7 Electric Motorcycles You Must See (including 1 that does 0-60 MPH in 0.97 seconds)
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 11.11.08
Electric Motorcycles: Cool and Green
There's nothing wrong with "cool", and we have to admit that few vehicles are cooler than motorcycles (at least in theory - not all of us would ride one). You're basically sitting on an engine with wheels. Can't get much simpler than that. They're not always practical, but the people who love their bikes really love them.
But cool is not enough. The vast majority of motorcycles are still running on fossil fuels, and that's a problem. As battery technology improves, we're starting to see more electric motorcycles: Some are commercially available, many are DIY custom jobs. Today we look at some of the coolest ones.
Photo: evahakansson.se
Eva Håkansson's Electrocat Electric Motorcycle
The bike in the first photo at the top is Electrocat, and the rider is Eva Håkansson. We're starting with her because she is a true pioneer in the world of electric motorcycles (she describes herself as a "hardcore 'EV geek' with a green heart and passion for power and speed.").
She has built Electrocat with her father, Sven Håkansson, and it is probably the first street-legal electric motorcycle in Sweden. It is based on a Cagiva Freccia C12R model year 1990, but the insides are pure electric goodness.
Photo: evahakansson.se
In the picture above you can see the Electrocat's "Thunder Sky litihum-iron-phosphate cells and the original Briggs & Stratton Etek motor". The blue box is the Alltrax AXE7245 controller. Charging takes half an hour on a powerful garage charger (longer with the smaller onboard charger - about 7 hours) and range is 80 km (50 miles) per charge at 70 km/h (44 mph).
You can learn more about the Electrocat on Eva's great website.
Photo: KillaCycle.com
KillaCycle and KillaCycle LSR Electric Motorcycles
We're not done with Eva Håkansson yet. She's part of the team that created the KillaCycle, an insanely powerful electric dragbike that set a new world record on October 23rd, 2008. "7.89 seconds @ 168 MPH is a new official NEDRA record and makes KillaCycle the world’s quickest electric vehicle of any kind in the quarter mile!" Congrats to Scotty Pollacheck for having the guts to do that run. You can see a video of it below (it's near the end - don't blink or you'll miss it):
The successor to the KillaCycle electric motorcycle should be the KillaCycle LSR:
We are building a brand new motorcycle optimized for high speed – the KillaCycle LSR. (The original KillaCycle dragbike will continue pushing the envelope on the dragstrip). The “warm-up” target for KillaCycle LSR is to reach 200 mph (322 km/h) in the beginning of the 2009 season. The next target, lter in the season, will be to reach 300 mph (482 km/h), and hopefully, take the overall electric record of 314 mph (505 km/h) later during the year. The ultimate goal is to break the overall motorcycle record of 354 mph (570 km/h).
Photo: KillaCycle.com
How fast does the KillaCycle accelerate from 0 to 60 mph? Less than a second. (0.97 seconds to be exact) The batteries are 1210 lithium iron nano-phosphate cells from A123 Systems.
More cool electric motorcycles on page 2!
7 Overrated Technologies and Their Underrated Low-Tech Alternatives
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Arrr, Thar Be Oil Under Them Icebergs!
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Damn. I hope they tied that guy to his handlebars.
Ben's rig is really nice. Congrats on the good job, man! I gotta start myself a project like that someday.
Hey everyone.
I'm the guy with the yellow Kawasaki conversion.
Just wanted to let you know that it is currently running at 48 volts.
I have gone on rides as long as 32 miles and the cycle cruises at 45 mph, with the fastest I have ever gotten it going is 55, downhill.
Acceleration on it is great - No shifting!
-Ben
http://greencarvideos.blogspot.com/2008/11/electric-motorcycle.html
I have heard about electric cars, but electric motorcycles, that's something new to me...
Is that right? With a rough calculation that the kilacycle goes from 0-100km/h in 1 second (which is pretty reasonable, 60 mph is 96.54 kmh, and that's pretty close to 0.97), the rider undergoes acceleration of 100000 m/h^2 / 3600 (for seconds) / 9.8 (the force of gravity), which comes to 2.83 times the force of gravity. This is equivalent of doing pullups with enough weights tied to your ankles to equal 1.83 times your weight.
Must be fun.
