Project EMX 65 Battery Box

Our friends over at Electro & Co have been hard at work getting an electric conversion kit for a KTM 65 SX up and rolling and we're really excited to be a part of the project.  We got to test out version 1.0 (full story here: https://www.electroandcompany.com/post/emx14-loves-the-sand ) and came away really impressed with what they had going.  After experiencing the Alta MXR (RIP Alta) and now the Electro & Co EMX 65, we're convinced electric is the real future of moto and want to get in early!  As it turned out a major hurdle in the project was the design and manufacture of the battery box that would hold the four LIPO battery cells to power the bike, mostly due to the odd shape of the frame as well as the need for the cells to be protected from debris and crash damage.  The box also needed to be accessible from both sides, and fit the Battery Management System.

This proved to be a challenging build for a few key reasons.  While the design of the box was relatively straight forward and is still ongoing, the shear size of the unit was intimidating when it came time to print.  This thing is about 9in tall and took almost 2kg of PETG fillament to create, as well as about four full days of printing!  While all of these things are well within our printers theoretical capabilities, it's still a little stressful when you're two days straight into a print and are watching for any indications of a possible failure that late in the game.  Unfortunately 3d printing is still somewhat of an art mixed in with a lot of science, so failures can and frequently do happen.  Luckily all parts of the box went off without a hitch, and we ended up with a great first test unit.

We chose PETG as the material for this project for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, strength and longevity are the biggest concerns for this project, so with its UV stability and excellent layer bonding strength, along with its relatively easy to print nature PETG seemed to be the most logical choice.  ASA would be another potential option, but layer bonding strength can sometimes be a bit of an issue as well as warping on larger prints.  

While there will need to be updates for the next unit, we're off to a great start on this project and now Electro & Co are well on their way to getting their second prototype bike up and rolling.  They're hoping to have kits available starting near the end of this year, so keep a lookout and follow them along on their website as well as all the other social platforms to see how things are progressing!