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Freelander X7 E-scooter Modification for Hill Climbing

 Hi,


I bought an e-scooter recently with the following specifications:


Brushless permanent magnet DC motor

Power: 300W

Rated speed: 2400 r/min

Rated Voltage: 18.5 V


Li-Ion battery

Capacity: 10 Ah

Voltage: 18.5 V


Brake: Power brake, mechanic disc brake

Max speed: 15.5 mph

Max load: 176 lbs

Scooter weight: 18.04 lbs

Grade ability: 15 degree slope


The e-scooter seems to struggle to climb small hills (with 165 lbs load), it gets stuck, I would appreciate any suggestions to modify the e-scooter so it is able to climb hills.

Which is the approximated minimum motor power required for hill climbing? Any brushless DC motors recommended? Which components would be required in the modification?

Could you please give me a few options and quotation.

Many thanks.




Does the scooter have a hub motor, or a separate motor and wheel with a chain or belt in between them?

Thanks for your prompt response. It is a separate motor and wheel with a chain between them, please find attached a picture of the motor I am referring to.

Thanks.

jpg
Brushless DC...
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A larger sprocket could be installed on the rear wheel to lower the gear ratio which will create more torque so the scooter can climb steeper hills. 


We make custom sprockets which can be ordered on this page: 

https://electricscooterparts.com/custom-made-sprockets.html


The lower gear ratio will make the scooter have a slower top speed but faster acceleration. I can check and see if we have a larger sprocket that will fit the wheel with a little more information. How many teeth does the original rear wheel sprocket have? What size tire is on the rear wheel?

Hi, the rear wheel sprocket has 60 teeth and it is a 8 inch pneumatic tire - picture that was attached. Currently, top speed is 15.5 mph, which would be the approximate top speed with the modification? I understand this is the easiest modification for hill climbing, in case that top speed is really affected which are the alternatives? My area is not really hilly but there are a few roads on the route with high slope so I would like the e-scooter as much versatile as possible.
Thanks.

 

I can run some gear ratio calculations to see what the top speed would be with a couple of different size larger wheel sprockets installed (65 and 80 teeth). I will need to know how many teeth the motor sprocket has in order to do the calculations?


I estimate that the top speed will be a few miles per hour less with the larger sprockets, once I know how many teeth the motor sprocket has then I can calculate and let you know for sure though.


The alternative to lowering the gear ratio and top speed would be to install a more powerful motor and controller. Trying a lower gear ratio is a much easier modification though so you may want to try that first and see how you like it before upgrading the motor and controller.

Thanks for the information, I have checked the motor sprocket: 10 teeth.

 

I ran the gear ratio calculations with the original 60 tooth sprocket and with 65 and 80 tooth sprockets. Here are the results.

Hi, I have this exact same scooter (Freelander X7). It's a very light scooter but the tradeoff is poor hill climbing ability. I've been having the same issue and thankfully came across this forum. I would like to try this method of changing the gear ratio since it would be much easier than replacing the motor/controller. In your second calculation above, I'm sure it will provide the needed increase in torque - but I am hoping to keep the top speed above 12 mph at least. I ran the gear calculator to account for a 72 tooth wheel sprocket and it returned top speed of 12.9 mph. I'm wondering if you have any available 72 tooth sprockets? Thanks in advance, Ravi

Sorry for late reply. Thanks ESP support for the calculations provided.

Hi Ravi, just for reference, for how long have you been using it and weight? in both flat and uneven terrain? I have used it with 158-165 lbs load and have had some motor shutdowns in pretty flat terrain apart from being unable to climb small hills. I received another battery this week and had the same issues. It seems to me that a larger sprocket (i.e. 80 teeth) would help to climb hills but the problem is that the e-scooter is already struggling to handle my weight in any terrain so perhaps a higher power and voltage would be required.


Ravi, thanks for mentioning which electric scooter this topic is about. I just checked and we only have 55, 65, and 80 tooth sprockets that fit onto freewheel clutches, we do not have a 72 tooth sprocket that fits onto a freewheel. I checked with our suppliers and also searched on Google and could not find any 72 tooth sprockets for #25 chain that fit a freewheel. So it looks like there are no factories who making that part right now.  If you can't find a 72 tooth then you might want to try the 80 tooth and see how that works.

If anyone installs an 80 tooth sprocket (or another size) and figures out how many links of chain the Freelander X7 scooter uses with that size sprocket, please post the number of chain links here so the next person who does the modification will know exactly what size chain to buy.

Hi Llafra, I've been using the X7 for about 3 months now. Weight is about 135 - 140 lbs but it struggles to get up hills and I live in a very hilly area, so this is a problem for me. The battery does have a good lifespan so I don't think there is any problem there. I've thought about replacing the motor (it is also a bit noisy). If there is a quiter motor with higher wattage, that would be ideal, but I don't know enough about this and what would be involved.
Thanks ESP for checking that, much appreciated. The I just checked the chain and it has 41 links. The chain has some slack in it but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be able to accomodate the 80 tooth wheel sprocket, so we would also need a larger size chain to go with it. I just realised that replacing just the motor sprocket would also significantly increase the torque - so I ran the Gear Calculator again to see how it would go with a 9 tooth motor sprocket and it returned a gear ratio of 6.67:1. It wouldn't be huge change but it could be enough to get up the hills and wouldn't require replacing the chain. The motor uses a D-Bore type sprocket. Would this be an option to consider?

You are welcome Ravi. I can tell from the X7 rear clip illustration what type of wheel sprocket it uses, however I can not tell exactly what type of front sprocket it has. We have a 9 tooth d-bore sprocket for #25 chain that has an 8mm x 7mm ID. I am not sure if that would fit the X7 motor though so I would measure the ID of the old sprocket before ordering. Also in the illustration the X7 motor sprocket looks like it has a wider collar than our 9 tooth sprocket has.

Thanks Ravi for the feedback regarding the performance. Thanks to both of you for helping with information of motor sprocket and chain, getting closer to the required parts and specifications. It looks like I would need more modifications to have e-scooter performing well, will have to evaluate different options.   

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