A friend of mine recently went down to Norfolk and had a test ride on the Zero SR. Here is his review and there's a video at the end (it gets interesting around 5:30 mins) http://www.motorcyclesocial.co.uk/2017/10/10/614/ Is this really the future?
Sadly for petrol heads it is the way things will inevitably go but the performance is very impressive just as with the latest electric cars. Once the time issue for charging is overcome - and it will be, then the floodgates will open and the sound of traditional petrol engined bikes will slowly become a distant memory. Not against new technology and progress but won't most of us miss the tinkering and tuning that we so enjoy? unless of course we all become electronics and electrical specialists.
I think by 2025 the energy density will be comparable to petrol. By then maybe a fast charging network will be up and running?
Very impressive. Still not sure where all the electricity will come from if we wish to replace today's vehicles with electric, it will require a huge investment in infrastructure.
I was under the impression that even using current electric vehicle battery technology that the fast charge boost will shag your batteries incredibly quickly in comparison to slow charge? The problem is, certainly for bikes, that they will not have the space for a volume of batteries that cars have to give a decent mileage. it could? mean an end to long distance bike touring if you are having to charge every few hours and then the extra hours to charge. I'd compare it to a trip I regularly do from home to Hastings. By car it takes 1:45 hours, by train it takes 3:15 hours. Electric bikes are unlikely to make motorcylce touring more likely In the blog he says this A major advantage over conventional motorcycles is that the Zero SR is practically maintenance free!. To me that reads the entire engine/gearbox and all the gubbings will be a sealed unit so it will be more of a throw away unit rather than a repair and recycle unit. Earlier I was looking at a 1937 rudge, I doubt electric motorcycles will be able to keep going some 80 years later so as a throw away unit, I question just how environmentally friendly electric vehicles are
As always with battery electric vehicles, the real questions are how much electrical energy can be stored on the vehicle, how much petrol is that equivalent to, and how much it costs to buy that energy. Those trying to sell these vehicles are most anxious to avoid mentioning hard facts and figures like these. For the Zero, the amount of energy is roughly equivalent to 2 or 3 litres of petrol. And the cost of buying that energy from mains electricity is roughly the same as buying it in the form of petrol (even including tax). Patently false claims are often made that recharging batteries is very cheap; well it is about as cheap as putting a very small amount of petrol in your tank, and about as practical.
I'm sure they'll crack the technology one day but I really think I'd miss the soundtrack that goes with a petrol engine. One of the reasons I moved from mutley to monster was for the uncivilised noise it makes. It seems to tap into the pleasure centres in my brain. I guess the after market exhaust companies must be shitting themselves.
An 80 mile range at motorway speeds is no good to man nor beast though, and then 9 hours to charge. OK for a daily commute but think I'll stick with petrol.
I don't think it will be long before electric bikes have a 200+ mile range being ridden quite hard. There are already electric bikes with sports bike performance - the Lightning LS218 is the fastest production motorcycle. The issue with all electric vehicles is charging. The laws of physics mean that you're never likely to be able to charge a suitably sized battery in 30 seconds because you'd need to plug it into a ridiculously large voltage, which could have safety implications as well as power distribution issues. The solution really has to come in the form of easily replaceable batteries. If all vehicles used the same batteries and you could easily put them in and take them out then filling stations become battery stores. You drive in, unclip the battery, exchange it for a charged one, clip it in and off you go.
enrgy density is poor in a supercap, and will take a very long time to overcome. a mix of supercap and battery would permit very fast charge into the supercap (which can cycle many more time than a cell), then regulated charging into the battery. The balance between fast chargeability and high energy density will continue to be played out with different battery chemistries and mixes of battery and supercap.
I don't believe the issue is charging, I think the issue is batteries in general. We still use fossil fuels at the power stations which supply the current for the ridiculous little bikes/cars to get charged, so its still not a viable solution to please the tree huggers. Why are we not looking at other energy sources ?? Oh yeah, cause the might of the industry has committed to batteries and thus we are steered away from the cleaner and genuinely greener methods. Its still all about the greed, money and power of the big wigs !!
@SunEye has got it re: recharging method, I’m sure many people thought of this at the same time as it’s a no-brainier pretty much. This would lend itself perfectly to motorcycles and particularly scooters where the owner could exchange the battery himself but the problem will come with the high-capacity car batteries which would need more specialist attention to exchange quickly and easily without damage or problems.
There are 37 million vehicles in the UK, and just over 1 billion globally !! Can you imagine the devastation and strain put on the worlds resources to make and charge 1 billion battery sets that are constantly being swapped out ?? Batteries are shit, everything you all have that runs on batteries in your house are either dead or dying, it is not the way forward in any way. Energy produced by the mining and manufacture of lithium batteries is less Eco Tree Huggery than petrol, but because of the massive investment already stumped up, they are pushing on with the idea and folk are getting slowly brainwashed with the press and other media.
the problem with swappable batteries is variability of batteries and quality control. If you go to a charging station and swap your nearly new battery for one that is near the end of it's life you'll get less charge in it. and what happens if it conks out when you own it? It's interesting, those zeros start off at £10k, which is a lot of money for a bike with that level of performance. Which is a shame as I have a commute that could use one. As for the infrastructure not happening - Petrol stations didn't always exist did they? if the demand is there, they will happen.
No real problem making a universal battery size, has been done many times with other serviceable items, and a vendor would soon take on the responsibility as regards like for like battery exchange, anything less than this would spell doom for their future, just like a petrol station constantly dispensing water in with petrol, word gets around fast.
If the battery is on a lease arrangement, then so long as you get a "minimum charge level" or similar from the swapped out battery, then it is the battery/infrastructure owner who has to keep a minimum quality level on their stock of batteries. After attending a battery conference a few weeks back, it is definitely happening. buses, ferries, flt, urban trucks, cars, e-bikes are predicted to be huge and the infrastructure is being built and the technologies are being improved almost daily. @Wayne58 has a genuine concern over power grid capacity. with Hinkley Point not likely to be on stream until at least the late 2020's will we have the generation capacity to handle the EV demand? wind & solar are growing and energy storage systems being developed so that when the wind blows overnight, the energy can be saved for when we switch our kettles on in the morning, but this still isn't yet enough. micro-generation is a good way forward.
