Too Busy For Words - the PaulWay Blog

Tue 10th May, 2011

Shiny Stuff!

I got my battery frame panels at the end of the weekend, and they look really cool:

Shiny aluminium plates

To get these I had to:

That cost around $650. While expensive, it totally feels worth it. I was worried that the 3mm aluminium plate would be too soft - my experience with aluminium pieces like window frames and so forth led me to believe that I would have to go with 5mm plate just to get something that didn't flex under my fingers. That experience is clearly with inferior products - I can put as much pressure as I like on even the largest plate with my hands and it doesn't even give in the slightest. I am totally confident that this plate, held securely in the frame, will easily be able to support the weight of the batteries.

And how much is that? Well, according to NCOP 14, the frame has to hold the batteries against 20 Gs of force from the front, 15 Gs from the side, and 10 Gs from rear, top and bottom. With 83 Kgs, this means I have to support about 1245 Kgs from the side. In other words, I have to imagine the bike hanging on its side and 1.2 tonnes hanging directly from the central battery frame panel.

And, you know, I'm pretty confident of that. Most of that weight is going to be directly transferred to the frame, which is already designed to take that carrying the combustion engine anyway. The panels feel strong enough to hold that load and transfer it to the bike frame easily. The edges, from the water jet, feel a bit rough but the corners are sharp and there's no tearing or wavering. Now to actually get enough time to start putting bits of it in the bike! (I need to find a tame person with a decent metal brake to do some of these bends, though...)

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