upgrading an electric scooter any advice?

darkstar11

I drive a 500 watt TaoTao ATE 501 and it only has a top speed of 20 to 21 miles per hour and only drives 10 miles per charge(I think) Is there any upgrade parts I can get for this scooter so that it can drive 30 maybe 35 miles per hour and get better battery life? I'm tired of being on a street legal scooter/moped and not being able to keep up with average city traffic flow. I hate being tailgated because I'm driving slower. I think it runs on 48 volt batteries and uses three of them. Not sure about the control box because its kinda hard to get to.

Answer
First you have to realize that those 500 watt electric scooters are really just heavy cheap electric assisted bikes. The TaoTao ATE 501 weighs about 200 lbs and that's why it's so slow. If you want any reasonable performance, you use the fold out pedals at least for acceleration, it also recharges the batteries slightly.

I suspect you have a 36 volt system with three 12 v lead acid batteries wired in series. It would be a good idea to have each of those batteries checked out separately. Lead acid batteries can be tricky and it only takes one to be in poor shape for the whole bike to suffer.

The most obvious upgrade you could do is wire in another three lead acid batteries in parallel. Nothing else would need changing but you would have to find a location to put the batteries.

The next possible upgrade is to replace the batteries with expensive lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries which are convenient because they are available in similar voltage levels. Their charging procedures are similar but not identical so you may be able to get away with not changing any of the charging mechanisms. The biggest problem with this is the cost.

A larger motor probably won't do you much good and may require custom fabrication of the motor mounts but you may be able to find a more powerful motor in the same form factor. In general, most electric motors can be operated at higher voltages with the only consequence being overheating of the motor and wires, the wires can be increased to thicker wires and you could try to get more cooling to the motor but this would really only allow you to have short bursts with the possibility of burning something out. Of course doing so means changing the battery layout and adding more batteries.

The best solution would be to upgrade to a proper light weight electric assisted bike but they run about $2,000 or more, roughly double what the scooters cost. Maybe find a used bike and put in a 500 watt conversion kit... At least with the bikes, everyone expects you to be slow.

The 500 watt scooters are not what I would call street legal, just exempt from regulations. It takes a 150 cc scooter to be freeway legal and a 250 cc scooter to actually be safe at freeway speeds and any scooter with more than 50 cc's must be licensed and registered as a motor vehicle. Those I would call street legal once licensed. You might be better off with a 50 cc gasoline scooter, those are usually exempt from regulation too. The old smoky two cylinder ones had a lot of power, about double what the new four cylinder ones have but even the new 4 cylinder ones would be four times the power of the 500 watt electric scooter. If you want to be environmentally friendly, make ethanol from rotten fruits that you get from the grocers for free.

Are electric dirt bikes safe for 10 year olds?

Aaron

i want to know if electric dirt bikes are safe for 10 year old boys

Answer
Yes, they are very safe they have a top speed of 10-15 mph and they are very low to the ground and you can out run one easily. They are very good training bikes to get them ready for the bigger ones. But i would suggest them to a 10 year old.

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upgrading an electric scooter any advice?

darkstar11

I drive a 500 watt TaoTao ATE 501 and it only has a top speed of 20 to 21 miles per hour and only drives 10 miles per charge(I think) Is there any upgrade parts I can get for this scooter so that it can drive 30 maybe 35 miles per hour and get better battery life? I'm tired of being on a street legal scooter/moped and not being able to keep up with average city traffic flow. I hate being tailgated because I'm driving slower. I think it runs on 48 volt batteries and uses three of them. Not sure about the control box because its kinda hard to get to.

Answer
First you have to realize that those 500 watt electric scooters are really just heavy cheap electric assisted bikes. The TaoTao ATE 501 weighs about 200 lbs and that's why it's so slow. If you want any reasonable performance, you use the fold out pedals at least for acceleration, it also recharges the batteries slightly.

I suspect you have a 36 volt system with three 12 v lead acid batteries wired in series. It would be a good idea to have each of those batteries checked out separately. Lead acid batteries can be tricky and it only takes one to be in poor shape for the whole bike to suffer.

The most obvious upgrade you could do is wire in another three lead acid batteries in parallel. Nothing else would need changing but you would have to find a location to put the batteries.

The next possible upgrade is to replace the batteries with expensive lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries which are convenient because they are available in similar voltage levels. Their charging procedures are similar but not identical so you may be able to get away with not changing any of the charging mechanisms. The biggest problem with this is the cost.

