From http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/03/new-scooter-eng.html
New Scooter Engine To Electrify Two Wheelers
Electric scooters, once little more than playthings that might turn into something approaching viable transportation, have blossomed into actual, streetable rides offered from several manufacturers. Now comes word from a new electric motor manufacturer that looks to set new performance and efficiency benchmarks in the electric scooter world.
The new engine isn't from Japan, Korea, Germany, or France, it's from Austin Texas, and it's currently being produced and used on the roads of Vietnam.
The company is called KLD, and they say that their new motor represents a substantial shift in electric motor design, one that looks to overcome motor inefficiencies and leapfrog EV drawbacks that other manufacturers try to overcome via battery or other technologies. For example, Vectrix makes an amazing EV Scooter that uses a traditional electric motor design. But they are able to achieve higher range through the use of high cost batteries. The motor Vectrix uses is fairly conventional and still has the classic inefficiencies of traditional motors and requires a transmission.
The motor system used by KLD is made from a composite material that generates significantly less heat. And less heat means greater efficiency. Through the use of an innovative nano-crystalline composite material, the motor conducts energy ten times more efficiently than traditional iron-core motors, eliminating the need for additional cooling mechanisms plus it gives greater responsiveness. With its high frequency to low RPM ratio, the KLD motor does not need a transmission. And best of all, it uses standard batteries.
The cost of a scooter with a KLD motor system in the Vietnamese market is $1500 to $2000, or about what a run of the mill EV scooter costs here in the U.S. KLD says that by increasing the production run, the economies of scale should bring the costs even lower for large markets.
KLD Energy Technologies, which is based in Austin Texas, designed the motor, as well as the system’s computerized controller specifically for the higher-frequency output of the motor. They say that working together, the motor and controller make for a highly responsive system allowing EVs to attain speeds and performance levels on-par with gas-powered vehicles. KLD is working with Sufat, the leading Vietnamese-based scooter manufacturer, to develop a new line of scooters designed to integrate electric motor system.
Christian Okonsky, founder and CEO of KLD Energy Technologies said his motor “... is able to perform at a higher level because we’ve fundamentally taken a new approach to its design. The new scooter will easily maintain and reach speeds comparable to gas-powered vehicles— significantly outperforming traditional electric scooters." The KLD equipped Sufat electric scooter easily achieves speeds of 50 to 55 miles per hour, double those of traditional, electric motor scooters, and reach 0 to 50 miles per hour in less than ten seconds, according to the company. And since it's a transmissionless system, the two-wheeled vehicles will also have a reduced cost of ownership.
You wouldn't think that going with a Vietnamese manufacturer makes sense off the top of your head, but consider this, according to Vietnamese government figures, Vietnam has over 22 million scooters on the road, which is a huge number of a place the size of New Mexico, so they DO know scooters.
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