Electric Skateboard Conversion Kit

How To Choose The Best Electric Skateboard Conversion Kit

There are typically two types of electric skateboard conversion kit or a diy electric skateboard conversion kit. Simple and cheaper electric skateboard conversion kits are great for building simple and cheap electric skateboards. However, a diy electric skateboard kit will allow more flexibility and you can build your own diy electric skateboard with higher performance and with longer-lasting parts.

A standard conversion kit can typically convert your skateboard or longboard into an electric skateboard. These setups are typically capable of riding on flat grounds for 5-6 miles or less. If you’re looking to ride for 10+ miles, typically you’ll want a much more durable electric skateboard.

Finding the best electric skateboard conversion kit can be difficult and it truly depends on what you’re needs and requirements are and how long you intend to use your electric skateboard. A few examples are if you really only need it to ride 1-2 miles away on flat ground, then the cheaper electric skateboard conversion kits will allow you to do just that at a much more affordable price.

If you’re looking to climb up steeper hills and want to ride 5-10+ miles per day then it might be best to look more into a diy electric skateboard conversion kit. These will typically last you 5-10+ years with minimal maintenance and upkeep. A smaller cheaper conversion kit will be more likely to break down.

How To Make Your Own Electric Skateboard

Can you make your own electric skateboard? Yes! You absolutely can. Building your own diy electric skateboard would be the best electric skateboard conversion kit that you can make as you can build something that is meant to last and much more easier to repair. Typically, you would build with a longboard as they are much longer than a standard skateboard. It allows you to have a much comfortable and bigger standing platform that allows your riding stance to be more comfortable.

You can convert any longboard to electric but it is typically much more difficult as you’ll have to either buy or build an electronics closer to house your electric skateboard battery pack, electric skateboard esc and more.

A much easier way is to buy a longboard deck that is built to be used for an electric skateboard deck. You can find decks like our electric skateboard deck which can fit a much larger battery pack and hold all the electronic components as well.

Checkout our diy electric skateboard tutorials and you can learn more on how to convert your skateboard into electric.

We sell electric skateboard motor kits and much more.

Best Electric Skateboard Conversion Kit

Building a diy electric skateboard will always be the best conversion kit as you can customize the performance and how big of a battery pack that you choose to use.

If you’re looking for just any cheap electric skateboard conversion kit. You can find a range of different options below that have been available. Some can be found on amazon as well. I warned you. You will most likely be back after you find out that they didn’t meet your expectations.

Electric Skateboard Conversion Kit Components

Below are the following parts that you will need to consider when you convert your skateboard to electric. This is the easy way for an electric skateboard conversion kit.

• Dual Motor Electric Skateboard Kit - aka Drive Train - These typically will consist of longboard trucks and longboard wheels as well as your drive train system which is an electric skateboard motor mount and drive wheel pulleys. The motor mount will connect to your trucks. The drive wheel pulleys will attach to your rear wheels of your electric skateboard.
• Electric Skateboard Motors - You will need motors if you want a more lightweight build. I suggest dual 6355 electric skateboard motors. If you want more power and are okay with the added weight then you can use dual 6374 electric skateboard motors or dual 6380 electric skateboard motors.
• Electric Skateboard ESC/VESC - The ESC is the electronic brain of your electric skateboard. If you want the best make sure you’re buying an esc based on the open source ESC platform called VESC. The latest version being the based off of the VESC v6 version.
• Electric Skateboard Battery Pack - The battery pack is the power and capacity of your electric skateboard.
• Electric Skateboard Remote - There are a few remotes available. Make sure you pick one that is compatible with the VESC if that’s what you’re buying.
• Electric Skateboard Wiring - As for wiring, you will need to connect the motors to your esc. You will then need to connect the esc to your battery pack. The remote is connected to your esc as well.

The above is a general gist of what you need for your electric skateboard conversion kit. Please see our full detailed tutorials to find a step by step method to build your own electric skateboard.

How To Choose The Best Electric Skateboard Kit

• Motor Power - As far as motor power, you can choose to build with lighter weight smaller motors such as the 6355 motors and larger higher performance motors such as the 6380 6384 motors.
• Battery Voltage + Capacity - Battery capacity is rated in parallel or mah/ah rating when reading a battery pack. Capacity allows you to ride for longer distances. The more capacity you have the longer you can ride. Larger batteries will be heavier and will require more space in your electric skateboard enclosure. A few examples are our 12S4P Battery Pack and our 12S8P Battery Pack. The 8P is double the size of the 4P and will provide double the range.
• Electric Skateboard ESC Features - Different ESCs offer different specs. The most flexible ESCs are based off of the VESC open source platform. There are other escs such as the lingyi esc that is more of a standard esc that you can’t really program or change the escs. They still work great but aren’t as high performance and flexible. Typically, for our electric skateboards we like the flexibility, freedom, high performance so we use VESC based ESCs.
• Remote Features - We recommend our VX1 Remote but we have a few other options that are cheaper, more simple or have more features. All of our remotes work with the VESC.

How To Install Your Electric Skateboard Conversion Kit

Installing your electric skateboard conversion kit doesn’t have to be difficult. Take it one step at a time and before you know it. You will have built your very first electric skateboard! Below is a step by step process on how to install your electric skateboard conversion kit.

• Build The Mechanical Drive Kit - The first thing is to build the mechanical drive kit. You’ll have to setup your trucks and install the motor mount to the trucks. You’ll also setup your drive wheel pulleys on either one or two of your skateboard wheels. Depending if you are building a single or dual motor electric skateboard.
• Install The Motors - Once you’ve build the drive kit, you can install the motors to your motor mounts.
• Install Deck, Battery, ESCs - Next, you can install the battery pack and escs to your longboard deck and connect the wiring.
• Install Remote - Next, you’ll connect the remote receiver to your ESC. There is typically a port to plug in your remote receiver.
• Confirm Wiring - Next, you confirm all your wiring is correct.
• Test - Power on your escs and get testing. Once you’ve programmed your escs and confirmed your remote works. You’re almost at the finish line!
• Adjust - Next, test your trucks and move your board from side to side. Are your trucks comfortable?
  • I’d test at low speed and slightly high speed and make sure your brakes are working well. Get comfortable with your board before going crazy.

Above is a brief explanation on the process of how you would install your electric skateboard. If you need a step by step tutorial, please see our full tutorials for more details.

Benefits of Converting Your Electric Skateboard

• Long Lasting - You’ll get more use from your electric skateboard if you build it with higher quality parts. Your parts will less likely fail overtime if they are built for higher quality standards and performance.
• Higher Performance - You can use better quality and higher performance battery packs and motors if you’re looking to use your electric skateboard as a true transportation vehicle.
• Specific Requirements - You have specific requirements for your own electric skateboard. You either need higher performance, longer battery life, etc. With a diy electric skateboard you get the best of both worlds.
• Gaining Knowledge/Skill - The real world skills of problem solving and learning how something works is a great skill to acquire. You can also know exactly how your electric skateboard works and can easily maintain your electric skateboard way before sometimes acts up.

Electric Mountain Board Conversion Kit

You can also build an electric mountain board. Typically, these boards have a higher riding height and not lower to the ground. That’s because they have 8 inch pneumatic tires and the trucks can also be different.

There are also 2 in 1 electric skateboards that you can use that allow you also convert your skateboard from a longboard street board to an off road street board. Similar to our TORQUE Street setup.

If you’re looking for an off road skateboard electric conversion kit. I’d highly suggest using our TORQUE Street which is a 2 in 1 electric skateboard that allows you to ride longboard wheels or our 8 inch tires.

Conclusion

We hope this tutorial helps you in converting a longboard or skateboard into an electric skateboard. It’s a fun project and we hope this article has been informative in your conversion process.

Make sure to always stay safe riding!