Electric Motorcycles for Big trips
 

I had a test ride on a Zero electric motorcycle the other day and It got me thinking.

Hypothetically would it be possible to take on of these on a RTW or transcontinental adventure.

The main problem to me would be juice, how big a solar panel would be needed.

The maximum range on these things is 180 miles so realistic daily distance would be 140ish miles I guess and then thats 7 hours at least before your back on the road. That could leave you in some awkward situations and not able to go anywhere.

So discuss??

They put an electric charging point in at my local station about a year station but I don't think its ever been used. Part of the problem (apart from nobody in the area having an electric car) is that it's in the 15mins max drop off zone doh :rolleyes2:

I suppose someone has to be first to go rtw with an electric bike but the way both the technology and the infrastructure is at the moment it might be better to try it in expedition mode a la Long Way Round with a few 4x4s full of batteries following along rather than a toothbrush and credit card solo effort.

I haven't looked as I have no need of the info but are there (free) POI lists of charging points for SatNavs in the same way as you can get speed camera locations or McDonalds listings? If there's not it tells you all you need to know about the state of the techology.

I've wondered about running an electric bike (or a car) out of power on a UK motorway and stopping on the hard shoulder. Does that count as a breakdown or careless driving? Range anxiety is one thing but three points is another. Either way it's got to be better than grinding to a halt on the road of bones as the days shorten in autumn. Probably best take a genny with you on the back.

McD Europe attached

and

Opencharge map here

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IMHO, solar charging would work but isn't practical!
I use an 80 watt panel which measures roughly 1m x 70cm
80 W/h = 0,08 kW/h
For an electric bike with 9,4 kWh =, you'd need full blazing sun for approx...117, 5 hours doh (9,4 kWh/ 0.08 kWh...)

I think we're closer to being able to do an Electric bike LD ride than previously thought possible. Lots of elec. tech going on around here in California. Tesla are going full blast now in Nevada. Silicon valley working hard improving battery technology, solar panels and much more. Billions being invested at the moment around here. Lets see what this brings.

Already, we've got Elec. Charging stations all over my neighborhood (very Green Marin County, CA) ... super markets (special parking), Clinics, some corporations, businesses and govt. offices. Some are FREE ... but MOST are pay to charge.

You see more Tesla cars around here than anywhere, lots of Nissan Leaf and famous "Cheese Wedge" all elec. Toyota Prius too. I've never seen an elec. motorcycle actually on the road, but plenty of elec. push bikes silently swooshing along. :thumbup1:

Pointy head young Wizards tell us that with new Batt technology, charging times will be vastly reduced, range will improve and Batt packs will get smaller and lighter. But how long?

I guess-timate minimum 10 years unless a major non lethal battery tech breakthrough happens before that. (quite possible?)

I've no idea how big a solar panel would be required to charge up batts.
I would think it possible to do this ride NOW ... but only in 1st world countries. Riding the Andes or Himalayas may have to wait a while! :helpsmilie:

With a good net work of friends you could relay batt packs ahead to your stops to other supporters. You would stop there to switch packs. The helper would recharge the pack, send it ahead to predesignated location. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

I'd guess it might be doable using four or five Batt packs and getting lots of help from folk along the route.

So? Who's up to be "The First"? Better hurry, I think someone has already done this or may be doing it NOW, as we speak. Lots of opportunists ready to Hop On The BanK Wagon ... and rack in the CASH! :rofl:

I have often wonderd who will be the first RTW on a leccy bike

Has anyone ever thought about a problem we will have with electric vehicles. There are not enough rare earth metals on the planet to make anywhere near enough batteries for all the vehicles.

More solar than you could possibly carry.
To charge a 15kWh Zero in a single day with 8 hours of good sun, you'd need over 16 square meters of solar panels (4 meters by 4 meters). That array would provide about 2kW during the middle of the day but the electronics and batteries both lose some energy as heat. It would provide less power during morning and evening hours.

While solar is "simple" and works great with no moving parts, the energy is less dense than other sources. My off-grid house works great with all solar, but I don't want to move it every other day.

New lithium battery technologies are getting better and other chemestries like carbon-carbon are fare better. These are quickly increasing the range of electric motorcycles. But the energy per mile is still limited by friction and air resistance.

Have you read about Terry Hershner's Bun Burner? 1,000 miles in 24 hours. He spent just under 1/3 of the time charging, but he could plug into multiple high-amp car charging stations at each stop to dump huge amounts of energy into his motorcycle.

A RTW trip would require trying to stay along the the power grid. Even as close (to me) and civilized as northern Canada, there are whole towns operating on electricity generated from diesel fuel. Their electricity is expensive and the towns are not very close to each other. Petrol is portable -- you can run out of gas by the side of the road and have some brought to you. I suppose you could convince someone to bring a portable generator to you, but it'll be a bit harder.

EDIT: So how far COULD you go on solar? Electric "cars" cross Austraila with solar, but they're more like aerodynamic solar arrays with 4 bicycle wheels underneath. Back to Terry Hershner's Zero motorcycle, his trip used 121 Wh per mile. If you got 2 of the 300-watt folding solar arrays, you could move forward about 32 miles for every 8-hour day of charging. His trip was at high speeds but his Zero was very aerodynamic -- going slower you may extend your range. Each 300W array is 19Lb or under 10kg and folds to about 22" by 16" by 2" thick.