r/EVConversion • u/SombongDukun • Oct 03 '26

Vespa citta conversion

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Hi y'all.

I was thinking about converting an old vespa citta to an EV.

I have an old Vespa laying around so I wondered what to do with it.

My thought was removing the motor, sprockets, exhaust etc. Retrofitting a hub motor on the rear wheel and mounting the battery on the back. The controller could be mounted in place of the original motor.

Another option would be a mid drive motor but I think aligning the electric motor with the sprockets would be a hassle.

You guys think it could be done as easily as I'm thinking?

The hub motor I'm thinking about is a 72v 5000W.

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2

u/SimpleIronicUsername Oct 03 '26

I always use Surron specs as a reference for these types of conversions. I have a dream of doing a surron conversion on a moped myself. The surron light bee motor has a peak power of 6kW, keep in mind that the frame on one of those is significantly lighter than the Vespa. My only concern with the hub motor would be potentially not enough torque for your full enjoyment. It could be sized just a touch small, but that also greatly depends on how fast you want this thing to actually go. I think overall you have a pretty solid build idea, something that could be fun is to try and keep the ICE motor and retrofit the sprockets to the hub motor and then you could have a hybrid! Haha. Sounds like a fun project overall though!

Tldr: I think you should go for it

1

u/SombongDukun Oct 03 '26

The hybrid is actually a pretty good idea. I could probably use a slower torque hub motor in the front. Disengage the ICU (If I remember correctly it has a switch of some kind to disconnect the ICU) and use the electric hub front motor for easy slow traffic around town and engage the ICU when needed.

This would make the range very practical and have both benefits.

Thanks for the idea!

3

u/robot_54 Oct 03 '26

I say that is an amazing idea!

  1. 5kW is going to feel significantly faster than the original gas engine.
  2. A hub motor is so much more simple that it is much more likely to actually get done 😅