First Scooter, not my first project.

[jskene]

Yours is almost twice as fast as the original Vespa Ellectrica and faster than their new, updated version:

https://electrek.co/2019/11/05/piaggio- ... n%20Europe.

[JimVonBaden]

Yours is almost twice as fast as the original Vespa Ellectrica and faster than their new, updated version:

https://electrek.co/2019/11/05/piaggio- ... n%20Europe.

I might even be able to match the range, maybe.

[JimVonBaden]

Basically done. Added trim on the front, fixed a disconnected wire, cleaned it up and installed the volt/load gauge.












Tomorrow I plan on a long ride to test range and endurance.

[JimVonBaden]

So, successful ride, and here are the stats:

94% charge:


Starting miles, 17144.5


End miles: 17169.2


Total miles: 24.7

End charge 38%.


Moving time, 57 minutes, total time 1:21 minutes, with an average moving speed of 27 mph, and a top speed of 62mph.

None of that tells the whole story. First, it was all in town with stop and go traffic, with one short freeway ride (top speed run of 1.5 miles). The bike was perfect the whole time. Took off quickly, accelerated briskly, and easily kept up with traffic from 35-50 mph. At not time did I feel like traffic was outrunning me, and many times I outran it. It was a total joy to ride. Good handling, and plenty of acceleration.

What makes the test not realistic, was heavy Sunday DC traffic, with a lot of stopping and starting, with nearly full throttle each time. The bike weighs 210 pounds, I weigh 275, so this stopping and starting was hard on the battery. If I were to take it on back roads and leisurely riding, I am sure my miles would easily double. I was watching the amp gauge and noted that I hit 150 amps several times, and during acceleration I was generally over 100 amps.

Next weekend I will take it on some backroads out of the city, with far fewer stops and road speed limits around 45. I am confident I can get easily 50 miles out of it!

Here is why I do not have a GPS log to prove the ride. It happened 2 miles from home when I hit a big bump and it jumped off the bike, then got run over.


Start and stop of my amp gauge. For some reason it defaults to 100ah. I need to find a way to reset it.

Before:


After:


Interestingly, there appeared no degradation of performance as the battery got lower. The top speed run was done just a couple of miles before the crash of the GPS.

[eap]

...another beautiful job! sorry about the oops with the GPS but better than a body oops!

[RocketMan]

Bring it this Sunday to Cilfton for breakfast meet!
RM

[JimVonBaden]

Bring it this Sunday to Cilfton for breakfast meet!
RM

I'm not yet sure what the range is, so I am not sure if I could get there and back on one charge, But I do plan on it next month.

[JimVonBaden]

Vespa people will see it.



I also adjusted the caliper on the brake rotor to "hopefully" eliminate the low speed brake howl I have.

[JimVonBaden]

So, out of town all week and I was itching to go ride. Beautiful 70° and sunny!

Started the baseline with my new, old, GPS, properly secured this time.




I took local roads out 16 miles, with the speed limits 40-45, I was doing that and more, easily keeping up with traffic, but there was too much traffic to do a speed run. I did hit 52mph at one point.

When I stopped I checked my battery and was like oops!


That may be pushing it.

I turned around and headed back, when traffic cleared up. On a slight uphill slope I went for top speed. Managed 60.2mph. Not bad with volts down to 74V.

This bike is just a blast to ride, and therefor I was unable to keep my wrist out of it, and was riding hard right from the beginning.

12 miles later I found my range when I ride it hard.


Note that I rode for 55 min, with on time of 1:16 minutes, and an average speed of 30.3. Like I said, I was dogging it.

Problem is, the bike refuses to go when I hit 5% battery!


The other problem is, my battery monitor is not accurate:

The voltage is right, amps are right, but Amp hours and percentages are off. I can't seem to reset them correctly.

Result?




Total bike miles. Now at 17198, or 64 electric miles.


I need to do a little more tweaking on the controller. I also need to contain myself and see if I can ride more sedately for a distance run.

[Georgeinva]

"ride more sedately" I don't like the sound of that. OK, just one time for science.

[JimVonBaden]

"ride more sedately" I don't like the sound of that. OK, just one time for science.

I keep trying and failing, but I am having fun in my failure!

[JimVonBaden]

Several rides, nothing bad to report. My friend rode it and loved it, so that is good. Well over 100 miles now.

So, EmVeeTee made me some 3D printed badges and I painted them up. Fortunately he gave me his test badges so I could play with sanding and painting them.

Black spray paint first, then silver brush on.









Test fitted one of the test pieces. I used 3M trim tape with a heat gun conform it to fit the legshield.


Once dry I will put on the final good badge.

[bdimon]

The Piaggio Group wishes they made a product this nice. Nobody would believe this came from a hobbyist's garage instead of a factory. I'm blown away and look forward to a closer look on Tech Day.

[JimVonBaden]

The Piaggio Group wishes they made a product this nice. Nobody would believe this came from a hobbyist's garage instead of a factory. I'm blown away and look forward to a closer look on Tech Day.

Thanks Bruce. It is a good 5-10 footer.




It will be on display at the tech day, without a key!

[JimVonBaden]

Added one more badge: