Like any true-blooded motorbike rider, I am just as fond of the idea of electric motorcycles as a guy driving a Nissan Skyline GTR is of a Nissan Leaf - or better yet just as much as a Mitsubishi EVO-MR guy would love to switch to a Prius....
 |
| Mission One (links to different Electric Motorbikes at the end of this post) |
It is almost analogous to how it all started with the Teslas and Honda Insights of the world.
Lot of sportsbike riders imagine that a sedate electric motorbike would be far less thrilling than the experience of a mind numbing acceleration of a modern day sportsbike with engine producing exhaust notes that are music to any motorbike rider’s ears. I have to admit, the beautiful exhaust sound would be missing – but do you know that the maximum torque of an electric motorbike is almost available at any rpm? Making doing wheelies easier than ever as the electric motorbike would have all its torque available instantly from the start…. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t do wheelies and neither did I ever have the desire for it. But the point I am trying to make is that if you see the dyno graph of an electric motorcycle, the torque part would be almost straight line corresponding to the max torque it can produce. Interesting, huh?
Then come some other fun filled thoughts to mind – if I were to own an electric motorbike, would I have the freedom to point my motorbike in any direction and discover new roads without planning OR would I have to plan each route to see how far out can I ride before needing a recharge of batteries? Might these new fangled motorbikes be good for commuting where the driving distance is known and the moment you come back from work, you can plug in your motorbike to charge just like any other utilitarian daily use technological gadget like your iPhone, etc. “Well you could have an electric outlet everywhere?”, you ask. True, but do you realize that the charging times are anywhere from 4 hours and above. Unless we have those specialized charging stations as frequently available outside cities as Nissan Leaf owner would love to see within city limits – electric motorbikes are confined by their lengthy charging times.
I fully admire the genius behind the electric motorbike manufacturing and would like to own one for commuting….but right now that is about $7,000 after keeping federal government’s electric vehicle incentives. Hey, what’s that? A 2010 used Ducati 848 with only 1,200 miles on it for $10,000 ! Now if I had $7,000 to spare for an electric commuter – the idea of spending $3,000 more for another bike is far more tempting,eh? What? You say electric Mission One and Mavizen TTX02 perform better? Have you even looked at their prices??
Brammo Empulse at Laguna Seca
http://www.brammo.comhttp://www.zeromotorcycles.com
http://www.mavizen.com
http://www.ridemission.com
http://www.roehrmotorcycles.com
