Battery Vehicle Society

We hear a lot about EV conversions of cars, and now motorbikes and cycles, but has anyone tried converting a quadbike?

With their low weight, and the panniers often fitted front and rear being perfect for batteries, they would seem to be ideal candidates for conversion.

I'm almost tempted to start looking for a cheap one with a dead engine....

I've thought the same myself Tam. A conversion of one of the road-legal models would make a handy urban runabout. The main drawback I can think of is the high rolling resistance of the off-road tyres. I've also heard that quads don't handle brilliantly because of their high centre of gravity, but this could probably be improved with some judiciously placed lead acid batteries.

Now you've given me an idea for somethng ! hmmmm I'll let you know if I do it Actually it's an idea I've had quite some time and is how I got started on this whole thing regards unusual little cars.

Ah Ha! Great minds etc...

I wonder if the knobbly tyres could be changed for something with less resistance... I do think the lead-acids would help to keep it down - although hang on a moment... the panniers are usually fairly high on the quads...

Fun to roar about on a silent motorbike thingy. Lots of lovely fresh air too. Let us know if any of you get going on something like this - then we can steal your ideas and learn from mistakes.

A quad would make for a interesting conversion, the tyres I'm pretty sure would be changed for something half decent , but I would suggest having a go on a petrol powered one first to understand how rubish /scarey they are at going round corners

They really are dreadful and hard work to drive on the road , bunging a set of heavy batts low down might improve things though ????

ChrisB

Verteci have just taken delivery of an all-electric Quad.

http://verteci.co.uk/electric_quads_and_atvs.asp

Nikki.

you don't need nobblies in fact they are awful on the road I had a QPod with them on and the one with regular road tyres has much better road holding and economy

If used primarily off road, the range required is often quite low.

Rather than a quad, which is biased towards the leisure market, take a look at a Kawasaki mule.

There are electric powered quad bikes available off the shelf, for those too frightened to do a conversion.

But the first thing to do is throw away those off-road tyres. They have high rolling resistance, and do nothing at all for handling and ride. Fit some nice, decent road tyres and you'll get better performance, range and ride.

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