Electric Motorcycle
The Toyotron Hunter Electric Motorcycle
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REVISED July 31, 2008 Given the reluctance of the big four Japanese motorcycle manufacturers to sacrifice their existing markets by introducing electric motorcycles, the window of opportunity for small and innovative manufacturers to work with the Chinese manufacturing powerhouse to create pollution-free motorcycles that run at negligible cost is wide open. A new electric-only motorcycle manufacturer hit the scene this month in Thailand, moving the country ahead of many first world countries in the quest for sustainable transport. It borrows quite a bit from what has been before, but it looks the goods.
EV-X7: the electric future-cruiser
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November 26, 2007 With a style unlike anything that’s come before it, the EV-X7 is an electric streetbike with a 92mph top speed and a range of up to 110 miles. It looks like it runs some sort of hub-centre steering arrangement, and the prototype is now on display in Japan. Axle Group, the makers of the bike, will release a US$2100 mini-scooter using similar technology in the next 12 months. While 92mph represents quite decent performance for a zero-emissions, electric vehicle, we’re sure if you thrashed this oddball motorcycle along at that sort of speed for any length of time, the battery range would be closer to 25 miles than 110.
Vectrix Electric Superbike unveiled at Milan
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November 23, 2007 Hot on the heels of its excellent electric maxi-scooter, Vectrix has finally delivered on its promise of an electric superbike, and it’s amazingly close to the concept drawings we saw a couple of years back. Unveiled at the Milan motorcycle show, the Vectrix Electric Superbike has a top speed of around 125mph, a range of around 70 miles and it’ll eat up the quarter mile in around 12 seconds, so it’s clearly got some punch behind the throttle. It'll go into production if interest is high enough - can this be the first true production electric performance motorcycle? And if so - how long 'til they start racing it?
KillaCycle electric motorcycle breaks eight second quarter mile at 168mph
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November 15, 2007 Upping the grunt to a huge 500 horsepower courtesy of a new 186 pound battery pack, the KillaCycle has reached speeds of 168mph in becoming the first electric-vehicle in history to enter the “magic sevens” in the quarter mile. The KillaCycle made two runs of 7.824 and 7.991 seconds (with a 0-60mph time of under one second) at the All Harley Drag Racing Association (AHDRA) California Bike Week event last weekend at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California, making the new official quarter mile record 7.991 seconds - the sixth occasion on which the KillaCycle has set a new world mark.
Suzuki’s hydrogen-powered Crosscage motorcycle
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Here’s one of the more radical concept motorcycles we’ve seen in a while – Suzuki’s Crosscage concept is a fuel-cell powered electric bike with single-sided suspension front AND rear. The brushless electric motor’s mounted inline with the rear wheel, and looks-wise it’s so far out there that it’s on its way back again. Seems like Bridgestone’s even developed a special futuristic-looking tyre to match the bike’s oddly tesselated discs. We’ve just encountered the amazing concept at the Tokyo Motor Show, where our heads are still spinning from all the ground-breaking technology on show.
First ride: the Vectrix Electric Maxi-Scooter
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It’s a special sort of road test when you get to try out not only a brand new bike, but one of the first viable examples of a whole different engine technology. Loz Blain and Noel McKeegan get their hands on the Vectrix Electric Maxi-Scooter, an Italian/American beauty with a 100kph top speed, a 110km commuting range, and a two-way throttle that engages a very handy regenerative braking system. It’s a promising early taste of what’s in store when electric motorcycles hit the market in force.
Yamaha’s iPod ready compact electric motorcycle
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August 17, 2007 Yamaha first unveiled the EC-02 electric motorcycle as part of a range of sustainable machines in 2005. Not wanting to be left behind in the age of the ubiquitous personal music player, the latest incarnation of the short-range commuter features a tank mounted iPod dock.
