Electric bikes

[MarJay]

[Serendipity]

I’m not opposed to electric vehicles other than being an utter cheapskate. I could probably afford one, but I drive an 18 year old car and 16 year old bike because I only use them a couple of times a week and my semi-competent spannering keeps them reliable on the cheap.

The range thing and charging time bothers me. Performing a near-instant battery swap to a fully charged unit would be ideal. Not so easy with a car although I recall reading that somewhere in the far east was playing with the idea. However swappable batteries for bikes seems like a very workable idea given the infrastructure and customers. Taiwan have allegedly experimented with it as seen here -

https://i.imgur.com/fmPNVjl.mp4
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2007 CBF1000-ABS - Commuter heaven | 1994 CBR600FR - Awaiting defibrillation

[Robby]

[Polarbear]

[Nute]

[MarJay]

[slowasyoulike]

I will be at the back of the queue for owning an EV. I like being a late adopter, it means I don't end up doing the manufacturers' beta testing for them. The only time I ever did anything that looked remotely 'ahead of the curve' was when I bought an electric Aixam back in the late 2000s. It did not end well.

That said, even I can see that the technology has advanced massively since the advent of the aforementioned pile of shite, but here in the sticks charging options are limited, and prices are still a long way from the level where I'd be prepared to (re) enter the market.

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[dave001]

[chotabhai807]

You seem to think that small capacity electric bikes cost more than a diamond encrusted Gold plated Rolls Royce. They don't. https://routerlogin.ltd/
https://pikashow.ltd/

[Ayrton]

[ThunderGuts]

The Getir crowd around here whizz about on electric mopeds. They fall off fairly regularly too, but I think that's the riders, not the bikes.

Electric makes a lot of sense for an urban motorcycle if there's regenerative braking; reduces brake wear and recoups some of that charge. Speeds are always relatively low, so power burn per mile in theory is lower than tanking along at VMax. I can see a lot of potential for 125 or lower category e-bikes for commuters; although a 60 mile range sounds naff, I suspect for most commuters on a small bike they aren't doing anything near that distance, while charging is likely far less onerous than with an electric car as we're not talking anything like the same kinds of capacity and probably is achievable on a 3 pin plug as opposed to needing a fancy charger.

Electric for a leisure motorcycle is a very different proposition. Common to do 200 mile day rides and many, including myself, don't set out with a specific route and distance in mind, instead take it as it comes. If you're range limited on an electric motorcycle you're likely to hit problems in that situation, especially given the areas we tend to ride are not furnished with fast chargers (unless your leisure riding focusses on motorways, towns and cities).
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TG.

[Polarbear]

[Easy-X]

Revzilla's daily rider with the Sondor:

https://youtu.be/qqBy8uD6Qc0

Cheap (~6 bags) just about manages >60mph, range ~50 miles, 5 hour charge. Not a bad proposition for the Deliveroo crowd
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Suntan Sid]

Here's some food for thought.

In World championship motorcycle racing the MotoE class is the slowest.
MotoGP is the fastest, Wsbk is next, followed by Moto2 then World SuperSport, Moto3 and finally MotoE.

During the weekend's Wsbk commentary, James Toseland was talking about Dominique Aegerter, (the current MotoE world champion), and how he's taking to the Wsbk class.
He mentioned that the MotoE bike he was riding weighed 100kg more than his Wsbk.
Yes you read that right, 100kg!

In the MotoE class, races are seven laps, (between 18 and 24 miles), because that's how long the batteries last at race pace, less than one lap of the TT course. As seen in TT zero, you could count the finishers on, err, three fingers.
Although to be fair race distances for all MotoGP and Wsbk classes are less than two laps of the TT course.

Looks like there's a long way to go before E bikes will get anywhere near the sustained performance of ICE bikes.
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"Everybody needs money, that's why they call it money!"

[MarJay]

[Nobby the Bastard]

[MarJay]

[Nobby the Bastard]

TBh the only feasable way to do it is fusion. Not fusion directly but using it to make the fuel in the same way we charge a battery now. We all know there's losses involved, it's just acceptable based on the power we have.

Thinking of the losses, there may be a need to get rid of excess heat. using fusion could well add extra heat into a system that isn't in a position to accept it.

Maybe find some way to direct it into the core?
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Sprint ST 1050

[MarJay]

Can I just take this time to say:

Thanks to the people of this forum. I know we don't all agree on everything, but this discussion has remained un-toxic. On a Porsche group I'm a member of someone posted a picture of a guys's bonnet interior on what I assume is a mustang, (definitely was not a Porsche) and it had a Mustang Bonnet sized image of Greta Thunberg on said bonnet interior. I felt that was telling us more about the persons insecurity over that than it was about "sticking it to" anyone. The discussion then descended into accusations that I was somehow on the payroll of the climate change mafia, and that I had an 'agenda' and so on. I said nothing of the kind, and in fact encouraged people to drive their Porsches while they still can. I even got accused of being Hitler at one stage, and the man even said "I did my research" and cited a single scientist who did in fact admit that climate change was man made and real, but said it's too late to do anything about it. Sheesh. He then admitted he has a sticker under his fuel flap that says "How dare you" I'm no fan of our friend Greta, but when you're sticking stickers on things to remind you to not do what she says... it's a bit of a psychiatrists dream, I feel.

So, thanks BCF. I know sometimes it can seem like a place of argument and discord, but actually we're pretty decent when it comes to things.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Robby]

Just for balance, Marje is a cunt.

[Easy-X]

[Polarbear]

[Robby]

Hydrogen is not going to fix any problems any time soon.

It's just an energy storage medium like a battery. Making it is not terrible efficient, a lot more lossy than charging a battery. Storing it is also tricky, because of the huge pressures or cryogenics required, and the problem that it still leaks out anyway.

Then when you do have a tank of it, you have to run it through a fuel cell to make electricity before running it through an electric motor.

Hydrogen does not solve the packaging issue for bikes.

Biofuels are a shit bit of greenwashing. Less so for biodiesel, but for ethanol it's just awful. Lots of energy goes into turning stuff in fields into ethanol.

Batteries are still the best compromise that actually work, and the addition of shitloads of money into battery research is quite useful too.

[Polarbear]