Introduction: Powerful 2000W Electric Longboard
Check out my new E-sk8
Hi everyone!
I decided to make an electric longboard this year. Boosted Board has inspired me and it's such a nice electric longboard, but so expensive (like 1500€ for the 2000W model).
Before I start I will explain some things because I didn't really want to copy the Boosted Board design.
First of all, I wanted to make an Electric longboard as thin as possible, so I used separate Lipo cells and made a very thin battery pack (12mm) so people won't see it from the side that it's an Electric longboard.
The second thing is the power, I would like a longboard with a power between 1500W-2000W, The motor can handle 2220W but I use a 6S battery so the power will be a bit lower like 2000W max peak but that's really enough, trust me ;)
The other reason why I use a 6S battery is because once you go higher than 6S the price of the ESC is so much higher like double the price for 8S or 10S, Also charging a 6S battery is much more easy than a 10S.
If we talk about speed, I theoretically calculated the board at about 46km/h so I would practically reach about 40km/h. And in reality I have tested it on the smoothest road in our town and I can ride 42km/h max speed.
So on the most roads I can perfectly reach 40km/h which is really so amazingly fast.
The battery with 220Wh will give me a 14km ride.
The longboard I ride for a while is a Madrid Weezer and it isn't an expensive board (only 100€) but it has a bit of the looks of a boosted board.
In total I have spent like 300€ for every single part (except the longboard itself) to convert my longboard into an Electric longboard
I think you know enough information to start the explanation how I made my Electric longboard.
! Video's coming soon so stay tuned by this instructable or my youtube channel !
Step 1: Collect All the Parts You Need
What do we need?
SK3 - 320Kv Motor: Hobbyking
You can use other motors too but I have calculated the speed and torque on this motor and it is the most powerfull in the 50mm diameter series and not very expensive (52€)
120A ESC: Hobbyking
This is a boat ESC and runs very smooth with no problems. You can also buy a program card for this ESC which I also did. You can change several things like acceleration, brake, cut off voltage,... -> Hobbyking
Lipo Batteries:Hobbyking
I bought 12 cells of these, so I can make a 6S2P battery pack, the cells are 5000mAh so a 6S2P will give me 22.2V and 10000mAh, enough to have fun long ride.
Another alternative to get a slim battery pack is this Multistar 6S 10Ah pack which you can disassemble, Here's a link how it looks like.
Transmitter and Receiver:Hobbyking
I used this controller because there are used a lot for electric longboards and there's a 3D printed version available which only has a throttle because you don't need a steering wheel on a longboard controller. BadWolf GT2B Case
So you need to unscrew the original controller and place all electrical components in the 3D printed model which is much more smaller. -> Step by step explaination
6S lipo charger:Hobbyking
Very nice charger 250W 10A so it will charge my battery in 1 hour! I know in the picture you can see I bought another charger but it's only 50W 5A charger, it was a very cheap one but it takes 5 hours to fully charge the battery so the 250W charger will be my next upgrade.
XT60 Connectors:Hobbyking
Very good connectors and the have a small lock which never came loose during a ride.
4mm Bullet connector:Ebay
this is to connect the ESC to the motor (ESC has standard no connectors so you need to solder them)
6S balance charger cable:Ebay
To charge the lipo battery pack you need 6S charging wire, this will balance and charge every cell perfectly.
Metal timing pulley 30T:Ebay
This is a 30 teeth pulley, 16mm wide (HTD5M serie)
(btw why buying expensive pulleys and belts on special sites like sdp/si when you also find them very cheap on ebay, but I have to say I had searched so fu*king much until I finally found the pulleys I needed)
Metal timing pulley 15T:Ebay
This is a 15 teeth pulley and has a 6mm bore which fits perfect on the motor shaft. (HTD5M serie)
Rubber timing belt 54T:Ebay
I bought 5 of these because if one should break I have some extra but until now no problems with my first belt!