US$15,000 Carbon Fibre Enertia electric motorcycle to hit stores in early 2008
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The era of the electric roadgoing motorcycle is upon us and it’s ironic that it should come from a company that looked set to make its mark in automotive history in the supercar stakes with the Brammo GT, an American-designed and built V12 Supercar. That Craig Bramscher has since become one of the foremost evangelists of light weight performance motoring via the Ariel Atom might have foretold the direction, but the Enertia is a perfect commuter machine built with the same philosophy as the Atom. Using a rigid light weight carbon fibre chassis to contain the battery pack (and most of the weight), a small electric motor is all that’s required to see the Enertia accelerate harder than any automobile to its 50 mph top speed – all that’s needed around town. Most significantly in terms of its credibility as a motorcycle, the Enertia could best be described as an electric motard, and comes with impeccable handling credentials - fat tyres, disk brakes front and rear, quality suspension and a very compact centre of gravity – a trait that we’ve seen before in bikes with exceptional flickability and precise handling such as the Aprilia 250 and Buell. The Enertia’s secret is its weight -at just 275 pounds ready to roll, it’s 100 pounds lighter than the featherweight Aprilia Grand Prix Replica . With the carbon footprint of a few lightglobes, and sports motorcycling capabilities to medium speeds this looks like the first viable electric motorcycle to us –the US$15,000 limited edition "carbon" model will be snapped up as collectors items no doubt because it is a landmark machine in personal transportation. At US$12,000, the standard machine is only pricey until you consider how much it costs to run. You plug this sucker into any powerpoint and it'll be ready to go a few hours later for another 45 miles. If the transport authorities encourage responsible road usage as seems likely, ownership costs could be minimal. The Enertia is a landmark motorcycle and its coming heralds the dawn of a new era of electric motorcycles.
evDaytona: battery powered sportsbike does 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds
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July 3, 2007 Although the technology is still relatively new, motorcycles are emerging as a great platform for the launch of the electric engine revolution. While high-powered, light and compact electric engines (like the 350hp monster Killacycle Drag Bike) are already available, battery range has typically been an issue. This is perhaps more acute in relation to electric cars, whereas motorcycles are often used as joyriding fun toys and short-to-medium-range commuters, so a 100 mile range still leaves for plenty of practical and fun uses for electric road bikes. With major manufacturers being slow to put electric sportsbikes on the market, smaller enterprises are blazing a trail - like GoBike, who are awaiting DOT approval on a converted Triumph Daytona, with a max speed around 93mph, a cruising range of 143 miles, and a blistering 2.7 second 0-60mph acceleration time that should make it a blast to ride.
350 bhp battery-powered Killacycle smashes 1/4 mile records for electric vehicles
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April 9, 2007 Electric engines have a very unsexy image; environmentally friendly hybrids and plug-in vehicles couldn't be further from the minds of most high performance motorsport fans. The battery-powered Killacycle, however, is raising eyebrows at the dragstrip after smashing the electric vehicle quarter-mile speed record with a very respectable 8.168 seconds @ 155.78mph earlier this week. Video here.
Extreme Electric Motocross Bike
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September 23, 2006 The recreational vehicle industry and specifically trail bikes look to be set for a whole new range of possibilities in the near future as electric motorcycles become viable. Electric dirt bikes offer several compelling advantages over their current petrol-burning brethren, the most significant being they are completely silent. There is nothing more out of place in the forest than the bark of a four-stroke or the staccato rasp of a two-stroke – at complete odds with the tranquility of the wilderness and quite capable of spoiling the experience for those ten miles away, motorcycling without the noise is long overdue. For this reason, bikes are essentially banned from suburbia. Proof of just how far electric dirt bikes have come is the US$5,500 Drift XC bike from Electricross. Though it only develops 19 bhp, the linear, predictable power delivery has broad torque available from the very bottom of the rev range and is absolutely ideal power for loose surfaces. The trick is in the weight though as the Neal Saiki designed bike is ultra light – just 140 pounds ready for riding compared to 240 pounds plus for a petrol engined bike of similar output. There is no wet weight for an electric bike as there’s no petrol to burn, engine oil or even a gearbox. Saiki’s cross country bike designs have won numerous World Cup mountain bike titles and he recently landed Mountain Biking magazine’s 2006 X-Country Bike of the Year, so he knows his stuff . Before bikes he designed the first successful human powered helicopter (pictured), claiming one of the plumb aviation design firsts in history. Inspired by the potential of the electric motor, Saiki has spent the last couple of years designing and building an electric cross country bike. Saiki found that motorcycle parts are generally too heavy (without the vibration, an electric bike can be built lighter) and bicycle parts were too weak for the forces he wanted to direct. The frame parts are all made from American-produced aluminum. Accordingly, every part had to be uniquely developed using computer analysis to optimize every component, such as the patent pending double diamond design that is lighter and stiffer than conventional swingarms.
