After Gutenberg

Subtitle: So, want to ride like a Tasmainian, do you?

David Harrington compares the Blur to KYMCO Bet & Win 150 or a Piaggio Fly 150. He writes that the Blur is certainly not cheap. It’s not meant to be. The performance components would seem to make it a slightly better choice than the other two in the same price range. Still there are other, more bare bones choices in 150cc scooters that would be more affordable,

This blog recently reported on the conversion by two U-TAS-ers of a petrol powered scooter to a flex-fuel, series hybrid scooter. Steve Ambrose and Vishy Karri installed a hub motor in the front wheel. Why still trying to determine what brand of donor vehicle was used, some research would seem to indicate that a Genuine Blur could be a good choice for a donor vehicle because of its excellent suspension and handling.

The UTAS converted scooter has a “through the road” hybrid drive train, in which the combustion engine drives the rear wheel and an electric motor drives the front wheel. There would seem to be some convergence in thinking between the UTAS Hybrid Scooter Conversion and what you can do to a regular bicycle with a Neodymics Cyclemotor Conversion Kit. The kit contains a direct drive front wheel with controls plus a set of four DeWalt rechargeable, lithium ion battery packs.

Rather than attach the Neodymics way to the front wheel, the packs could go into lockable storage. In the Vespa LX 50 HyS (more later), two 12V 26Ah batteries are located under the seat, with an additional top box replacing lost storage space. The UTAS scooter looks to be a similar design.

Photo by Kevin Bullis taken with a Treo 650 camera phone.

The smaller, lighter, more expensive of the two rechargeable Dewalt reciprocating saws uses advanced lithium batteries from A123. My initial post expressed the hope that Toyota would engage A123Systems in making a commercially available plug-in hybrid. As it turns out, after engineers began using A123 cells, scavenged from DeWalt DC9360 packs, to make sufficiently large, lithium battery packs for plug-in conversion kits, GM contracted with A123 (and CPI) for batteries in their supposedly forthcoming E-Flex platform.

The promise of such Made in China rechargeable battery packs — made with advanced lithium ion cells from A123Systems — is a lighter, more powerful, and potentially less expensive battery pack that will make vehicles with primary or supplemental electric drive more practical.

Each DeWalt DC9360 pack contains ten 26650 cells. The Neodymics kit uses four packs and makes use of the connector and battery management circuitry that are part of each battery pack. Neodymics has wired together four bases, with which the battery operated tools normally are equipped, making the battery unit “hot swappable,” i.e., there is an absence of an inboard charger.

While in one sense, the kits provide for plug-in conversions, the chargers are remote and recharged batteries swapped for those that become depleted, whereas the Piaggjo HyS (more later) is capable of recharging from a standard 220v European outlet. These parallel hybrid scooters — the Vespa LX, Piaggio X8 and MP3 — truly are plug-in hybrids; the batteries are charged while in the scooter, enabling it then to travel up to 20 kilometres / 12 miles on electricity alone.

Form Factor: cylindrical 26650 (26 mm diameter, and 65 mm in length)
Voltage: 3.35 V nominal, 3.6 OCV
Capacity: 2.2Ah capacity nominal
Mass: 70 g
Internal DC impedance: ~11 mOhm
Power Density (5s pulse): >3500 W/kg
Energy Density: ~120 wh/kg
Cycle life: >1000
Recommended Temp range: -20C to 60C

According to A123systems, the APR26650M1* cells inside the pack are rated to provide amperage in the range of 30C continuous and up to 100C in pulses. Thus, these fast charging cells are well-suited for kinetic energy recovery. (Will, Piaggio or Honda be the first to add Bose regenerative suspension to their scooters?)

*Note: 26mm X 650mm is equivalent in size to a “C” size battery.

Chinese all-electric motorcycles with PLI (Polymer Lithium Ion) batteries have demonstrated exceptional performance, when compared with other types of traction batteries typically used in electric motorcycles and scooters.

Where the UTAS Hybrid Scooter Conversion Kit and the Neodymics Cyclemotor Conversion Kit diverge is in what comprises the other part of the hybrid drive. UTAS developers faced the more difficult challenge, since the primary drive is an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine). The operator of a vehicle with a Neodymics front wheel is concerned with only one motor control since the primary drive is muscular.

Both kits use a PM (Permanent Magnet) BLDC (Brush Less Direct Current) hub motor on the front wheel. The Neodymics Cyclemotor Conversion Kit separates the motor controller from the speed controller, the latter being the interface between the operator and the motor controller.

The UTAS converted scooter has a “through the road” hybrid drive train, in which the combustion engine drives the rear wheel and an electric motor drives the front wheel. The challenge is to integrate speed control over two separate drive trains

The UTAS scooter already has a TNG (Twist ‘N Go) speed controller that operates the CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) and accelerator on the the tiny two-cylinder, petrol-powered engine that the UTAS developers converted to be capable of running on alcohol. (Brazilians take note.)

The UTAS developers also chose the “simplest” type of hybrid, a “through the road” hybrid; each motor operates one of the wheels of the two-wheeled vehicle. Thus, one challenge was to have the electric drive capable of regenerative braking, yet provide safe braking of a two-wheeled vehicle. The other significant challenge was to integrate speed control from two different drive trains.

According to a Netrider forum participant, (Netrider is a scooter forum), who personally knows Steve Ambrose, the coverage about the UTAS converted scooter is slightly misleading. The information stated that, with the electric motor driving the front wheel, the scooter was able to reach 80km/h. Rather than both sources working together, Netrider participant Dim seemed to recall that “the electric motor cuts out at around 40km/h.” Nevertheless, the UTAS developer had “his struggles with his hybrid scooter,” reports Dim.

Piaggio’s HyS is a parallel hybrid drive train, in which a combustion engine and an electric motor incorporated into the gearbox casing are mechanically and electronically linked and simultaneously supply power to the rear wheel. The HyS, in scooters such as the Vespa LX50 Hybrid Scooter shown above, uses drive-by-wire and the in-built electronic management to combine the power from the two engines. Piaggio’s HyS not only offers better acceleration (Piaggio boasts that with electric drive; these bikes exhibit 85% stronger acceleration), but also a significant reduction in fuel consumption (up to 140 mpg or 1.67 liters/100 km) and in CO2 emissions, only 40 g/km (using 65% the hybrid modes and 35% the electric one).

This blog might be more inclined to find someone who could cobble the speed control from a Piaggio HyS system, if the Piaggio interface could be made to work with a “through the road”, a.k.a., parallel series hybrid (two wheels, two separate drive systems). The Piaggio interface is designed for the Piaggio parallel hybrid drive train.

It provides the scooter rider with an advantage since the sophisticated, Piaggio speed control allows the electric motor to work in drive, coast and brake modes. “The rider,” reports the Scooter Scoop, “uses all the normal controls (accelerator, brakes and additional handlebar commands) as well as a specific switch to choose one of the different operating modes: three hybrid, one electric-only and the reverse.”

A UTAS conversion, especially of a four-stroke, fuel-injected scooter like the Blur made by Genuine Scooter Company, using rechargeable, DeWalt lithium ion battery packs, does seems a bit nicer than a Piaggio LX-50. Yet is either worth the extra cost, when compared to a simple conversion that enables a four-stroke, fuel-injected scooter to run on E85?

One might assume that it would be worthwhile to the scooter enthusiast that wants the much improved acceleration, coupled with improvements in mileage and emissions. We will have to see if the Honda Numo or Yamaha C3+ will be offered to a environmentally sensitized, scooter commuter and what features such scooters will have for the money.