A larger motor probably won't do you much good and may require custom fabrication of the motor mounts but you may be able to find a more powerful motor in the same form factor. In general, most electric motors can be operated at higher voltages with the only consequence being overheating of the motor and wires, the wires can be increased to thicker wires and you could try to get more cooling to the motor but this would really only allow you to have short bursts with the possibility of burning something out. Of course doing so means changing the battery layout and adding more batteries.

The best solution would be to upgrade to a proper light weight electric assisted bike but they run about $2,000 or more, roughly double what the scooters cost. Maybe find a used bike and put in a 500 watt conversion kit... At least with the bikes, everyone expects you to be slow.

The 500 watt scooters are not what I would call street legal, just exempt from regulations. It takes a 150 cc scooter to be freeway legal and a 250 cc scooter to actually be safe at freeway speeds and any scooter with more than 50 cc's must be licensed and registered as a motor vehicle. Those I would call street legal once licensed. You might be better off with a 50 cc gasoline scooter, those are usually exempt from regulation too. The old smoky two cylinder ones had a lot of power, about double what the new four cylinder ones have but even the new 4 cylinder ones would be four times the power of the 500 watt electric scooter. If you want to be environmentally friendly, make ethanol from rotten fruits that you get from the grocers for free.

Are electric dirt bikes safe for 10 year olds?

Aaron

i want to know if electric dirt bikes are safe for 10 year old boys

Answer
Yes, they are very safe they have a top speed of 10-15 mph and they are very low to the ground and you can out run one easily. They are very good training bikes to get them ready for the bigger ones. But i would suggest them to a 10 year old.

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Help me shop for an electric bike/scooter!?

effexorz

I'm really on the fence about exactly what I want. I live in Berkeley, California, and I really don't know what I want, except that it should go at LEAST 18-20mph, and have at LEAST a 10 mile range per charge. Pedalling combo might be good too, but I'm not sure. Give me as much concise information as you can.

Answer
It depends how much you're willing to spend. I owned one (in fact I'm currently trying to sell it) that had a range of about 13 miles and top speed of 20 mph that initially cost about $1300.
http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/imoto2-verde-moto

Now I own one which has a range of 30 miles and top speed of 50 mph which cost $3600.
http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/rmartin-evd-moto

I also owned an electric bike which would have worked well in Berkeley (that's where I went to college, btw) and only cost $350.
http://greenhome.huddler.com/products/e-zip-mountan-trailz-elec-bike

The link below has user reviews of electric bikes/mopeds and should be of service.

Whats the Best Dirt bike out there? Easy 10 PTS!?

Q. I do not care how much the price is, it has to be a dirt bike/ or duel. Please tell me the brand,Price,CC, year, and MPH

Answer
KTM 530EXC, full up racing bike that comes street legal. price varies depending on location but around $8,000-8,500, 510cc, 6 gear wide ratio transmission, electric start. ~12 inches front & 13 inches rear travel, right at 251 lbs, top speed with stock gearing slightly over 100 mph...

I have personally owned over 50 off-road motorcycles dating back into the 60s, raced MX, harescrambles, enduro, cross country, etc. and my competitive race bike of choice that I currently own is the KTM 520 & 525 EXC from a few years back... very hard to beat for the majority of off road riding to be done... not set up for MX/SX with the wide ratio tranny & softer suspension necessarily but as I get older, I do that type of riding less and less. if I did MX more, I might opt for one of the newer fuel injected CRF450 or KX450F over the KTM EXC...

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upgrading an electric scooter any advice?

darkstar11

I drive a 500 watt TaoTao ATE 501 and it only has a top speed of 20 to 21 miles per hour and only drives 10 miles per charge(I think) Is there any upgrade parts I can get for this scooter so that it can drive 30 maybe 35 miles per hour and get better battery life? I'm tired of being on a street legal scooter/moped and not being able to keep up with average city traffic flow. I hate being tailgated because I'm driving slower. I think it runs on 48 volt batteries and uses three of them. Not sure about the control box because its kinda hard to get to.

Answer
First you have to realize that those 500 watt electric scooters are really just heavy cheap electric assisted bikes. The TaoTao ATE 501 weighs about 200 lbs and that's why it's so slow. If you want any reasonable performance, you use the fold out pedals at least for acceleration, it also recharges the batteries slightly.

I suspect you have a 36 volt system with three 12 v lead acid batteries wired in series. It would be a good idea to have each of those batteries checked out separately. Lead acid batteries can be tricky and it only takes one to be in poor shape for the whole bike to suffer.

