It has been a long since anyone has provided an update here.
My Current scooter continues to provide daily transportation. My main gripe is the the Kelly controller. As with the previous Kelly controller it replaced, the new controller has developed a condition whereby, when applying regen braking, it goes into rapid momentary cutouts producing a harsh "bonka-bonka-bonka-bonka" that varies with regen current. The problem seem to occur at a certain temperature range depending on ambient temperature and how hard the scooter is ridden.
I'd disable the regen, but the Chinese brakes are not entirely confidence inspiring - they pulsate annoyingly (pulsation in the deceleration, not brake levers) as if the discs are warped or of uneven thickness. This is with new discs which replaced old discs that did the same thing. The replacements fixed the problem for a while, then started doing the same thing. The problem seem to be not warpage but the metal is of varying hardness/coefficient of friction around the circumference.
And I'm on my third speedometer - but at least the replacements have been provided by Current free of charge.
At least Chinese parts are consistent in their defects.
And I'm still fighting to get a wiring diagram for the scooter - management is balking becasue they want to consider it a "trade secret", which is absurd - especially in light of the owner being entirely on their own as far as repairs and maintenance.
But neither of these problems is serious enough to keep it in the garage and the scooter continues to run reliably with about 14,000 miles/ 23,000 km on it.
I adapted a J1772 charging receptacle to the scooter so I can now charge it at public EVSE's, which along with four-wheel EV's, are finally starting to be seen in my rust-belt city. It's easy. Just a 887(1%) or 910(5%) ohm resistor and diode between the CP pin and EVSE ground is all that is need to signal "feed me" to the EVSE.
A picture of the installation is here - the yellow thing is a dummy safety plug to cover the 120 volt male charging receptacle whose prongs are energized if the J1772 receptacle is being used:
I'd love to hear how other people's CuMoCo scooters are treating them.
Oh...
EVSE = "Electric Vehicle Service Equipment" (that is, charging equipment)
CP = "control pilot"
J1772 = SAE J1772 - The North American standard for EV charging.
Hi all,
I just passed over the 10,000 mile mark last month and, like Paul, continue to use my C-124 on an almost daily basis for my commute in the Boston area of around 10 miles each way. My speedometer is also acting up (seems sticky but usually returns to normal after a while). The most positive things about my experience have been:
#1. The incredible service that Current (especially Terry!) has provided me over the years.
#2. The rock solid performance from the batteries which, as far as I can tell, seem to have lost little if anything from their original state. I still get about 40 miles on a full charge. Pretty impressive.
#3. The continued satisfaction of gliding by gas stations, knowing that my next full tank is just a few cents away in my garage.
#4. Knowing that despite the occasional bump in the road, we (Current and other electric vehicle owners) are pushing this industry forward.
I've been fortunate not to have any charge issues. I did have to replace the hub motor though when the Hall sensors failed, and I managed to bend the rim of my wheel while traversing a particularly nasty Cambridge pothole.
I agree that the Chinese parts seem to fail fairly predictably. I can't help thinking that Current would be better off with a more expensive European or American designed bike (with larger wheels!) but perhaps that is coming. Tesla has a good approach, in my opinion. Start high end and gradually introduce more modestly priced versions as costs come down. The other opportunity that Current could take advantage of is us - riding around daily on these 100% electric bikes. If they don't come with some kind of obvious advertisement to the fact, why not send owners a cool decal or two to help spread the word? I have been lazy and haven't added anything to mine yet, but many times when I'm sitting in traffic I think about how few people actually notice the fact that we have no tailpipes. Most people just aren't aware that electric scooters exist.
Cheers,
Jeff
Jeff Holmes
Wheels: Current Motor Co C124
Work: Encyclopedia of Life www.eol.org
Hi Everyone!
My C130 has 3,500 miles on it and works like a champ.
I haven't had any problems with it for quite a while.
It will easily go over 50 miles on a charge and over 75 MPH.
I take it on the Freeways here in Los Angeles without any qualms.
It gets recharged with solar power and it is truly something to think about that it is propelled down the road by stored sunlight.
My poor '69 Mustang has to go on the battery charger every once in a while due to lack of use.
The support from Current Motor Company has been great!
LCJUTILA
Hello,
My scooter has just over 3500 miles. There was an issue with a battery failing, so the scooter had to be sent back to Michigan for a new battery and software update. So it took a few months to get the scooter back, but that was the only major downtime. My second speedometer cable just failed. I also had one of the temperature sensors fail, but was able to solder in a new one with help from Current. Our biggest issue with the scooter is the low power at low speeds from the hub motor. In San Francisco there are a lot of situations where you have to stop on a hill, and it can be difficult or impossible to get going again, which is usually scary with anxious San Francisco drivers needing to pass.
Josh
Good to see some test pilots still using them.
My understanding is that Current now builds their own frames in the US and will soon, if not already, go to US-molded body panels. So they are now mostly all-US made. The Chinese hub motor quality is good except for the problem of damaged rim requiring replacement of the whole unit. There are are better controllers than the Kelly controller though. The TC chargers are excellent and bomb-proof - they even have power-factor correction. Their universal 120-240 volt design opens up a lot of charging flexibility with the addition of a J1772 (240V) socket.
Josh,
Regarding the poor starting torque, for some reason, Current does not use the best mode setting on the Kelly Controller, and also sets the motor current limits a bit too conservatively low. The Kelly controller has three modes in the way it modulates the motor with respect to the throttle "Torque" "Speed", and "balanced". Current uses the "torque" mode which is supposed to primarily modulate torque with throttle application, but for some reason, produces poor torque at low speed. This is acceptable in the flatlands of southern Michigan, but not acceptable in hillier areas. The "Speed" mode basically ties the throttle to speed and produces better torque at low speed, but a "unnatural" throttle feel. By far the best is "balanced" mode. Setting the controller to balanced mode, along with moving "max motor current" setting to 100% will produce a dramatic improvement in starting torque. The only downside is a bit of an increase in power consumption and slightly reduced range.
Visit the Kelly Controller web site and download the controller configuration application. (the controller model is KBL72401E for the 24 cell scooters and presumably KBL96351 for the 30 cell scooters). Install the application on a laptop or notebook PC and the adapter driver. Also, get a USB to RS2342 adapter cable (unless you have an old laptop which still has an RS232 port).
Remove any covers in the way and plug the RS232 plug into the controller. Turn the scooter key switch on, but make _sure_ the motor is not operable (i.e. kickstand down). The Kelly configuration software is window-slider/drop-dowen driven and very user friendly - go the 2nd window and change "control mode" to "balanced", and "max motor current" to 100% (this is the first window in the newest version). You can bump the battery current up a bit too (I use 65%) as long as you don't do full-throttle accelerations all the time as it will be hard on the battery pack. Don't change any other settings.
The starting-uphill performance of the scooter will be eminently improved.
Edit - made some corrections.
Update:
While the above procedure worked well on my 24 cell version, attempted to increase the current limits on some scooter causes a power cutoff of unknown cause - although a fair amount of improvement can still be obtained. The issue probably lies with the Kelly Controllers.