Steve’s Wooden Vectrix

This beautiful custom scooter really impressed me as soon as I saw it. As you can imagine, Steve is a experienced wooden boat builder, and he also makes fine furniture out of wood. If that wasn’t enough, Steve also owns patents for his development of the GoPed scooter “one arm” suspension.

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Although Steve’s creation is based on a Vectrix VX-1 “scooter”, it is a serious commuter vehicle. As a road vehicle it is rated for 68-MPH. The front tire is a tubeless 120/70 on a 14-inch wheel. The Vectrix includes hydraulic disc brakes front and rear. Although the headquarters were in Massachusetts, the Vectrix was assembled in a factory located in Poland, since Europe has remained it’s biggest market.

The powertrain is a brushless electric motor attached to the left side of the rear wheel. A thin planetary reduction brings the motor’s high RPM’s down to wheel-speeds.

Pic of random Vectrix from the web.

2006-2014

The original 2006 Vectrix was delivered with a NiMh battery using 125V, and in 2008 it filed for reorganization and was purchased by the “Gold Peak Group” in China, who continued producing the VX-1, and also upgraded the battery to the LiFePO4 chemistry. In 2014, it filed for bankruptcy again and a Polish company purchased the factory. Info and pics of the original factory NiMh battery packs can be found by clicking here.

The motor is rated for 11-kW constant, and 35-kW as a temporary peak. When slowing, the throttle has a “twist-forward” position that provides regenerative braking (regen).

Random pic from the web, showing the VX-1 motor

The planetary reduction can be seen with the motor removed from the wheel. It’s a 41T/23T, so the reduction ratio is 1.78:1

Here is a battery conversion to modern Nissan Leaf cells, found on the VisforVoltage website, accomplished by builder israndy. These cells fit so well, it’s almost as if they were made for it. He could fit 19 modules, and since each module contains four Leaf cells in a 2S/2P configuration, the result is a 38S pack. When fully charged to 4.1V per cell, this provides 156V. The builder reported that this battery upgrade doubled his range to over 200 miles. I don’t know yet what controller or charger he is using.

Here is a blog and video of a Leaf-cell pack conversion (click here) using 18 modules in a 36S configuration. This would be 130V nominal, and a peak of 148V, using the original controller, which is what I would do.