The most obvious upgrade you could do is wire in another three lead acid batteries in parallel. Nothing else would need changing but you would have to find a location to put the batteries.

The next possible upgrade is to replace the batteries with expensive lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries which are convenient because they are available in similar voltage levels. Their charging procedures are similar but not identical so you may be able to get away with not changing any of the charging mechanisms. The biggest problem with this is the cost.

A larger motor probably won't do you much good and may require custom fabrication of the motor mounts but you may be able to find a more powerful motor in the same form factor. In general, most electric motors can be operated at higher voltages with the only consequence being overheating of the motor and wires, the wires can be increased to thicker wires and you could try to get more cooling to the motor but this would really only allow you to have short bursts with the possibility of burning something out. Of course doing so means changing the battery layout and adding more batteries.

The best solution would be to upgrade to a proper light weight electric assisted bike but they run about $2,000 or more, roughly double what the scooters cost. Maybe find a used bike and put in a 500 watt conversion kit... At least with the bikes, everyone expects you to be slow.

The 500 watt scooters are not what I would call street legal, just exempt from regulations. It takes a 150 cc scooter to be freeway legal and a 250 cc scooter to actually be safe at freeway speeds and any scooter with more than 50 cc's must be licensed and registered as a motor vehicle. Those I would call street legal once licensed. You might be better off with a 50 cc gasoline scooter, those are usually exempt from regulation too. The old smoky two cylinder ones had a lot of power, about double what the new four cylinder ones have but even the new 4 cylinder ones would be four times the power of the 500 watt electric scooter. If you want to be environmentally friendly, make ethanol from rotten fruits that you get from the grocers for free.

Are electric dirt bikes safe for 10 year olds?

Aaron

i want to know if electric dirt bikes are safe for 10 year old boys

Answer
Yes, they are very safe they have a top speed of 10-15 mph and they are very low to the ground and you can out run one easily. They are very good training bikes to get them ready for the bigger ones. But i would suggest them to a 10 year old.

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upgrading an electric scooter any advice?

darkstar11

I drive a 500 watt TaoTao ATE 501 and it only has a top speed of 20 to 21 miles per hour and only drives 10 miles per charge(I think) Is there any upgrade parts I can get for this scooter so that it can drive 30 maybe 35 miles per hour and get better battery life? I'm tired of being on a street legal scooter/moped and not being able to keep up with average city traffic flow. I hate being tailgated because I'm driving slower. I think it runs on 48 volt batteries and uses three of them. Not sure about the control box because its kinda hard to get to.

Answer
First you have to realize that those 500 watt electric scooters are really just heavy cheap electric assisted bikes. The TaoTao ATE 501 weighs about 200 lbs and that's why it's so slow. If you want any reasonable performance, you use the fold out pedals at least for acceleration, it also recharges the batteries slightly.

I suspect you have a 36 volt system with three 12 v lead acid batteries wired in series. It would be a good idea to have each of those batteries checked out separately. Lead acid batteries can be tricky and it only takes one to be in poor shape for the whole bike to suffer.

The most obvious upgrade you could do is wire in another three lead acid batteries in parallel. Nothing else would need changing but you would have to find a location to put the batteries.

The next possible upgrade is to replace the batteries with expensive lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries which are convenient because they are available in similar voltage levels. Their charging procedures are similar but not identical so you may be able to get away with not changing any of the charging mechanisms. The biggest problem with this is the cost.

A larger motor probably won't do you much good and may require custom fabrication of the motor mounts but you may be able to find a more powerful motor in the same form factor. In general, most electric motors can be operated at higher voltages with the only consequence being overheating of the motor and wires, the wires can be increased to thicker wires and you could try to get more cooling to the motor but this would really only allow you to have short bursts with the possibility of burning something out. Of course doing so means changing the battery layout and adding more batteries.

The best solution would be to upgrade to a proper light weight electric assisted bike but they run about $2,000 or more, roughly double what the scooters cost. Maybe find a used bike and put in a 500 watt conversion kit... At least with the bikes, everyone expects you to be slow.

