Electric Cagiva Planet 125

I didn't want to weld anything to the alloy frame, so after a lot of head scratching I made up a subframe for the motor and batteries that would bolt into the original engine mountings. The motor is an Etek rated at 48V, just under 5kW continuous, and around 10kW max power.

I run it at 60V with an Alltrax controller set at 250A max current. A little blower fan blows cooling air straight straight into the brush housing to stop it getting hot and bothered

I wanted to keep the weight and balance of the bike as close to the original as possible, so went for a fairly small battery pack. Five Enersys lead acid batteries rated at 26Ah.

The batteries are charged using individual 12V onboard chargers to keep them reasonably balanced - you can just see them underneath the seat.

Maximum range is 15 miles. Top speed 55 mph. Acceleration is good and it's a great little runabout for errands around town. Jobs to do include tidying up the wiring, weatherproofing, fitting a DC converter for the lights (currently run off the main pack) and, of course, switching to lithium