Experienced Hobbyist Trying to Source Parts (CANADA)

Hello everyone, I’m looking for some help in picking my final parts out of some potential candidates. As well as help in finding the best place to source these parts cheaply.

I’m an engineering student, which means I have a lot of experience dealing with electronics projects but also very little money…lol. So I would really appreciate it if some more experienced esk8rs could help me make good part choices in the first place so I won’t have to waste money on sub-par components.

I’ve currently got an wicked fast ebike and an electric scooter built on a budget (800$ and $400) but I want something that I can take in my car to campus and to replace my analog longboard as a daily driver for around the same cost. I’ve mostly been tinkering with the motors and controllers in my last few electric vehicles, leaving the battery pack to be shipped in from china. But I now feel confident enough to try and create my own battery pack using high quality lithium ion cells to help keep the weight down on my new build. However I don’t know any reputable stores to buy from here in Canada that also have reasonable prices. Any vendor recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated.

For my actual board I want something that resembles a shortboard cruiser style skateboard but with enough power to get me up some hills, while still having enough capacity to last me through the day. This is a very close example to what I want my finished board to be like.

Because of the shorter length that I want my board I was thinking that a hub motor setup would be my best bet while allowing me to reduce the amount of mechanical parts I need to regularly maintain. My worry is whether or not these generic 500w hub motors would be suitable for my usecase? I also want to be able to push the board along to reduce the amount of work the motors have to do, but I’ve heard belt systems have very bad freewheeling performance. This is an example of the hub motors I’m considering. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000314654921.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.5ba23c00vGwfxH&mp=1

The next part I’m looking at for my build is the ESC . I think I’m gonna go with a generic v1.1 ESC for about 100$ CAD as this board doesn’t need an expensive VESC just yet. I want to eventually upgrade it one day once I can source a VESC for about $100 CAD, but I just want a working board for now to see how I like esk8ing. If anyone has any other ESC recommendations or knows where to get a good VESC for cheap please let me know.

In my search to try and source these parts for the cheapest possible cost I came across diyeboards.com, specifically this listing here. 38'' Dual HUB Motor Electric Skateboard 10S5P 36V 10Ah 90*55mm [Volans Sagittarius III] - $468.00 : DIYEboard.com -DIY Eboard-DIY Electric Skateboard, DIY Electric Skateboard Parts and Kits-Buy & Build Or Customize Your Own Electric Skateboard. DIY&Building An Electric Motorized Skateboard & Longboard on Diyeboard.com

This listing seems to have most of the parts I’ve picked out, but also with a finished enclosure and battery for about 580$ CAD which is a very competitive price to what I would spend building it from scratch. However I’ve heard some very sketchy things about DIYeboard’s business practices as well as the fact that they’ve been banned from this forum. Could someone please share their experiences with DIYeboard and whether this is a good product for me as a first time builder? I’m not afraid to tinker and fix things but I am afraid of trucks snapping off and ESC’s dying on me with no replacement.

Another reservation I have about this product is that the quality of the cells seems subpar and the volume of the battery pack seems very big and I’m worried about vertical clearance when putting it onto a cruiser deck in the future. In the first video I posted, the builder showed just how little clearance there was between the ground and the bottom of the enclosure. I don’t want my new skateboard dinged up and I would like a sleeker look. Would a 10s2p based board be more suitable for my usecase then? I plan on rebuilding the diyeboard battery pack in a few years anyway.

As for now I’m deciding between that one eboard from diyeboard.com that I linked and their other valos scorpio III. However the scorpio’s enclosure doesn’t seem well suited to a shorter board. And having a deck with a kicktail in the future is big requirement of mine.

If anyone could help me find a vendor for my future DIY battery pack and give me their thoughts on this diyeboard kit, it would be immensely helpful.

diyeboard.com sells super outdated batteries and is a general shitshow. It was one of the only choices in 2017, but it’s garbage now.

I think you’ll be better off just buying a used Meepo hub board to see if you like esk8.

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I’d recommend you to get the v2.0 esc (smoother acceleration and braking curves very important for short boards) and hub motor kit from DIYeboard but source your battery from Meepo (they include battery measurements on their site so you can find a suitable enclosure), Wowgo, or Ownboard since they use high tier batteries in their packs. Also I dont recommend you to get DIYEboards 10s5p 10AH battery, it’s too heavy for a portable short board that youre trying to build. You didnt go into great detail on the distances you want to be traveling a day. Generally 4AH will last you 7-10mi 6Ah 10-13mi 8AH 13-15mi Range is dependent on rider weight, riding style, wheels and temperature. Honestly, I would choose this kit over building it entirely DIY.

It uses the Hobbywing ESC which has EXTREMELY accurate control compared to DIYEboard’s sloshy feeling of searching for the right pressure to put on the wheel. Battery cells are high quality, you’ll get plenty of recharges out of them before they die. Hubs are the same but the design looks way more aesthetic imo. Only thing you gotta source is a deck. As to your question of whether or not 500w hubs will be adequate, I am 140lb and on the hubs put me up a moderately steep hill no problem. Id say once you start getting around 190lb, you shouldnt be looking into hub motors anymore. Unless you live in Chicago, you’ll be fine.