The 500 watt scooters are not what I would call street legal, just exempt from regulations. It takes a 150 cc scooter to be freeway legal and a 250 cc scooter to actually be safe at freeway speeds and any scooter with more than 50 cc's must be licensed and registered as a motor vehicle. Those I would call street legal once licensed. You might be better off with a 50 cc gasoline scooter, those are usually exempt from regulation too. The old smoky two cylinder ones had a lot of power, about double what the new four cylinder ones have but even the new 4 cylinder ones would be four times the power of the 500 watt electric scooter. If you want to be environmentally friendly, make ethanol from rotten fruits that you get from the grocers for free.

Are electric dirt bikes safe for 10 year olds?

Aaron

i want to know if electric dirt bikes are safe for 10 year old boys

Answer
Yes, they are very safe they have a top speed of 10-15 mph and they are very low to the ground and you can out run one easily. They are very good training bikes to get them ready for the bigger ones. But i would suggest them to a 10 year old.

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upgrading an electric scooter any advice?

top 10 best electric bikes image

darkstar11

I drive a 500 watt TaoTao ATE 501 and it only has a top speed of 20 to 21 miles per hour and only drives 10 miles per charge(I think) Is there any upgrade parts I can get for this scooter so that it can drive 30 maybe 35 miles per hour and get better battery life? I'm tired of being on a street legal scooter/moped and not being able to keep up with average city traffic flow. I hate being tailgated because I'm driving slower. I think it runs on 48 volt batteries and uses three of them. Not sure about the control box because its kinda hard to get to.

Answer
First you have to realize that those 500 watt electric scooters are really just heavy cheap electric assisted bikes. The TaoTao ATE 501 weighs about 200 lbs and that's why it's so slow. If you want any reasonable performance, you use the fold out pedals at least for acceleration, it also recharges the batteries slightly.

I suspect you have a 36 volt system with three 12 v lead acid batteries wired in series. It would be a good idea to have each of those batteries checked out separately. Lead acid batteries can be tricky and it only takes one to be in poor shape for the whole bike to suffer.

The most obvious upgrade you could do is wire in another three lead acid batteries in parallel. Nothing else would need changing but you would have to find a location to put the batteries.

The next possible upgrade is to replace the batteries with expensive lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries which are convenient because they are available in similar voltage levels. Their charging procedures are similar but not identical so you may be able to get away with not changing any of the charging mechanisms. The biggest problem with this is the cost.

A larger motor probably won't do you much good and may require custom fabrication of the motor mounts but you may be able to find a more powerful motor in the same form factor. In general, most electric motors can be operated at higher voltages with the only consequence being overheating of the motor and wires, the wires can be increased to thicker wires and you could try to get more cooling to the motor but this would really only allow you to have short bursts with the possibility of burning something out. Of course doing so means changing the battery layout and adding more batteries.

The best solution would be to upgrade to a proper light weight electric assisted bike but they run about $2,000 or more, roughly double what the scooters cost. Maybe find a used bike and put in a 500 watt conversion kit... At least with the bikes, everyone expects you to be slow.

The 500 watt scooters are not what I would call street legal, just exempt from regulations. It takes a 150 cc scooter to be freeway legal and a 250 cc scooter to actually be safe at freeway speeds and any scooter with more than 50 cc's must be licensed and registered as a motor vehicle. Those I would call street legal once licensed. You might be better off with a 50 cc gasoline scooter, those are usually exempt from regulation too. The old smoky two cylinder ones had a lot of power, about double what the new four cylinder ones have but even the new 4 cylinder ones would be four times the power of the 500 watt electric scooter. If you want to be environmentally friendly, make ethanol from rotten fruits that you get from the grocers for free.

What are some effective but easy ways people can save energy?

ksenia

Answer
Monitor your electricity use by buying a Kill-A-Watt or other such monitor.

http://the-gadgeteer.com/review/kill_a_watt_electric_usage_monitor_review

'An average household uses about 4300kWh of electricity each year. This results in emissions of over 2 tonnes of CO2 per household, or ¾ tonne per person - just for domestic electricity supply. In comparison, total CO2 emissions per person in the UK are around 10 tonnes, and emissions per person in India are about 1 tonne. Luckily, it is possible to cut domestic electricity use in half with simple energy efficiency measures.
'This table shows how electricity use is divided up in an average house (excluding electric heating):

Lighting 19%
Cold Appliances 18%
Wet Appliancs 15%
Cooking 15%
Consumer Electronics 19%
ICT (computers, etc) 9%
Other 5%'
(source Centre for Alternative Technology)
http://www.cat.org.uk/information/catinfo.tmpl?command=search&db=catinfo.db&eqSKUdatarq=InfoSheet_SavingElectricity

EASY WAYS to save energy

â Don't use standby on tv or computer.
â Switch off when not in use.
â Use energy efficient lightbulbs.
â Lower you thermostat.
â Install timers.
â Heat only what is needed.
â Turn down the water heater.
â Insulate your property.
â Turn air conditioning and heating down
â Sign up to a green energy supplier.
â Dress appropriately. When itâs cold put on a jumper rather than turn up the heating, when itâs warm take it off again rather than use the air con.
â Wash full loads.
â Wash at lower temperatures.
â Dry washing outside.
â Avoid dishwashers.
â Reduce draughts.

