All posts tagged electric motorcycles
Brammo motorcycles coming to Europe?
Could the Brammo brand of electric motorcycles be coming to Europe? The American company brought over a couple of models to show at the 2010 EICMA show, creating curiosity for many who had their first chance to get up-close to these bikes. The Brammo Empulse electric superbike was on display, as was the Brammo Enertia Plus, designed more for urban use than track racing.
The world of electric cars and motorcycles is somewhat of a paradox, with Europe a big player in the field of developing electric cars, whereas the old continent seems to have left two-wheeled electric experiments to the Americans. The presence of Brammo at the EICMA show would seem to indicate that a possible presence on the European market is on the cards for the future.
There will be some work to do to improve the style of the bikes, bringing them up to the design standards of Europe, but we’d welcome a serious electric bike presence on this market.
Volta EV-1 electric bike
A new compact electric motorcycle has been designed for environmental city riding in the form of the Volta Ev-1 from Spain. It’s a hot-looking electric bike with some snazzy sports design that seems destined for production for the European market. It will be officially launched in December this year.
While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we’ll hazard enough to say we like the look with its clean, pure lines reflecting recent sportsbike trends and there’s definitely a dose of Kawasaki emphasised by the colour choice. The Volta EV-1 is apparently capable of a range of 70km off a recharge, meaning it’s a modest effort on that front but extensive enough for urban commuting.
Performance is humble, with 15 hp for the smaller version and 30 hp for the bigger bike with dedicated rider’s licence. Recharge is possible with a 220V household socket and its running costs have been estimated at about 50 cents (euro) for 100 km. That makes it good looking and economical but we’ll be more fired-up when we start to see batteries with better performance. Video after the jump.
Electric superbikes and cars: Citroen Survolt vs Agni Z2 video
This video of the Agni Z2 electric superbike on the track is actually a promotional video for the new Citroen Survolt electric supercar, meaning we don’t get to see much of the bike or know how the car vs bike challenge ends. But in any case, there’s always a good excuse to check out the electric motorcycle market, especially the superbike developments at that.
The Agni Z2 bike in this video is ridden by Jenny Tinmouth from the Isle of Man’s TTXGP. Maybe an unusual choice you might think until you know that Vanina Ickx is at the wheel of the Survolt, who also drove it in the this year’s Le Mans series. The Agni Z2 has batteries with a 50 kW output, 65php and a top speed of 200 km/hr.
Sak Art Design Electric Superbike Concept Video
Italian company Sak Art Design (who are very close to Ducati) has come up with the electric Superbike concept, obviously called SBIK_E” and is based on Agni Motors electric powerplant and inspired by sea creatures. Check out the video to find out more about this cool looking electric motorcycle concept.
Source | stayontheblack.com
Michael Czysz track tests the E1pc
Here’s a video of Michael Czysz himself on track with his E1pc electric bike. What better way to build and develop a bike than to mix it with your testers on track? MotoCzysz is making quite a name for itself and especially after its success at the 2010 TT on the Isle of Man, it can be said that its perseverance has paid off.
After that event it’s clear that the E1pc has been built as a very fast race bike but we’ll be interested to see just where MotoCzysz goes in the future. It’s probably exactly the kind of player we need in the electric motorcycle field to bring the sector mainstream because at least with this bike, we now know it can produce hair-raising speeds. Another video after the jump.
Big Battery SE electric motorcycle concept
This hefty looking motorcycle concept from Paolo di Giusti. Described as a ‘big battery’ electric motorcycle, the idea is that it would have an electric motor in the rear hub and another one up front. The larger rear motor and smaller front motor would be powered by a single battery pack that can be exchanged when charge is up.
That would mean no recharging on the bike itself is possible, and we can only imagine that however good the looks of the Big Battery SE might be, that with two motors and a large battery pack it would be quite a heavy bike. As these are only renderings there’s no speculation as to how much power we might get from something like this.
Di Giusti also has other designs, one of which uses a kind of single cylinder turbo diesel bike as part of two Moto Guzzi design concepts - one naked and one tourer. See some of his stuff at Paolo di Giusti.
Source | The Kneeslider
Roehr eSuperbike: how electric doesn't justify price
I’m more of a petrol head kinda gal than most others I know but I do get excited when seeing a new electric motorcycle emerge - it must be the environmentalist in me coming out. After seeing the Brammo Empulse, here is another electric effort from the States in the form of the Roehr eSuperbike, but which will probably meet with less approvation than the former.
The Roehr electric bikes come in three models: the eSupersport using a single motor set-up, and the eSuperbike and eSuperbike RR using twin motors. The eSupersport model has 48 hp and 142 Nm of torque on a bike weighing 170 kg. The eSuperbike and eSuperbike RR models have an impressive 96 hp and 285 Nm of torque. The RR is different for having Ohlins suspension and Brembo brakes.
The Roehr eSupersport model is clearly the softer bike, while the top-of-the-range RR version (still street legal) has been designed with the TTXGP and e-Power Championship racing in mind. With some battery energy dropping over the life of the bike, it’s difficult to nominate a range for these electric motorcycles, but they say you can get anywhere between 80 and 100 miles out the bikes.
