Electric XJ

So...

has anyone here considered or successfully modified one of these bikes (probably the 550 frame) into an electric bike? I can't help but feel that a motorcycle is the perfect platform for an electric commuter vehicle and I'm wondering what your thoughts are.

 

The smaller the vehicle the closer you can get to the performances of a gasoline engine. Another plus is you have full torque available at any time. Although unless you have the parts just laying around they cost is going to be extremely limiting. Another down fall of electric vehicles is the charge time and availability because if you don't have time or a place to charge you are stuck on the primary charge and that needs to be enough to get you round trip. Another bad thing about EV's is that if you accelerate hard (using a gas engine analogy) not only are you burning more gas but you are pumping gas out of the tank and onto the road. EV's or hybrids are they future of motoring, unless you really want this as a project and your pocket book can handle it by all means go for it. Your limiting factors not including cost is size. To get a motor big enough and be able to make it look good. To get a custom battery pack to fit nicely is very costly or very time consuming and electronics to make it all work together is extremely time consuming. I like the idea of an EV motorcycle and the reason I know most of this is I was looking into building one. To make something viable as a commuter vehicle rather than a project might be biting off a very large piece indeed. I don't mean to be to negative, I just want you to have all the info. If you decide to go ahead and need any help please ask. Hope this helps.