Steve’s Wooden Vectrix | ELECTRICBIKE.COM

This beautiful custom scooter impressed me as soon as I saw it. As you can imagine, Steve is an experienced wood boat builder who also makes beautiful furniture out of wood. If that wasn’t enough, Steve also holds a patent for the development of the “single-arm” suspension for GoPed scooters. Steve made the wood body and the Vextrix chassis was owned by his close friend Peter Senkowsky.

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Although Steve’s creation is based on the Vectrix VX-1 “scooter,” it’s a serious commuter vehicle. As a road vehicle, it is rated at 68 mph. The front tires are tubeless 120/70 and the wheels are 14 inches. The Vectrix includes front and rear hydraulic disc brakes. Although headquartered in Massachusetts, Vectrix is assembled at a factory in Poland, as Europe remains its largest market.

The powertrain is a brushless electric motor mounted to the left of the rear wheel. A thin planetary reducer reduces the high rotational speed of the electric motor to wheel speed.

Random Vectrix images from around the web.

2006-2014

The original 2006 Vectrix was delivered with 125V NiMH batteries, filed for reorganization in 2008 and was acquired by the Chinese “Jinshan Group”, continued to produce the VX-1, and upgraded the battery to LiFePO4 chemistry. In 2014, it filed for bankruptcy again, and a Polish company bought the factory. Click here to find information and pictures of OEM NiMH battery packs.

The motor has a constant power rating of 11 kW and a temporary peak power rating of 35 kW. When decelerating, the throttle is in the “twist forward” position, which provides regenerative braking (regen).

Random picture from the web showing the VX-1 motor

The planetary reduction can be seen when the motor is removed from the wheel. It is 41T/23T, so the reduction ratio is 1.78:1

This is a battery conversion of a modern Nissan Leaf battery, available on the VisforVoltage website, done by the manufacturer israndy. The cells fit so well, it’s almost like they were made for it. He can fit 19 modules, and since each module contains four Leaf cells in a 2S/2P configuration, the result is a 38S battery pack. When fully charged to 4.1V each cell can deliver 156V. The manufacturer reports that the battery upgrade doubled his range to more than 100 miles. I don’t yet know what controller or charger he is using.

This is Leaf Battery Pack Conversion Blog and Video (click here) 18 modules are used in a 36S configuration. With the original controller, the voltage is 130V nominal and 148V peak, which is what I would do.