How to Make Your Eco Friendly Electric Scooter Faster, Meaner

Just because we are conscious of the environment does not mean that we cannot have just as much fun with them as our gas counterparts. With motorized scooters the three most popular methods of boosting power is through altering the engine, air intake, or exhaust in order to sprinkle a little more pepper out of them.

Electric scooters have their own bag of tricks to play with if you are looking to boost their fun potential. Once again you have three methods to achieving more power, swapping the electric motor, altering the gear ratio, or increasing the voltage.

Swapping Out the Electric Motor

New, faster, and improved electric motors are being designed everyday, and in order to swap one of these newer designs onto an older bike, all you really need is to have the same approximate dimensions so that it can fit into your existing engine compartment.

Some scooters use a band to clamp the motor down to the frame, and in this case you absolutely can use just about any motor you can fit in the space you are working with and clamp it in. Other electric motors have a general bolt pattern that is used to hold the motor to the frame, so it can sometimes be as simple as unbolting the old motor and bolting on the new.

You will have to check with an electric motor dealer to get the specifics for your application. There are a variety of sources to find electric motors if you Google "electric scooter parts." Examples of two such venues you will have to choose from are Electric Scooter Parts and SD Scooters.

Altering the Gear Ratio

Not all scooters have interchangeable gear ratios, but if yours does, a new size can be bolted in place rather easily with simple tools and patience. Depending on the type of performance you are looking for will determine if you will need a larger sprocket or smaller.

The larger sprocket will enable you higher top speeds and the smaller will dictate faster take-offs and more power to climb hills. If you are looking for top speed, you will have to make sure that your current motor has enough power to handle the extra initial load necessary to turn the larger sprocket.

Just like riding a bicycle, the larger the gear, the more difficult it will be to get the bike going from a standstill. The same thing goes for climbing steep hills. It will take an engine with decent torque to pull a bike that has larger sprocket gears, but all this will depend on the area you will be riding in.

Probably the easiest methods of altering your gear ratio will be to altering the tire size on your scooter. The same rule applies here as the gears, larger diameter (taller tires) will give you higher top speeds, while smaller diameter (shorter tires) will give you more initial take-off pep and hill climbing ability.

Boosting the Voltage

This technique is usually reserved for the more experienced and knowledgeable mechanic, so heed caution before moving forward with a project to boost your scooters current voltage capability. Your first step will be to investigate the amount of voltage that your current system can safely handle (without burning up).

One of the greatest dangers of batteries is their tendency to overheat if they are taxed beyond their scope of capability. Once you know the voltage you are after, this modification involves wiring the appropriate sized battery pack onto your existing set-up.

To really get a good idea of the precautions and scope of this project, Electric-Scooter-World.com features some good articles of such modifications that have been made to electric scooters.

Have Fun

Just because you are riding an electric scooter, doesn't mean that you have to be slow. As we have learned from the popular show, Mean Green Machines, electric has a lot of performance benefits that go along with its quiet, zero emissions status. Go green, and have fun while your doing it!