If you want to calculate the center distance and other stuff very quickly -> Pulley/Belt Calculator (HTD5M serie)
Silicon Wire:Ebay
You will need silicon wire to make your battery, this wire is very flex and can resist high temperatures so if you solder your wires the isolation won't melt. I used 10AWG but 12AWG is a bit smaller in diameter and will also be enough, so just saying I'm using pretty big wires but they won't overheat.
Longboard Madrid Weezer:EuroSkate
Make an aluminium motor Mount: Download my inventor design
Rubber sheet like 1mm thick
Bolts and Nuts
Step 2: Make the Motor Mount
First of all, make the motor mount
I didn't made the motor mount by myself but asked my old secundary school if they were able to make 2 pieces for me. I designed the motor mount by inventor and it's specialy made for 2 speeds, so the slots I made to srew the motor in are wide enough to move the motor and adjust the tension of the belt.
I thought when 40km/h wasn't fast enough I can also change another motor timing pulley with 20T instead of 15T, this means the board should go like 55km/h. So what I want to say is that the motor mount is designed for 2 pulleys (15T and 20T) but I think I'm not going to change it to a 20T pulley because 40km/h is so fast.
You can buy motor mounts on some sites but they will never be exactly like you want them to be.
3D printing is maybe also an option but you need to make a stronger concept and use strong plastic and not the plastic you find in the regular 3D printers.
Step 3: Solder the Electric Parts
Solder the connectors to the ESC
the ESC has standard no connectors so you have to solder them by yourself
- 3x 4mm bullet connectors to plug the ESC into the motor (Female)
- 1x XT60 connector to plug the battery into the ESC (Female)
Solder and make the battery pack
first you need to know how to connect the batteries, so we are going to make a 6S battery pack.
This means 6 cells will get connected in serie which will make a voltage of 22.2V (3.7*6)
But I have 12 cells so you need to connect 2 cells in parallel, than you have 6 "packs" which you need to connect in serie. 2 cells in parallel will double the capacity and of course double the range.
Step 4: Some Changes to the Trucks and Wheels
Let the motor mount fit on the trucks
The trucks aren't perfectly round to put the motor mount on it so we need to make it nicely round with a lathe.
I made the whole part 16mm diameter and 75mm long from the outside.
Watch the picture where I mentioned the dimention.
Constrain the 30T pulley to the wheel
We have made 2 extra parts which fits into the wheel to make it strong and nicely centered.
First we made the wheels nice and round from the inside so we have also putted them into the lathe.
Both sides I guess 5mm deep to put the 2 alluminium parts into the wheel.
After that the 30T pulley needed a bigger bore like 20mm so it won't touch the truck.
Finally 4 holes were drilled through every part and we tapped M5 into the 30T pulley so the bolt isn't screwed fully through the whole pulley.
So now the hard parts are done and we only need to put everything together!
Step 5: Put Everything Together
The first thing I did was making a sketch on paper of the real dimensions to make clear where I'm gonna put everything.
First of all I have glued a piece of rubber to the underside of the board. Just to protect the battery but it's not very necessary.
Secondly, I drilled 8 holes (M5) into the board and directly through the rubber and plastic side rails.
After this I glued the ESC and Battery pack and the Receiver in the right position.
I didn't used a lot of glue to glue the battery, just a line of glue in the middle of the battery.
Than I made another piece of rubber to fit tightly over the battery pack and the esc, I made a hole into the rubber to plug in the battery into the esc and in my opinion it is a easy and clean solution.
Finally I needed to cut the plastic side rails round at the end so it would fit in the shape of my longboard.
Step 6: Pictures of My Final Creation
!!! I want to thank Robbe Derks who has helped me with this amazing project !!!

Participated in the
CNC Contest 2016
131 Comments
6 years ago
Awsome instructable! In general DIY electric longboards don't look very good but yours is really nice!
After riding it a few mounts, will you change somethings in your conception if you had the chance? If think you mentionned VESC?
Reply 6 years ago
Thanks man!
