Electric Motorcycles: Why?

[ManaloEA]

My point was that gas tank explosions are exceptionally rare -- rare enough not to worry about.  Rare enough that in 30someodd years of riding, I've never heard of one.

It remains to be seen if an ultracapacitater tumbling down the tarmac will be as stable.

they are no less safe as a Shorai battery.

[ducatiz]

The Ford Pinto

I was referring to motorcycle tanks...

they are no less safe as a Shorai battery.

That's a question to be answered by empirical means.  NHTSA requires testing of each model year's tank design regardless of how safe it was the previous year or how minimal the change in design was.

Likewise, an EV bike would have to actually prove it is safe. 

Fortunately, the Chevy Volts spontaneously inflamed at NHTSA's parking lot before doing it on the road...

[Raux]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3802893/Bike-crash-results-in-huge-fireball.html

and of course the Guy Martin crash...

it happens

[ducatiz]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3802893/Bike-crash-results-in-huge-fireball.html

and of course the Guy Martin crash...

it happens

i know, it's just very rare

[Mhanis]

I don,t understand why there is so much "I don't like this, its stupid" thought regarding e-vehicles. If you don't like it, move on, thanks for stopping by. I would LOVE an e-bike for commuting to work. One would NEVER replace my "real" bike though, at this point it is just too impractical. But for running around town, hell yes!

My local Duc dealer carries the Zero line, now if they can get the price down a bit I would certainly consider one.

[Drjones]

. . .the bikes may seem like a silly waste of time by a bunch of green hippies now, but gurantee if they cracked that nut and you could have a 100% torque all the time, 180mph top speed, proper handling E-bike I think all the joking would die off pretty damn quick.

Not under those parameters because the bike would still be an expensive 'toy' i.e. track bike, which they'll be trailering to the track in an ICE gas guzzling truck.  The average day ride a weekend rider goes on around here is over 150 miles just for the ride itself and a person still needs to travel 20 miles to and from the meeting point.  The limiting factor for EV's is and will always be refueling time and range followed by purchase cost.

[ducatiz]

I don,t understand why there is so much "I don't like this, its stupid" thought regarding e-vehicles. If you don't like it, move on, thanks for stopping by. I would LOVE an e-bike for commuting to work. One would NEVER replace my "real" bike though, at this point it is just too impractical. But for running around town, hell yes!

My local Duc dealer carries the Zero line, now if they can get the price down a bit I would certainly consider one.

Who said they were stupid?

I would totally consider them if they were within price point and performance of gas powered bikes.  None of them are, nor will be any time soon and there is sufficient skepticism that they ever will be, barring some miraculous discovery in battery technology.

A hydrogen/electric hybrid with direct to voltage design is probably the only way to have a function EV.

[derby]

If you know of an instance in the last 100 years of someone's gas tank exploding, let me know.  The worst thing that I know of is leaks (which happened with the plastic tank deformation as well) but no fatalities. 

Akira Yanagawa

[ducatiz]

Akira Yanagawa

I really should have clarified my comment, I meant both motorcycles and not racing.  Racing all bets are off.  Forks fly off and tanks go places they shouldn't and wheels and swingarms are pushed to their limits.

But yes, tanks can explode, thanks derb.

[ManaloEA]

That's a question to be answered by empirical means.  NHTSA requires testing of each model year's tank design regardless of how safe it was the previous year or how minimal the change in design was.

Likewise, an EV bike would have to actually prove it is safe.

I don't think that anyone is suggesting that EV bikes should not be tested for safety. Any and all EV's should pass the same, if not more rigorous safety standards. I think it is just a matter of time before battery manufacturers begin focusing on crash safety.

[muskrat]

I don,t understand why there is so much "I don't like this, its stupid" thought regarding e-vehicles. If you don't like it, move on, thanks for stopping by. I would LOVE an e-bike for commuting to work. One would NEVER replace my "real" bike though, at this point it is just too impractical. But for running around town, hell yes!

My local Duc dealer carries the Zero line, now if they can get the price down a bit I would certainly consider one.

It's done to make old farts like you mad.    Opinions, that's what boards are about.   
I for one would not buy anything electric EVER.   It's expensive and not worth itself paying off the difference in savings for about 7 years....on average.

[Bill in OKC]

6-7 years is just about the time when you will need to replace the batteries.

[derby]

I really should have clarified my comment, I meant both motorcycles and not racing.  Racing all bets are off.  Forks fly off and tanks go places they shouldn't and wheels and swingarms are pushed to their limits.

But yes, tanks can explode, thanks derb.

i knew that wasn't what you meant... just any excuse to post that yanagawa sequence. 

[PhilB]

I don,t understand why there is so much "I don't like this, its stupid" thought regarding e-vehicles. If you don't like it, move on, thanks for stopping by. I would LOVE an e-bike for commuting to work. One would NEVER replace my "real" bike though, at this point it is just too impractical. But for running around town, hell yes!

My local Duc dealer carries the Zero line, now if they can get the price down a bit I would certainly consider one.

As I said at the start, it's not an objection to electric vehicles per se.  Figure out a decent solution for energy storage and replenishment, and I'm fine.  I will, however, NEVER buy something powered from batteries.  Batteries suck.

Your bolded line is the key, though.  To make sense, fiscally OR ecologically, the electric vehicle must be able to *replace* an ICE vehicle.  If it's just additional, it doesn't save resources overall, or reduce pollution, or save money, or do anything else useful.  It becomes just another toy, and offers no benefit to our energy usage consumption and patterns.

PhilB

[krolik]

As Philb has said, EV will not be a practical replacement for ICE until the energy density of batteries comes close to that of liquid fuels. But that doesn't mean that folks should give up on them. Research, developement and testing needs to continue. Racing, especially at well known venues like IOM, is a great way to facilitate this through private means.