Kawasaki has built an electric motorcycle with a manual transmission
Yippeeā¦ Oddly absent is the range. How far can you ride in a day without recharging? The electric Harley only has a 98 mile range.
Riders of sport bikes do like to get off often and stretch their legs allowing for recharge time. They also like to ride away from traffic so they can enjoy the twisty roads. Maybe a bit far from recharge stations. Until rechargers are plentiful, even in more remote areas, these bikes arenāt going to make much of a dent.
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Long range isnāt so important to city dwellers who just want to get around town without dealing with scarce parking.
Before Covid, electric rental scooters that look like Vespas were really taking off, here in Wash. DC.
A 25 mile range is all you need to get from one end of town to the other.
Instead of trying to compete with traditional petrol/diesel vehicles IMHO electric vehicles are better designed to fill niche applications.
Tesla, instead of developing a tractor-trailer with a huge battery to go 100s of miles, should aim for a 50 mile range to improve air quality in urban/suburban hauling.
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Not many people would want to ride a sport bike more than 100 miles without a break. At least, I wouldnāt. I used to ride a CB400 Honda, a cafe racer-style bike. It was fun, but a lot less fun on long rides. And that was in my early 20s. Apparently it will be aimed at a lot lower end of the market than HDās offering. Maybe Kawasaki will offer a battery upgrade to extend the range.
I no longer am a motorcycle rider. I gave it up 34 years agoā¦ period! However, I think this EV bike with a manual transmission will be popular with some open-minded motorcycle enthusiasts.
Although I donāt ride motorcycles, I am semi-patiently waiting in the wings for EV cars to evolve to the point where Iāll jump into the market for one. All I need is to see some decent range and Iām sure that day will come, sooner than later.
EVs are coming folks. Get ready to participate or get ready to be left behind.
Iām surprised. I made frequent 250 mile straight-through trips on my Honda 750 4-cylinder air cooled and had no problem doing so. I would have to believe others would share similar anecdotes and outcomes.
CSA
On rides with friends riding a range of bike typesā¦ the sportbike set the breaks. A Ducati with a small fuel tank and agressive riding position. The guys riding more upright sport touring bikes with big fuel tanks could ride farther but we never left a bike behind!
Our group rides were 250 to 500 miles in a day. Not too practical or even possible with a 100 mile range
OH NOā¦ Dont tell me that we are going to re-invent the use of the letters āBCā againā¦ As in 2018 BC
Iām going to get so confused.
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Thatās not going to be nearly enough for a full dayās worth of deliveries in city settings
You can find the build on the show Vintage Voltage but itās reportedly got a 80-100 mile range and recharges in about 90 minutes. Based on the frame of a later model Royal Enfield motorcycle.
The use of gearing will significantly increase the range. I use my bike mostly for commuting, so an electric motorcycle would suit me fine if I had a place to charge it at night.
I donāt know why this is so difficult a concept to explain but engines, engines. It must have an engine. And it must use gas, diesel or something similar. And you also need to have to change the oil once in a while. Not electric or atomic or sun powered, but an engine.
No joke! I think we should revive steam engines for motorcycles, not too hard to understand, wood and coal are both plentiful and inexpensive, eh?
Steam power is great because them needs to stop once in a while, fill up with water and oil the ārodsā. How cool is that?
Wait! While my back was turned, what ever happened to horses, anyhow?
CSA
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In the āBefore Timesāā¦
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This virus stuff is getting out of hand!
Please, no.
And I wish theyād never started this āsocial distanceā talk. I hear it every 3 minutes and I refuse to say it!
That term is a misnomer. Most of the world calls adequate space between nervous people as physical distance! That is the correct term. Actually āsocial distanceā should be discouraged and physical distance can be employed.
āA Misnomerā
"We believe the term āphysical distancingā should replace āsocial distancingā in public communications. Moreover, where appropriate, physical distance guidelines need to be accompanied by equally specific recommendations for fostering social connectivity and interdependence. This two-fold change will increase the sustainability of the physical distancing required to āflatten the curveā. "
https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200424.213070/full/
Thank you in advance for your cooperation!
CSA
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Why do you say that? If that is true, why wouldnāt Tesla have used a transmission?
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I was just about to ask the same question @Mustangman just did. In my gear laden brain I feel this is logicalā¦ but something tells me those who are much much better at communicating with those Electrical Pixies some call āElectronsā will say something like slowing an electric motor down is not what you would want from an energy conservation point of view.
The only example of this in my head I can come up with is the Ole Fashioned resistor pack on our car interior blower motorsā¦where turning the Squirrel Cage at its slowest speedā¦is actually wasting the most energy in the form of heat.
Of course I could be way off here because those DC battery powered EVās convert it over to ACā¦dont they? I am not too sharp with what is the better practice (in terms of saving power) after or during this conversion taking place in conjunction with electric motor rpmā¦etc. Anyone? Anyone? I know we have some people here who are very very sharp in this area.
If I were a Crow, I might know these things, but alasā¦I am but a lowly Blackbird.
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Electric cars use polyphase AC induction motors with variable frequency drives. I am looking for the efficiency vs RPM curves. Iāll post when I find one.
Edit: Found one.
Seems to be the opposite effect. Higher speed gives greater efficiency. Higher speeds would take greater torque to oppose the aero drag. Having greater efficiency at a higher rpm would help range. Gearing down like a gasoline engine would seem to hurt that efficiency.
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So there was some part of my brain that knew that slowing those motors down would be a bad thing in terms of energyā¦ Hmmmā¦maybe I am learning slowly over time.
Howeverā¦in terms of Mph for the vehicleā¦ gearing could or would increase mphā¦while keeping said electric motor in its āsweet spotā perhaps? Now Iām sliding backward into ignorance again.
My life is a comedy of errors, but i do learn from themā¦ so just ignore me
Might be needed if the designers chose a peanut motor, incapable of propelling the vehicle directly. But Iāll bet a cost-benefit exercise would reveal that the costs for using an underperforming motor and transmission exceed those of just using a properly sized motor in the first place. The transmission adds cost, has energy losses, reduces reliability due to more moving parts and adds weight.
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Good question. First, Iāll admit my theory is based on theory, and not actual testing. Having said that:
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Iāve been watching the electric motorcycle market closely, and Iāve seen manufacturers list particular models with different ranges based on changes in sprocket sizes of the drive chain. That tells me they can be geared for maximum range or more power with shorter range.
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(Iām sure you know this already, but in order to follow my line of thinkingā¦) The whole idea behind gearing is to let the motor operate in its optimal range at different vehicle speeds. How you define āoptimalā is based on whether the engine is designed for power (like a farm tractor or semi), for speed (like a Tesla or a Miata), or for efficiency (like a Prius or an Insight).
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Lastly, I think Tesla doesnāt use gearing because it makes for a smoother acceleration curve and a more fun driving experience if it never has to shift gears. On a machine as complex as a Tesla, you can increase range by limiting power to the electric motor, leaving the driver with the experience of never having to shift gears or feel the gears shift.
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