What, no Vectrix? http://www.vectrix.com/ 9k and it's yours today. 62MPH top speed.
--
MGR: I considered adding the Vectrix (maybe as a "honorable mention" because it is generally considered a scooter), but the piece was already long enough. It is included in the "7 Electric Scooters" article linked at the end, though.
I officially want one. I mean: I really, really want one.
It's good to see this kind of technology making its way into the public eye; EV vehicles don't have to be slow, ugly and pointless!
I'd park one of these next to the Tesla Roadster in my dream garage!
Pretty neat, but won't have significant market share, IMHO. I hope I'm wrong, but it's hard to argue with an internal combustion engine motorcycle, price and convenience-wise. I'm not poo-pooing the technology of the elctric bike, which I think is brilliant, but I'm not hopeful for its overall popularity.
An I.C.E. bike can go forever with 5 minute refuels. An electric bike can go a couple hundred miles before a 7 hour recharge. And if you forget to plug it in before you go to sleep... forget about it.
This is an invention for hardcore enviros, not for the general public. A wiser (though granted not as fun) investment of your money and time would be planting trees or supporting legislation to change motorcycle emissions standards.
"The vast majority of motorcycles are still running on fossil fuels, and that's a problem."
It's not ideal, but let's not blow it out of proportion. It's still way better than a car.
Motorcycles get really good fuel economy. When you're only moving an engine, tiny metal frame, and passenger, you end up being pretty darned efficient.
Motorcycles basically contribute nothing to congestion. Ever seen a motorcycle-jam? Me neither. When traffic gets congested, you have a whole bunch of 4-, 6-, or more-cylinder engines sitting around idling.
For those of us who live in the city, it's a lot easier to find motorcycle parking. How many times have you driven around town just looking for a place to park? That burns fuel.
I don't ride a motorcycle, but I really should learn. If you have to have a fossil fuel-burning vehicle, motorcycles are one of the best ones to have.
@ Ernie
2.83 G's... Fun
"This is equivalent of doing pullups with enough weights tied to your ankles to equal 1.83 times your weight"...
Not Fun : )
0.97 seconds? I have to admit, the first thing I thought of was the light cycles from Tron.
Lets remember that:
1. The electricity is generated somewhere--hopefully wind and/or solar power (although each too have their costs); and
2. The batteries end up somewhere (hopefully in our own backyards so we don't forget the real cost by shipping them to some "other" neighborhood/country.
I'd love to get the plans so I could do the same here in the USA.
Great job girl!
Let's remember that there are motorcycles on diesel now.
Also what I've seen so far with the electric ones is not enough mileage yet. Plus, part of the coolness of riding a motorcycle is the clutch and gear function that you don't have on electric.
Tim (and those who think that motorcycles are "greener"):
I have seen motorcycle congestions. I have seen so many motorcycles in NH that traffic was slowed down. Not often but there are weekends when there are too many for even rural New Hampshire.
And to add to this, way too many riders ride their bike alone. So, this idea that motorcycles pollute less does not hold up if one considers how motorcycles are used. If you measure and calculate miles per gallon PER PERSON you get quite different results. In an ideal world vehicles would travel loaded to capacity and IF that was the case most cars would have a much better fuel efficiency than motorcycles. Even if only two people travel in one car compared to two people riding two motorcycles you get better results for the car.
Additionally, most people who own a motorcycle/scooter also own a car. That should be added to the calculation as well. Motorcycles don't grow on trees. They have to be manufactured, distributed, disposed off. All this adds to the stresses to the environment.
The motorcycles I see on the road are not developed to be fuel efficient. They are primarily developed for performance or "coolness". This may be changing, but only if people get away from the concept of fun-machines and begin considering them transportation devices. Of course that includes sports cars as well.
So, I agree that having a motorcycle may be better than owning a car, but it is not better than owning it in addition to the car, better than driving a car fully loaded, better than public transportation, or better than not driving around for fun (which most people who own motorcycles seem to want to do).
Karsten
http://www.polluteless.com
Practical Advice to Pollute Less
Nice list!
Although I agree that ICE bikes are fuel-efficient, it's worthwhile to note that they are not clean: The majority of them do not have the same emissions controls as a standard automobile, and actually generate more pollution per mile than a Hummer. This is why I'm retiring my present bike, and will only replace it with an emissions-controlling bike, or an electric.