I've sold this esk8 and I currently making a new one so instructable coming after a month I guess.
There are a few things which I have changed for my new build.
First of all the ESC, I have bought a 120A car ESC which is so much smoother in acceleration and wont struggle when braking. it has a program card and has much more options then the 120A boat ESC.
The second thing I changed is the charger, I went for a BMS for my 6S2P lipo pack (the same pack with the same cells as I used in this build). This BMS is capable of charging the pack with a current of max 12A so that's fast enough.
And the last thing is the remote, I found a very nice compact one on ebay for like 20€ and it's so much better than the big G2TB controller I had before.
Reply 6 years ago
What motor are you using this time?
Also can you give link for that remote?
Reply 6 years ago
This time I'm using a SK3-236Kv. But I should suggest to go for the NTM-270Kv or SK3-280Kv. I just used the 236Kv because hobbyking has sended me the wrong motor for my previous esk8.
Link to the remote http://www.ebay.com/itm/262779892776
Reply 4 years ago
ho bro could you show me a more detailed image of the bms linking to the battery and also how to you know which battery to put each balance wire too ??
Reply 6 years ago
you have any links for the new suggested parts? I would really appreciate it, only managed to find the remote you recommended.
Reply 6 years ago
Thank you for your answer.
Ok, I thing i'm going to modify the G2TB controller (my friend have a 3D printer).
Do you have a good range/time with your battery and motor?
How can you charge your 12 cells battery in the same time? I saw you charging scheme but with your 12 cells battery you can't be sure that every single cell have is good charge? You will see the tension of 2 cell at least? But yeah it is working.
Reply 6 years ago
Hi man do you have fb it's much easier to talk or something else?
I get a pretty good range around 14km with 40km topspeed. If you gear for a lower topspeed (30kmh) you will get around 20km it's just a choise if you wanne get faster is lower range ;)
For the motor I should suggest another one with a lower kv like the SK3 280Kv or the NTM 270Kv, these are better in terms of torque and power.
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-aerodrive-sk3-5055-280kv-brushless-outrunner-motor.html?___store=en_us
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/ntm-prop-drive-50-60-270kv-2400w-1.html
5 years ago
Hey man, your links are leading to malicious websites
Question 5 years ago
Hey there awesome project.
I see that in the comments you've changed the ESC you've used in your newer build. Would you be able to provide a link to it?
6 years ago
Hoi Bart,
Mooi project!
I'll ask my question in English so other people might benefit your answer as well.
I'm building an electic skateboard inspired on yours. I made a batterypack as you described (12 batteries, 6 'duo packs' in series). What I couldn't find out is how you wired the BMS. I assume you handled each duo-pack (2 cells in parallel) as a single battery, using only one 6s BMS. Is that correct? And is that the safe way to go? I have too little experience with lipo's, but if I should believe the internet they're potential bombs and are very likely to kill me. Is treating 2 cells in parallel as 1 the official way to charge them?
One more question: if you don't use the output of the BMS, won't the ESC keep drawing current until the batteries are over-discharged? Or did you use some other under-discharge protection in your circuit? Is the amount of current to be drawn by the motor really that significantly lower than while using the outout of the BMS?
Thanks!
6 years ago
Thanks for the quick reply! I have just a few more questions and then I think I'll be able to start my build!
1.) What charger would you recommend to use with a 10S battery that could still charge as quickly as yours?
2.) The website that offers that small remote also offers this VESC. But I'm actually not entirely sure what a VESC is and how its different from an ESC and it doesn't have any specs listed to show if it would work with a 10S battery and I was planning on using a 6355 190KV motor for the better torque because I live in a city with a lot of hills and I want to make sure all of those components would work with each other.
http://diyelectricskateboard.com/diy-electric-skat...
3.) Is it possible to approximate the distance Id be able to travel with a 10S battery? Id want to make sure the extra money spent would actually get that much more range out of the battery.
4.) Where did you get your plastic rails for the edge of the board on either side of the battery pack?
