Zoomi Life

Todd Stiers, from Berkeley, California, wanted to make an electric vehicle.  He thought about converting a car, but decided to do a motorcycle instead.  Considering he didn’t have a motorcycle license, had no experience riding one on the street, and didn’t own a bike to convert, that was pretty gutsy.

His blog at tronbikes.com details his odyssey from day one (July 7, 2007) to present.  The bike has gone through several versions and changes since then, but he first had it operational in November of 2007.

Using a book he bought for converting motorcycles to electrics, his obvious knowledge of basic electrical concepts, and sheer “to hell with it” gusto, Stiers has done some cool stuff with his bike.

The first version was just to make sure the thing would be operational, so it had extremely limited battery storage and no power level indicator.  It didn’t really move that far or fast either.  But it WORKED.  That was the idea.

From there, he’s built on that successful platform, adding new battery packs, better equipment, and is now developing a new version of the software his “iPAQ” (a PDA plugged in for readout/diagnostics/etc.) uses.

He replaced the bike’s original headlight with a monster LED flashlight and made many other modifications to the cycle to make it more energy-friendly.  The bike, when you look at it, looks like a Kawasaki Ninja, but you can tell it’s been modified on the lower portions where the engine should be.  Sweet-looking, though.

The current incarnation of his bike is V1.0.2 and his latest project is a new solution for the iPAQ, which has proven extremely unreliable.  He’s also branched out to create a bicycle with extended capabilities so he can use it to haul his kids (one’s a preschooler), their wagon, etc. on one bicycle.  He’s talked about making that electric too.

This blog is an awesome diary of an electric motorcycle conversion, starting from day one.  It’s by a guy who’s never ridden a motorcycle before and has little experience with any of this.  He talks directly about what he’s doing (at the time), how it’s being done, and writes up details about how he’s doing it.

Pretty awesome site.  I guarantee you’ll spend a lot of time reading through his posts and checking out the TronBike.  I know I did. Here’s a video of the TronBike in action:

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