Yamaha unveils hybrid electric motorcycle and limousine scooter
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October 28, 2005 UPDATED IMAGES Yamaha revealed a hybrid motorcycle concept at the Tokyo Show which is quite unlike any form of two wheeler seen to date. The motorcycle, to be known as the Gen-Ryu, uses the high output lightweight compact YZF-R6 600cc motor and an electric motor to deliver the type of performance normally associated with a much larger capacity engine, and is packaged as a futuristic cruiser with advanced aerodynamics and some form of noise cancelling in the cockpit area to enable voice activation of the navigation system, mobile telephone, intercom communications with the pillion and other similarly equipped riders plus a dazzling array of advanced technologies such as headlights which turn to the inside of the corner and rear cameras playing through LCD screens in the dashboard. The Gen-Ryu will be joined on the Yamaha stand by the previously reported and equally radical stretching and shrinking DEINONYCHUS and the limousine-styled Maxam scooter. With massive overhangs, plush white leather upholstery and long, feet-first styling, the Maxam is the most distinctive two wheeler we’ve ever seen.
Yamaha's radical adjustable electric motorcycle
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October 28, 2005 UPDATED IMAGES For the last 125 years, motorcycles have been made up of two wheels and a motor, and they have all been arranged as a wheel, a motor and another wheel – in that order – all of them. But the freedom afforded to designers by the in-wheel electric motors which technology has recently spawned will make for some interesting changes over the coming years and Yamaha is the first of the motorcycle manufacturers to seriously look at alternatives available in the next generation of motorcycles. The Deinonychus prototype takes full advantage of the greater chassis design freedom afforded by an in-wheel motor, and offers a completely new type of two-wheel-drive (2WD) EV (electric vehicle) with "Stretch & Shrink" functions in the vertical and horizontal directions. Yamaha’s exhibition at the Tokyo Motor Show features a number of futuristic commuter vehicles other than the Deinonychus including a fuel cell prototype, a hybrid prototype and a production electric scooter. For the record, a Deinonychus is a lightly built, fast-moving, agile, bipedal, killer dinosaur. This article includes a full rundown of Yamaha's other electric, methanol and hybrid scooters shown at Tokyo
Electric Superbike is on the way
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June 20, 2005 Our recent story on the inevitability of the electric motorcycle brought a number of reader emails pointing out projects we’d missed. One stood out head and shoulders above the rest. The rMOTO electric superbike concept was developed by ROBRADY design to showcase the technologies and expertise of several of its clients but when the first design sketches were released on the company web site in April, so great was the interest that the project has been given the green light and a prototype is to be constructed for unveiling in January 2006. In terms of design pedigree, no studio could be more appropriate than ROBRADY which has worked on an array of relevant notable projects such as the Vectrix electric and fuel cell scooters, a number of Segway scooters, Parker Hannifin’s Fuel Cells, regenerative braking systems and on a number of motorcycle designs for various companies. See inside for an exclusive interview with ROBRADY principal, Rob Brady.
The coming of the electric motorcycle
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UPDATED May 31, 2005 Electric motorcycles are in their infancy but there’s a realistic promise of electric motor performance that is more suited for the racetrack than that of internal combustion engines and infinitely better suited for the road. As the first electric bikes find their way onto racetracks and begin mixing it with two and four strokes, it appears you need three times the horsepower in a gas-powered motor to get a bike as fast as an electric bike. And then there’s the new 500bhp 67 Kg Symetron electric motor which should really kickstart performance electric automobiles and bikes.
