A worthy contender Arises From the Ashes

BMC claims that their new BMC50A 48-64 Volt controller is THE solution for the problems I mentioned previously. To overcome the catch-on-fire issues other controllers are having, they took a page out of the old "bigger is better" book and placed numerous 4110 MOSFETs in parallel to increase the drive current to the motor. BMC's website ominously warns, "Please note that 10g wiring from shaft of the motor is essential, or you will melt your connectors with this much power running through the stock wiring."

At 52.5 volts, I should be able to briefly drive 2600 Watts with this guy; hopefully my governmentally-challenged V3 can handle it :).

I'm going to hold off on purchasing the motor and controller for the time being so I can focus on finishing the battery system. I mentioned previously that I'm changing the pack voltage to 56 volts nominal. This means I'm going to modify the physical connection of the cell packs to 5 in length, which results in 4 threaded packs. I'll wire each pair into parallel and then wire the result in series to get my desired voltage.

This has the added benefit of fitting better on a bike. I was having a hard time coming up with a method to mount three 22 inch long battery packs onto a bike. The new configuration is going to be four 14" long battery packs; I can put these in saddle bags on my commuter until I find a better cycle.