Continue reading: Roehr eSuperbike: how electric doesn't justify price
Electric naked with 100 mile range: the Brammo Empulse unveiled
Electric motorcycles are the new cool and this Brammo street-fighting naked electric bike proves the point. The Brammo Empulse, as it’s called, apparently has a top speed of about 160 km/hr and comes in range-differentiated models. The 6.0 goes the distance of 60 miles (100 km), the 8.0 goes for 80 (130 km) and obviously the 10.0 increases the range to a full 100 miles (160 km).
Unfortunately we’ve got no other news regarding the battery pack, torque or power specs, but if the above is to be believed, we can only assume that they’ll respectable at the least and impressive at most. The Brammo Empulse 6.0 has a price starting at $9,995 US (about 7,700 euros) making it a relatively economical choice in the electric motorcycle market. The guys at Autobloggreen are even saying that in the US, what with various incentives for environmentally-friendly vehicles, the $13,995 for the Empulse 10.0 could drop to $7,000. No news on whether you can get it in Europe, although Brammo has distributors there and in Asia as well.
The Brammo Empulse will debut at the 2010 Red Bull Grand Prix in Laguna Seca, which is where the US FIM e-Power series is being held. So far, deliveries are expected for mid-2011 but we’ll get to see the bike in action when it actually participates in the race with an Empulse RR racing bike. Check out the video and press release after the jump.
Continue reading: Electric naked with 100 mile range: the Brammo Empulse unveiled
Auto brand Smart to produce electric scooter
In attempts to revive and diversify its Smart city car brand, Mercedes Benz has announced it will develop a two-wheeled vehicle which will likely take the form of an electric scooter. It’s the first step in a new diversification plan that will see Smart enter other segments than the city car niche. A two-wheeled environmentally-friendly vehicle is seen as fitting in perfectly with Smart’s urban mobility philosophy. It will be produced in collaboration with component supplier partners of Smart, and will possibly even see production in other parts of the world, including China, India and Thailand.
Mercedes-Benz has already initiated the first steps, with a new project with German energy supplier ENBW which sees 500 electric scooters appearing on the streets of Stuttgart in the next months. The new Smart scooter will then take advantage of the new charging stations being developed, with field tests in the city being planned with the new infrastructure in the next 12 months.
While Autocar has revealed that the Smart electric scooter is seen as a response to BMW’s C1 revival efforts, the new vehicle will have other competitors in the market, too. Among its scooter range, Peugeot has the e-Vivacity electric which was developed as a concept with production plans set for a 2011 debut.
Piaggio also has its own USB hybrid concept model, and as a production scooter, there is the Piaggio MP3 Hybrid. The hope for us is that with something like the Smart electric scooter, we will see more production and less concept models. It also has the advantage of addressing the very real problem of electric recharge infrastructure. Ecological urban vehicles are becoming more mainstream and this can only be a good thing.
Zerotracer: Motorcycle or 2 Wheel Car?
The Zerotracer designed by group of Swiss engineers is basically an elctric motorcycle with a fully enclosed body that protects the rider from the elements. The body is a kevlar carbon fiber monocoque, a technique derived from Formula 1 and IndyCar construction.
The motorbike is emission-free and has a top speed of 250 km/h with a driving capacity of 450km on a single charge and will take part in the electric vehicle race “Around the World in Eighty Days,”which means 30,000km across 20 countries in 80 days.
This has to be an updated version of the EcoMobile that BBC’s Jeremy Clarkson test drived in Switzerland a couple of years ago. Check out his video after the jump.
Roberto Locatelli on the eCRP 1.2 at Castelletto
The eCRP 1.2 was created by CRP Racing, CRP Technology and Roberto Cevolini and was first introduced at Birmingham last January and on Friday for SkySport news program ICARUS had a very special rider to introduce this electric motorcyle racer to TV audiences.
At the Castelletto circuit near Pavia, former 250cc World Champion and the now retired Roberto Locatelli rode the eCRP 1.2 to test the performances of the motorbike of the future.
“It was a terrific experience, at first I have not a clear idea of what it would have meant to me riding the eCRP…I have done 5 laps and I would never stop to be honest…I would keep on running at full throttle for all day. I look forward to ride again eCRP. It is great fun, speed and pure adrenaline on two wheels!” said Loca.
2010 Isle of Man TT Zero readies for Wednesday race
The second Isle of Man TT Zero practice takes place today before the official race scheduled for Wednesday, June 9th. The first practice on Saturday was an exciting event, with MotoCzysz looking to create some seriously fast competition before it ran out of battery charge before the finish, leaving team Agni Racing to complete the fastest lap.
There are ten bikes involved in this year’s TT Zero: Ecolve from London, Agni Racing who have two bikes, University teams Brunel and Kingston, MotoCzysz from America, Isle of Man based ManTTx Racing, Austria’s HTBLAUVA – XX Project, SERT (Swedish Electric Racing Team) and Germany’s Peace E Rider.
The spy shot above shows the MotoCzysz E1pc bike that’s racing and before it ran out of battery charge due to over-enthusiasm with the throttle on the part of the rider, it was producing some impressive figures. Quotes from the guys at MotoCzysz on the Isle of Man: “Another calibration test tomorrow and another Q session on Monday- spirits very HIGH here tonight!!!” Wednesday is going to be an exciting race for the electric bikes at the 2010 TT.
Follow us
Most commented posts
twowheelsblog is part of the Blogo.it network of blogs. Contacts About us.
© 2005-2010 Blogo.it, P. IVA 04699900967, some rights reserved under a Creative Commons license.