Need help creating an electric scooter

Nice Scooter!
Its not impossible to do it with what uve got but would probably be easier and no more expensive to buy a $300 kit with hub motor, controller and throttle in it already. Then add a couple of 12v 12ah SLAs ($50) or if you have a bit more cash a LifePO4 pack.
(if you dont want too much range then racing LiPo packs are really cheap now and light, I bought a couple of 14v ones for $20 on ebay. But they are only 4ahr so they can give upwards of 50amps- but not for a long ranges.)

If you really want to try with what you have
Direct Drive not recommended - they are not good, and waste energy as you cant freewheel
Back wheel with sprokets are easy to find, take from an old junk bike, but you would need a cog for your motor
You will still need to buy a throttle and controller.

Thinking about it even tho ur motor was free - I still think ur better off buying a kit.

Questions that I have:
1. does this sound like it can be done using the motor that I currently have?
2. due to me not currently having a hub motor and this being a scooter means no rear sprocket, does this mean I have to go with a direct drive spindle system to use this motor? The stock wheel axles are a bit narrower then a standard bmx rear wheel so it doesn't fit between the drop outs, I might be able to widen the rear drop outs somehow but don't want to damage the frame integrity.

20" BMX wheels with no rear sprocket or freewheel (which I will put road tires on)
front shocks with 2" travel
have v brakes f/r (will get disk brakes cause it will travel 30-40 mph)

I really like this scooter and think it would be a lot of fun, although I think as a "daily commuter" it could be limiting.

One feature I really like about the Diggler is the low foot deck. I personally would rather not raise it to accomodate batteries, but I liked what was on ES that you linked to. He put a big foot deck on, and the batteries in panniers (you also notice he has a 36V Hub motor and reaches 24mph).

I can't see how you will approach 30-40 mph with your existing 28V motor. Do you know if it rotates CW or CCW? If you did try to use it, you are looking at a number of challenges to: mount the motor; mount the batteries; replace the rear wheel with one that has a freewheel hub or sprocket (and disc brake?); calculate an initial gear ratio that will give you acceptable acceleration and maximize the top speed from your 28V motor (sorry, you can't have both extremes); find sprockets that will work; align the front and rear sprockets (part of the motor mount challenge); be able to adjust chain tension (another motor mount issue); and of course as colin pointed out, you will still need a controller and throttle, plus connectors, fuses, and wires. If you add all that up and factor in your time, a hub kit looks good to me. But then, I like to do the mods that only involve a wrench - no cutting, no welding, no bending - and I'm happy.

How far is your daily commute?

Can you re-charge at work?

What top speed do you need to reach?

What's your current commute cost? Are you looking for a fiscal payback?

Might not be many "Diggler Modifiers" on here, but you have come to the best place for help on all the electrical questions. Have you considered motorizing a mountain bike?

Keep us "posted" on your journey...

Harlow

I agree with what's been said above. If you like mechanical engineering challenges this sounds like one. An option regarding getting a sprocket on the wheel is to clamp the sprocket to the spokes. Currie did this for some time on their bicycles but I have no idea whether that's still done and I recall hearing of spokes breaking with that design.

On the other hand if the goal is simply to get a vehicle on the road there are many hub motor kits meant for bicycles that come in 20" wheels. One of those should just bolt in place and be a pretty quick conversion.

A few years ago there was a scooter which had batteries on the deck with your feet straddling the battery box. I have a picture here:

http://www.7gen.com/book/electric-vehicle-events/april-2003-antigravity-ev-expo/685

Electric Scooter Works is no longer in business.. FWIW. The picture doesn't look very clear .. there were two deck sections to stand on, one on each side of the battery box. In the picture there is one deck section facing the viewer, there is an identical one on the other side. This arrangement worked reasonably well as far as I recall.