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Buidling & installing extra battery tray under foot plate

Hi Forum people. I had a wild thought; I'm upgrading my scooter to 22Ah cells which will add ~16 lbs to the scooter. (six cells in total) 16lbs is a lot. I've already beefed up various mechanical components to handle a six-cell system, but if I'm adding another 16lbs then I'd be a lot happier if the CG were lower than it is now. I poked around the scooter and the foot rest area really isn't serving any purpose, just an empty space, and would be the ideal spot to put batteries. So has anyone tried installing a battery tray there? (my model is an ECruiser New Retro, identical to the Davinci Nomad, both are shameless knockoffs of a classic Vespa design)  It would seem to be the perfect place, if requiring an extending down of the belly just a bit. Frankly, I could build the tray myself but I don't have access to an arc welder anymore and would be approaching the project from scratch. (anyone in the LosAng area got an arc welder?) Suggestions more than welcome. Thanksthanks!!

Hi Ben, I have seen many street legal electric scooters with Vespa inspired designs that have their battery packs located under the foot rest area. Under the foot deck is a very common place to locate the battery pack in an electric scooter.

If you are not able to locate an arc welder to use for your project then you might want to look into using a makerspace DIY workshop such as Urban Workshop. They have a large variety of fabrication, welding, sheet metal, machining, and painting tools that are available to their members.

If you need to extend the wiring harness after the battery pack relocation then we should have all of the connectors for that task available on our wire connectors page.

Please let us know how it goes.
Hi ESP Support, how's it going,
(just fyi: I just ordered another pair of amber signal bulbs. It wasn't an accident, just in case you're in communication with the online ordering people)
That's very good advice. The nearest Urban Workshop is quite a ways away from here, but there may be a way to get a local machine shop I know of to do it. Many thanks, I'll let you know how it goes.
I dug around under the foot plate today, and while there is enough space for two batteries, there doesn't seem to be any suggestion that the scooter model's designers had battery placement in mind in that location. The larger electric faux-Vespas do have battery cells under the foot plate, but my design (see pic) is going to have to be a full retrofit. But hey, it can be done. I've drawn up a design which ought to work. If it's a success I'll release the design to the E-scooter community along with whatever I've learned in the process.
Thanks again, BB

 

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