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EcoReco M5 teardown

1/20/2015

2 Comments

 
The EcoReco M5 is a 'last mile' electric scooter.  It weighs ~36lbs and costs $1200.  Where does the weight and cost come from?
Our observations (teardown gallery below)
  • Battery (blue) fills most of the space in the main chassis.  
  • There are a standard set of battery discharge and charge connectors, throttle and display, power.
  • The motor includes Hall-effect sensors
  • There are jumpers to limit speed to 7.5mph or 12.5mph and to disable the 'safe-start' feature.  
  • The hub, motor and brake are combined in a single unit
  • Electronic speed control is sealed against weather and has a row of IGBT transistors inside the heat-sink.
The battery and wheel weigh about 6kg and the rest of the scooter an additional 10kg.
  • Battery 3kg  (5cm x 10cm x 39cm)
  • Rear motor/wheel 3.1kg
  • Back cover 220g
  • Top plate 85g
  • Bottom chassis, front wheel, handlebars: 10kg (22lbs) 
For comparison and to get some idea of weight and cost constraints we looked up comparable components online:
  • Battery: 256 watt-hour LiFePO4 battery weighs ~3kg; $124 retail.
  • Frame: un-powered kick-scooter weighs 4.5kg (9.9lbs); $249 retail.  
  • Motor: An e-bike conversion kit (complete with controller and brakes) -ships- at 6.6kg (14.6lbs); $280 retail.
Our observations:
  • The frame, handlebars and front wheel are overbuilt and could be reduced in weight by half (from 10kg to 5kg or so) so that the entire package could weigh 10-11kg (22-25lbs) even using the same battery and motor.
  • It may be possible to shave another kilogram off through different choice of battery/packaging or by limiting range/acceleration.
  • Also may be able to reduce some weight in motor but this would require close work with motor manufacturer.
  • Electronics don't take up much space or appear to need a lot of cooling, so are not a limiting factor for higher power.
  • Speed control could be improved by adding a 'freewheel' mode - this should be not difficult given that the motor has position/velocity feedback from the Hall effect sensors.
2 Comments
Víctor Vera
12/2/2015 05:14:54 am

Very nice tear down thank you for the details. I own an M3 ecoreco scooter. Do you have any info on the M3. My battery pack is damaged I would like to see if there's a way I could fix it my self.

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James
2/15/2017 07:16:22 pm

Thank you...I like the smooth ride of my M5 Ari and I wished it went faster than 20mph...Had a front brake and climbed hills worth a dang...Looking forward to the EonScoooter http://www.EonScooter.com . The battery you make reference to is just 12V rather than 36V...Their 36V batteries are much more expensive http://www.batteryspace.com/38-4v-36v-lifepo4-battery-packs.aspx

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