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El Moto — An Amazing Gas-to-Electric Conversion
 Around town, on the trail or at the track, El Moto’s performance will amaze you! El Moto’s acceleration is right there with a muscle car or a 400cc gas motorcycle.
El Moto combines a gas motocross chassis with a powerful Permanent Magnet DC electric motor, a pulse width modulation controller, and a set of affordable, readily available batteries. The result is a very lightweight, high-performance machine that performs well in many venues and can be optimized for each different venue. A range of forty miles of around-town, stop-and-go riding is possible using economical sealed lead acid batteries. For racing, El Moto can be built to weigh less than 192 lbs. when equipped with lithium ion batteries. You can easily set up El Moto to be street legal, or leave it as-is for off-road use only. By changing the tires and/or gearing, you can customize El Moto for different types of dirt or asphalt use.
What’s more amazing is that you can build El Moto from off-the-shelf parts in your garage! No welding or machining is required. The El Moto conversion uses the technology insights, performance analysis, conversion option analysis, and detailed conversion descriptions presented in the electric motorcycle conversion book, The Secrets of El Ninja.
The secret of El Moto’s performance, compared to a typical gas-to-electric conversion, is the low weight of the full-sized motocross rolling chassis (138 lbs.) coupled with the power of the modern electric drive system. Because El Moto’s design has its lightweight motor (21 lbs.) mounted to the swing arm and the solid state controller mounted in the gas tank, the entire space that once housed the gas engine is available for mounting a large volume of batteries on the battery platform. The custom battery platform (made from steel tubing and aluminum sheet metal available from a hardware store) is a prime location to mount a variety of lead acid or advanced technology batteries. When equipped with a lithium ion battery pack, El Moto can have the best of both worlds – light weight and long range – but requires more time and effort, additional engineering, and a bigger budget.
The following varied use models and associated design specifications are possible with an El Moto-type conversion due to the battery platform versatility, gearing options, controller options, and motor options. See Chapter 2 – Electric Motorcycle Technology Overview, Chapter 3 – Performance and More Performance, and Chapter 4 – Motorcycle Conversion Options and Decisions in The Secrets of El Ninja to understand these and other optional configurations.
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El Moto Configurations vs. Vectrix Scooter
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Battery/Amp-hours/ Kilowatt-hours
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Voltage
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Top Speed (mph)
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Approx. Range Stop-and-Go (miles)
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Approx. Range @ 25 mph (miles)
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Approx. Best Acceleration 0 to 30 mph (Seconds)
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Approx. Weight (lbs.)
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Shopping, Commuting, and Trail Riding
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Lead B&B/33/2.4
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72
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40-70
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27
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42
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4
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310
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Long-range Commuting
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Lead B&B/50/3.6
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72
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40-70
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41
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64
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5
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376
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Long Range and Light Weight
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Lithium Thundersky LFPs/60/4.3 |
72
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40-70
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50
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78
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4
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299
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Starter Moped Class
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Lead B&B/50/1.8
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36
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30-35
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21
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33
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7
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279
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Super Motard and Oval Track
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Lead DEKA/17.5/1.3
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72
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40-70
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15
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23
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4
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271
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Drags, Motocross, and Oval Track
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Lead DEKA/8/0.6
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72
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40-80
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7
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11
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<4
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216
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Drags, Motocross, and Oval Track
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Lithium A123 /9/0.7
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72
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40-80
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7
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11
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<4
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191
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Vectrix Scooter
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NiMH/30/3.75
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125
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62
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43
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68
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NA
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462
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A free condensed El Moto User’s and Builder’s Guide is now available. This downloadable PDF document describes El Moto in its many uses, and explains how to convert any modern gas motocross chassis into an El Moto. This guide is dependent on the details provided in The Secrets of El Ninja for a complete understanding of an El Moto conversion and its design details.
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