Use rechargeable batteries..
â Donât leave (re)chargers on for longer than is needed
â Only boil the water you need.
â Buy local produce.
â Reduce reuse and recycle - in that order
â Work from home. If possible work from home, it saves time and fuel travelling.
â Eat less meat and dairy products. Modern farming methods produce large quantities of greenhouse gases.
â Shower instead of bath.
â Conserve Water The less water you use the less energy is needed to pump it to your home or office and to deal with the waste at a sewerage treatment works.

â Drive a fuel efficient vehicle, if you have more than one vehicle use the most economical one more often.
â Walk or cycle to work or when taking the kids to schools, if you have to drive consider car sharing.
â Use public transport where possible
â Take a coach or train instead of using domestic flights.
â When replacing your vehicle look at diesel and liquid petroleum gas models.
â Combine multiple journeys into one and do your weekly shopping in a single trip.
â Stagger journeys where possible to avoid rush hour traffic and hold ups.
â Avoid harsh braking, accelerate gently, drive at a steady speed.
â Keep tyres properly inflated.
â Remove bike and ski and roof racks when not in use.
â Carrying unnecessary weight wastes fuel, declutter your vehicle.
â Use the correct gear, use cruise control if your vehicle has it.
â Keep your vehicle regularly serviced.
â Turn the engine off when stopped or waiting.

Source Trevor a climatologist , who used to be Top Answerer in Global Warming.

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Have you ever tried riding a motorcycle during winter? How bad is it? Can I do it? For 800 miles straight?

top 10 best electric bikes image

just_askin

I am planning to ride a motorcycle from DC to Florida in early January. I live in Florida and I am going to DC in December, and I will buy a motorcycle there. I want to ride it all the way back on January 10. I assume it is going to be freezing cold. Has any of you tried this? Is it feasible? I just don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for shipping the motorcycle.

Please help.
Thank you.

Answer
I used to ride from Missouri to Florida every year in late winter. The coldest was when I left Missouri on January 31 @ 25F. The first 4 miles was packed snow but the rest of the riding was on dry roads. I put on 500 miles the first day and was suffering from hypothermia even with a full dress bike and wearing snowmobile gloves, electric vest, 2 pairs of jeans, insulated underwear top and bottom, sweater, hooded sweatshirt, heavy duck insulated coveralls, leather jacket over that, insulated rubber work boots and a balacave over my face. Oh, and a helmet. I looked like the Michelin man. The highest temp was 39F but it was the long term exposure to the cold without physical activity that got me cold. By that evening, my hands were so cold that when clutching, it was either on or off because I couldn't modulate the lever. My thinking processes were slightly impared, but not excessively. I got a motel and had to soak in a tub of warm water for a half hour to stop shivering.

If you're going to do it, you must have a good windshield if you plan on riding any distance at all and wait (or hope) for a warm spell. Layers of clothing is the secret, electric clothing helps immensely and leather breaks the wind without trapping body moisture inside like plastic does. Stop often to eat hot foods and drink warm fluids. Forget coffee because that'll make you have to pee and take my word for it, digging through five layers of clothing for the puckered up little guy is taxing to say the least. If the bike has no fairing or only a little sport type fairing, forget the idea of making any kind of miles.

As mentioned, look at shipping the bike, buying closer to home or if oyu know anyone in the DC area, see if you could hire someone to take your bike with theirs when they go to bike week at Daytona. You could probably save money and the person would be able to cover some of their gas bill on the way down.

Do electric cars need wind generators to keep the batteries charged?

Kenneth Ho

An all electric vehicle.

Answer
No, there are a number of ways to charge the batteries. Battery electric cars primarily charge the batteries from a wall outlet.

Solar, fuel cell, and series hybrids can charge batteries using the supplemental power source.