5.) Would you recommend putting anything between the layers of the battery pack?
Thanks again so much for all your help!!!
6 years ago
Hey Bart, a few more questions for you.
1.) I don't mind paying more for an ESC if it means I can put more cells in parallel on the board. Would 20 total cells for a 10S battery be impossible on a board this size?
2.) Do you have a guide for hooking up the balance charging wire to each cell as you make the battery pack?
3.) There's a visible XT60 connector on the bottom of your board in the finished product photos, is that okay to be exposed to light water, such as rain, puddle splashes, etc?
4.) Do you find heat to be an issue with your battery? Rubber doesn't sound like a super breathable material and I worry if I do a setup like yours (or more cells if you think it's possible) that the batteries could overheat and stop functioning because of it.
5.) Last question for now: I found this wireless remote and I think it's a much better remote than the RC car one, plus it already comes in its own small housing very similar to a boosted board, is the ESC you used compatible with this controller? In the photos shown, I don't see the same servo connection you used for yours...
http://diyelectricskateboard.com/diy-electric-skateboard-kits-parts/torqueboards-2-4ghz-nano-remote-controller/
Thank you so much for your help!
Reply 6 years ago
Hi!
1) if you want a 10S battery, I should go for a VESC. you can put 20 cells under your board if you make a ''2 layer pack'' 10 cells behind each other is around 50cm so perfect.
2) I don't have a schema for the balance wires but you can easy search it on the internet
3) It doesn't matter if the XT60 gets wet, if it gets really wet just clean it after your run.
I rode a few times in nasty weather and there were no problems.
4) My battery was never hot only the esc and the motor became hot but that's normal.
5) Yep you can use that remote. Also perfect to use it on a VESC.
6 years ago
Hey, I really like the design of ur skateboard and the overall quality.
I really want to buy or even build my own electric skateboard and ur design is one of the best ive seen. Me and a friend will try to build this skateboard with your tutorial, but first i have some questions about it.
- How do you notice how much juice the battery has left? Any kind of mini display u built in?
- Most important: Can you still kick/drive the Board like a normal board, when the battery is empty or is the resistance of the motor too high?
- How loud is the Motor? In both videos the motor was really loud. And in some countries eboards are not 100% legal to drive, so i would appreciate when the board is not too loud. (a reason why i want such a thin board and hub motors would be nice too, but too expensive)
Yours sincerely,
Random user who likes your project! ;)
Reply 6 years ago
Thank you!
- For measuring the voltage left in the battery, I used a small "6S lipo voltage indicator'' which can be plugged in into the balance connector of the battery to check the voltage of each cell and the total voltage, they are very cheap.
- Yeah you can still ride it like a normal board, there's a little bit more resistance but not that much.
- Well if you're accelerating very hard, then the motor sound is also pretty loud but that's handy to let people/bikers know that you are behind them so they need to watch out if you pass them.
I'm building a new build at the moment which should be finished in 2 weeks, I did some changes and I'm also going to make an instructable of my new and better electric longboard ;)
If you want I can already share some parts which I should really recommend to use instead of some parts in this instructable?
Reply 6 years ago
Thanks for replying,
I would really appreciate that! :)
The fact that i could still ride it like a normal board is pretty nice.
Could I add you on facebook or whatsapp? By that it will be easier to share parts and experiences.
Reply 6 years ago
Yeah that's perfect you can find me as Bart Roosen, facebook is easier for me.
Reply 6 years ago
You are not answering on Facebook. Feels bad man
6 years ago
Hello, it looks like you have a board that compares well to the boosted board. I just have a few questions:
1.) Have you done a test of the two side by side and been able to tell which board performs better?
2.) Boosted Boards are water resistant, but the motors you use seem to be open to the elements. Is there a way to seal them against water, and to also protect the battery against water damage?
3.) It looks as if your final version only has one motor... what happened to the second one? And how do you fit both motors on the same end of the board given the length of each motor?
Thanks for your help!