Guest
#4951392
I have been working on this during the last two years by now, and it is time to stop hiding in a cabinet. It all started some years ago when I was commuting to work, and realized that my trip consisted of 20 minutes in a regional train, plus 10 minutes walking to get there from home, plus another 15 minutes from the train station to my work place. In total that was 50 minutes of walking every day. Buying a foldable bike was an option then, but they are quite heavy and bulky especially when you have to lift them on a stairway. A colleague recommended me to use a kick scooter, they are very light (down to 6kg) and foldable. Said and done, but after some time using it each and every day, my hips and knees started hurting more and more. I realized that this kind of exercise was good for my condition, but not for my bones. Next natural step: electrification of my scooter. As I am not a construction engineer, I decided to use an existing kick scooter model and upgrade it. My choice fell to this one: OXELO Town XL susp https://www.decathlon.de/city-roller-scooter-town-7-xl-mit-federung-chrome-id_8298992.html?gclid=CJfX7c2Z8tICFYYaGwodspUEQw With 100€ it is a bit pricey, but I it is very well designed and doesn't all apart after the first few 100 kilometers. It is fully suspended and it has a stable folding mechanism. It also has lowered board, which reduces the required leg work during riding. Because this is a quite popular model, there are almost identical Chinese copies of it, you can find them on ebay. They sell for roughly half the price. At the beginning I developed my electric conversion kit just for my private fun and use. I have been using the prototype model for more than a year now, and the first battery is still alive after countless kilometers. And I realized that it would be the same fun each and every time that I step on it for a ride, that feeling does not seem to degrade. I get a lot of interest and positive feedback from people almost every time I come to a stop. All this helped me make my decision: make this a commercial product, and sell it to other enthusiasts. That was when the kicksurfer project started. It was clear from the beginning that it would be a conversion kit for DIY'ers. It should be as simple to build as possible, and the price should be as low as possible. And, most importantly, it should be as convenient as possible. As simple as possible: apart from the scooter and the kit, you only need a cordless screwdriver, a set of metal drills, a ruler (if available: caliper), and a hacksaw (if available: multifunction rotary tool). Build time should be less than two hours, but that is yet to determined. As cheap as possible: targeted kit retail price (per lot of 100 kits) is 449 euros. This includes everything you need: motor, battery, controller, charger, all construction parts. As convenient as possible: - smart: no levers, no handles - the controller senses the driver's actions and reacts on that - standard mode: the driver kicks once, then the system permanently maintains the resulting speed - kick once, surf home - street-legal mode for Germany: works like a Pedelec by only boosting each and every foot kick from the driver - automatic brake detection: keeps down torque during braking and maintains speed thereafter - automatic startup and shutdown: no power switch - safe: driver detection ensures automatic torque cutoff when the driver steps off the scooter - intuitive: feels exactly like a regular kick scooter, but with any friction removed - speed: 2 to 20 km/h - range: 10km (to be verified) - charging time: 1.5 hours - weight: 8kg As of today, most parts of the kit are ready but there is some remaining work and money that I have to invest: - battery pack transport test per UN38.3 - plastic injection mold tool for battery/controller housing, currently it is a 3D printed part - much too costly - find and evaluate a suitable and safe charger, current model has CE mark on it but that is in fact [i]China Export[/i] - currently negotiations with two different manufacturers - create mass test tool for controller board (needle bed adapter) - add missing firmware features like configuration and firmware update via Bluetooth - create PC / smart phone apps - create step-by-step construction guide - draw public attention and get funding for first mass production lot Most recently I have set up a website for the project: https://www.kicksurfer.de It has just started and and I have to apologize that the main page is still empty. Both account management and blog system are running. If you are interested in this project, I would be happy if you would sign in for updates - I will regularly post updates in the blog section: https://www.kicksurfer.de/index.php/blog/ Latest post: https://www.kicksurfer.de/index.php/2017/03/25/board-rev-4-is-finished-ordered/