Vehicles that have power transmitted to them can charge batteries in addition to using the transmitted electricity to run the vehicle: http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes.blogspot.com/2010/10/haloipt-launches-first-wireless.html

There are also a number of ways to capture the power of inertia to charge the batteries these include:
-- Regenerative Braking (usually it is a drive motor that is turned into a generator for regenerative braking but in some cases a separate generator may be used. It is also possible for this to be attached to a fan but this also will have some effect at braking the vehicle.
-- Regenerative suspension (shock absorbers that produce electricity)

It might be possible to park your vehicle at the top of a mountain each night. As you drive down the mountain the regenerative braking could charge the vehicle. However you would have to top off the charge before you climb the mountain again. As they say there is no free lunch.

--A stationary Wind Generator is just one method to produce electricity that can then be used to power the electric grid or an electric car directly.

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Best cruiser motorcycle for new female rider?

top 10 best electric bikes image

Carrie P

I'm tall (5'10) but can't handle a lot of weight. I laid down a Harley sportster 883 and broke my clutch hand and cracked some ribs, so I'm nervous about getting anything over 500 cc until I have more practice time. Like the look of the Virago 535 but hear they have too many problems and I'm really looking for a starter bike without the need for a lot of maintenance. I like the Honda shadow series but don't want to go to a 750 yet.

Answer
You want a cruiser.
You want light and easy to ride
You want reliable, easy to maintain, late model, less than 5 years old.

You can get one of the three Japanese 250cc class cruisers, all about 330 pounds, all capable of 65 mph on the freeway, all topping out at about 75.

You can get a heavier cruiser, a 500+ cc twin, starting at a 470 pound 500LTD with most as heavy as the Sportster.

Or you can get an S40, a 652cc single, just 380 pounds wet, simple, easy to work on, and has a good forum of other riders to help you. And it uses a electric starter, no kick available

upgrading an electric scooter any advice?

darkstar11

I drive a 500 watt TaoTao ATE 501 and it only has a top speed of 20 to 21 miles per hour and only drives 10 miles per charge(I think) Is there any upgrade parts I can get for this scooter so that it can drive 30 maybe 35 miles per hour and get better battery life? I'm tired of being on a street legal scooter/moped and not being able to keep up with average city traffic flow. I hate being tailgated because I'm driving slower. I think it runs on 48 volt batteries and uses three of them. Not sure about the control box because its kinda hard to get to.

Answer
First you have to realize that those 500 watt electric scooters are really just heavy cheap electric assisted bikes. The TaoTao ATE 501 weighs about 200 lbs and that's why it's so slow. If you want any reasonable performance, you use the fold out pedals at least for acceleration, it also recharges the batteries slightly.

I suspect you have a 36 volt system with three 12 v lead acid batteries wired in series. It would be a good idea to have each of those batteries checked out separately. Lead acid batteries can be tricky and it only takes one to be in poor shape for the whole bike to suffer.

The most obvious upgrade you could do is wire in another three lead acid batteries in parallel. Nothing else would need changing but you would have to find a location to put the batteries.

The next possible upgrade is to replace the batteries with expensive lithium ion or lithium polymer batteries which are convenient because they are available in similar voltage levels. Their charging procedures are similar but not identical so you may be able to get away with not changing any of the charging mechanisms. The biggest problem with this is the cost.

A larger motor probably won't do you much good and may require custom fabrication of the motor mounts but you may be able to find a more powerful motor in the same form factor. In general, most electric motors can be operated at higher voltages with the only consequence being overheating of the motor and wires, the wires can be increased to thicker wires and you could try to get more cooling to the motor but this would really only allow you to have short bursts with the possibility of burning something out. Of course doing so means changing the battery layout and adding more batteries.

The best solution would be to upgrade to a proper light weight electric assisted bike but they run about $2,000 or more, roughly double what the scooters cost. Maybe find a used bike and put in a 500 watt conversion kit... At least with the bikes, everyone expects you to be slow.

The 500 watt scooters are not what I would call street legal, just exempt from regulations. It takes a 150 cc scooter to be freeway legal and a 250 cc scooter to actually be safe at freeway speeds and any scooter with more than 50 cc's must be licensed and registered as a motor vehicle. Those I would call street legal once licensed. You might be better off with a 50 cc gasoline scooter, those are usually exempt from regulation too. The old smoky two cylinder ones had a lot of power, about double what the new four cylinder ones have but even the new 4 cylinder ones would be four times the power of the 500 watt electric scooter. If you want to be environmentally friendly, make ethanol from rotten fruits that you get from the grocers for free.

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