I see no reason why electrics can't be used by the majority of commuters (it's not that hard if you try it). And there's always the possibility that electric bikes with alt-fuel charging systems could provide the same mileage as a gas bike, down the line, with much less fuel used.
Is anyone making low priced moped type bikes for practical use? My ideal would be a trike for stability. I have seen electric bikes, but not with a good range.
actually, many new bikes have catalytic converters now, and more in the future will
The killacycle is so bad ass. I've been watching the videos on youtube for over a year. Hope to see it race live one day. Can't see myself ever hopping on board one, but damn... what a thrill!
As a motorcycle rider, I used to pride myself a bit on being somewhat green with the great gas mileage my bike gets and how little it contributes to traffic.
Problem is that emissions requirements for motorcycles and scooters is normally more lax than they are for automobiles. So, even though your motorcycle might get more actual mpg's than the average car, chances are that in terms of poisons emitted per mile from the tailpipe (depending on the make, model, and year of your bike) the average motorcycle isn't nearly as green as most people think.
Screw being green (in this case). Why would you want a motorcycle that isn't obnoxiously loud? That is all.
@ Jasoben,
I'm a motorcycle rider, though I'm currently bikeless. I have an engineering background and, while I dig green technology, I'm not a hardcore environmentalist. I was a motorcycle-commuter from 2005-2007, and I also have logged a few hundred thousand miles in cars.
I agree that electric motorcycles aren't for everyone, I disagree with your reasoning.
Point 1 - Environmentalists:
As long as we're stereotyping, I've observed the following: The hard-core environmentalists that I know (my 63 year old mother, for instance) all ride bicycles -- or treat travel as a luxury to be used sparingly.
Point 2 - Motorcycle-Riders:
What you might not realize is that, while there are touring bike riders, average motorcycle-riders don't take a lot of long trips. We all have cars, and family members usually feel safer when riding in that 4-wheeled "cage". For the average biker, the motorcycle is for taking a trip to see a friend who lives a few miles away, joyriding, or for riding to work on a particularly beautiful day.
The hard-core bikers that I know all own several motorcycles -- the hard-core biker is likely have a BMW or a Goldwing in his garage for long trips, and also keep a smaller knock-around-town motorcycle for shorter trips. An electric motorcycle would have a place in both of our garages.
Electric motorcycles won't be replacing cars any more than motorcycles have already replaced cars. But for those of us who just like to ride motorcycles, an electric motorcycle certainly has a place.
Conclusion:
The hard-core environmentalists will continue to do what they're doing now, but these motorcycles may have very strong appeal to the motorcycle-riding public. They sure do appeal to me -- I want the Brammo Enertia! But, alas, I have other priorities at the moment.
P.S. The people who use a motorcycle to make noise will continue to ride Harleys with modified exhaust systems. Those people annoy everyone, including other bikers.
P.P.S. To the public: Please, look for motorcycles and bicycles when you stop at a stop-sign or when you make a left turn across a lane of traffic. It would make my life much easier -- and possibly much longer.
WHA!!!!!
This stuff is AMAZING. I have to get this on our green site!!!!!
-Dillon
weld, great job
i love the gas bikes, and love too the electric bikes, but today we have another tecnologies to make energy in spain was invented the magnmotor, and that is the really unlimited energy.
i don´t know the correct link to see the officer page
sorry..
a y tambien disculpen la ortografia...
i¨m from monterrey, MEXICO.... congratulations for the job hakansson!!!
weld, great job
i love the gas bikes, and love too the electric bikes, but today we have another tecnologies to make energy in spain was invented the magnmotor, and that is the really unlimited energy.
i don´t know the correct link to see the officer page
sorry..
a y tambien disculpen la ortografia...
i¨m from monterrey, MEXICO.... congratulations for the job hakansson!!!
There is another Electric Motorcycle that just became available for retail purchase. I havn't seen the company mentioned in this thread yet. Electric Motorsport out of Oakland California.
http://www.electricmotorsport.com/store/ems_electric_motorcycles.php
The GPR-S has Li-Fe-PO4 batteries and is retailing for $8,000. There are a couple good videos of it on YouTube.