tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707056805369904200.post479901133486670100..comments2011-04-08T00:16:13.724-07:00Todd Stiershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220807365072935095noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707056805369904200.post-86388953289241595312008-02-26T21:54:00.000-08:002008-02-26T21:54:00.000-08:0040 mph and 50 miles is a lot of lead acid battery. I use lead acid for the cost and the fact that chargers exist for the batteries. Now that the bike is working, I am looking hard and pricing out a more recent technology. The A123 Li-FePO cells are looking really good, but again lack a good non-proprietary battery management system (BMS). <BR/><BR/>To keep costs low and your CL350 appearance more stock, you could use "racing" lead acid batteries and make them easily swappable or something.<BR/><BR/>My big Ninja and has a ton of fairing to hide ugly stuff like batteries and wiring behind.<BR/><BR/>Definitely do the conversion though - that alone would be a cool movie.<BR/><BR/>-ToddTodd Stiershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02220807365072935095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707056805369904200.post-90861658555320777162008-02-26T06:49:00.000-08:002008-02-26T06:49:00.000-08:00Todd, I just ran across your site on the Make Blog this morning and read about 1/3 of your posts so far, so if you've already answered any of these questions I apologize and you can just tell me to finish reading the material before asking any more questions!<BR/><BR/>I'm producing a film about a motorcycle rally and part of the film is the diaries of the director and myself attempting to restore a pair of old Honda's in time to make it to the rally. At one point I was so frustrated with the engine work that I started looking into an electric conversion because it seemed more interesting to me (interest = motivation) than fixing the gas motor and if it worked the results would be cooler as well.<BR/><BR/>So I'm wondering, since you have practical experience doing this what your thoughts would be about converting a 197? Honda CL350 to electric power? I imagine I'd go with the E-Tek motor as that seems to the "the choice" for motorcycle conversions but I'm not sure about controllers and batteries just yet. Other than cost, is there any other factor that kept you from going with something other than lead acid (NiMH or Li-ion, etc?).<BR/><BR/>The finished bike doesn't have to be perfect, but if I can get something together that could go say 50 miles and do at least 40mph for awhile then it would be enough, at least for this project.<BR/><BR/>If you want to see the bike and what's been done so far you can see it here: http://jasonscrudrundiary.blogspot.com<BR/><BR/>Jason J. Gullickson<BR/>Producer<BR/>the second society<BR/>http://2soc.netJason J. Gullicksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11476467990793805481noreply@blogger.com