! So I see in your previous comments that you were concerned about Li-ion batteries but how are then performing those LG Chems from your Yamaha BWS build? I am considering in buying the ones or similar you put in your description of the LG Chem battery build. My plan would be to do a conversion of a 90' Honda CG 125 or something similar from the big Asian 4 brands. But making it legal here in Germany when you have structural changes to swingarm is REALLY hard. So my fall back plan would be Yamaha KLX which has open drop in for the hub motor.
Danke Schoen!.
The main reason I have any concerns about lithium ion is because even a company like LG chem has had battery fires. I expect lesser quality from Chinese brands but not from a Korean brand like LG chem.
So I guess if it can happen to them it can happen to any brand and I find that concerning. But I will also say that if you require the absolute best performance in both, W-h/kg and W-h/liter you have to buy NMC lithium ion. And I think the LG Chem pouch cells are the best.
Also, I have discovered by experience that when you use lithium iron phosphate cells that some of the advantages might actually outweigh the disadvantages.
I'm referring specifically to moped or scooter level bikes that are used for commuting. Firstly, the disadvantage of course is you get less energy volumetrically and by weight when you use lithium iron phosphate. But the advantage is that lithium iron phosphate likes to hang around 3.2 to 3.3 volts through most of the discharge cycle, which then means you get a reliable speed output on the bike until the battery is almost dead. Conversely, lithium ion slowly loses voltage as the battery deplete which translates into lesser and lesser maximum speed before the battery depletes. I find it really annoying in the last 5 km of range that you have less than half your top speed available. This really isn't an issue with lithium iron phosphate.
Of course, the way around this is to build a battery pack with almost 50% more voltage than you really need and then have a controller that can handle it but also has a speed limiting programmable function.
@@diyelectrified1289 thanks a lot for sharing your experience and this valuable insight, already subscribed and can't wait for next videos. Live long and prosper 🖖
Hi. Nice job!
I plan to convert my atw.. 150 cc.
My question is the hub motor. Do You think is possible to drive two engine in same speed synch or should I use one motor with chain.. like now.
Thanks in advance.
Yes, it's possible to have two motors synced together with two controllers. The controllers have to have the ability to sync to each other (can bus or some other protocol) so you'll have to do some research with controller providers.
I am guessing you plan on combining a mid motor with a hub motor. That sounds like a fun project with a lot of challenges. You will need to find a very good quality freewheel sprocket. If you plan to use regenerative braking from the mid-mount motor, you won't be able to do that when there's a free wheel sprocket in place.
Good luck with the project and I hope you make videos so we can all watch and learn