Loving the steam powered bicycle btw Tinken - I bet it smells + sounds amazing (which in a small way is part of what it's all about). Which reminds me: environmentally unacceptable pulsejet powered bike, anyone? You might want to consider wearing a crash hat there fella!
There are other batteries being developed that sound more promising than what is being talked about here... http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/flow-batteries-0606.html --- I don't see these bikes taking over in the too near future but one day... you just might be told this is the only bike you can ride ... I'm hedged to the MAX against that day and unless some un-known thrill is hidden in there somewhere .., I'll stay with gasoline for power ... And it will probably be good for dino based products to have some competition for pricing if nothing else but I'm just not interested and I do know it is on the way to a showroom near you ...
There are some technologies that are even more promising than this. The problem with these kind of flow batteries is that you still have to change out the elctrolyte cell if you're looking for a quick charge. There is a hybrid plate/semi solid being developed that will make rapid recharge with a high power density in a compact package a reality. Weve already done the testing on large scale storage systems and it works wonderfully, it just hasn't been packaged for smaller applications yet. When you start seeing 50hp dirt bikes that weigh less than their IC counterparts, can go 100miles on a charge and can be recharged in a matter of minutes you might rethink you're position on electric vehicles, particularly when the average charge is only going to cost you about a buck for all that fun.
I just skim these kind of articles as I have no stake there really and could have mis-understood the concept but I though these guys made a battery change the same as removing the crude from the car and its battery ...probably just pump it out and pump in the newly charged stuff and drive off ... charge the left overs at the station maybe ... -- I can see your point on the mileage and stuff ... No oil is a plus x plus ... But if it feels like riding a bicycle ... and a too smooth under my butttt feeling I'm not sure I'm looking for that type of street bike feeling from a dirt bike ...You guys can go on riding the technology curve and I'll catch up, down the trail somewhere or else you gotta come back and see what happened to me ...
I'm sure they're cool, in the same way we all went "WOW!!" the first time we rode a modern era 4stroke. As battery technology advances, sales go up, and prices come down, that segment will certainly grow and the bikes will get better.
You have it right, I'm just saying that is an even better system on the horizon that wont require you to change out anything, just plug it in for few minutes and you're ready to go.
These things just might be a bad business model because after you sell it, without an engine to maintain, there is almost no parts to sell, after the initial sale ... honda is not gonna like that aspect ... These things might turn into a throw-away motorcycle some day as soon as the base price is low enough ... Just ride it a few years and toss it and get another ... PS -- Some of us have already started the tossing ...
My 511 is very powerful, even at 34 ftlbs @ 6500 rpm it will take me up everything I point it at. That MX model has 68 ftlbs of torque at 0 rpm, I can't even imagine how fun low speed rock crawling would be, it would make one hell of a trails bike too. No wonder the thing hole shot's those gas bikes.
Notwithstanding the possibilities of what may go wrong with a dirty / damaged / poorly maintained connector that has to pass hundreds of amps at a considerable voltage. Say it was possible to electrically charge a 10kW/hr battery in six minutes. That's 100kW, or over 415 amps at UK domestic mains voltage. or for US domestic mains it's about 850 amps. Got a mains plug that big? Depending on battery voltage, secondary currents may be even higher. hence my concern re. the condition of the connector gubbins on the bike (and dirtbikes do get dirty, beaten up and abused). Over here in colonial UK we have a few issues that make electric transportation a bit of a non-starter. The main one is the lack of spare electricity generating infrastructure. Coal fired stations are being taken offlne because of pollution legislation and many of our nuke plants are past their use-by date. We are reliant on gas imports from some politically unstable countries 'cos unlike you guys we're not sat on seams of gas-rich shale (there is some, but it's nothing to write home about). Food here is so expensive that setting aside land to grow biomass for ethanol is a non starter too. Our government is highly dependent on tax revenue from gasoline sales, so any move to electric would see consumers faced with stonking great big bills for new electrical generating infrastructure and to patch the shortfall in tax income. We're stuffed over here basically, so forgive my cynicism! I can see a use for these bikes if a rider is looking for something zero maintenance to sling in the truck for an hour's riding in the hills, but these things just aren't shouting "freedom" at me. It's early days yet, I guess.
Off shore wind energy is probably going to be your country's energy staple of the furture. The batteries can be changed out in under a minute.
Let me add some additional info on this pager. First, the batteries on our Zero Motorcycles are good from 200,000 to 300,00 miles. I don't think anyone on this forum has ever ridden that far in his life. So replacement isn't an issue. with 54 hp and 68 ft lbs of torque they are a hoot to ride. Some people fear the future, others embrace it. I have seen and lived enough of the past. Bring on what's next!!! And never, never be afraid of what you don'y know or understand. Live and learn and be open to new ideas and new concepts!
I just stuck a volt meter in a clothes dryer socket 240.1 to 240.2. Main to me means the main breaker just after the meter which is this value. For a normal residence not industry with three phase. So for this hypothetical where all of the input makes it into the battery 416.5 amps. That is 13.8 dryer 30 amp lines. I certainly do appreciate the post. And they just put a flyer trying to sell me insurance for damage due to voltage spikes on stuff plugged in. On down the cynical route goes what is a rare earth what countries have deposits that an entity dares mine and process. Wickipedea at this time lists lithium at 100 year world supply though I don't think that is a rare earth. Fran
Unfortunately the wind doesn't automatically blow hardest during demand peaks. Our glorious Capitalist overlords are also not terribly enthusiastic about promoting renewable energy, so it's looking like more nuclear and gas for the forseeable future. At least we don't live in a part of the world that's susceptible to tsunami / earthquakes... Regarding battery swaps: That's all fine and dandy if the $11k purchase price of the bike includes a spare battery. I imagine however that it probably doesn't.
I'm not sure where you got the six minute figure from but I can understand that my comment about "few minutes" might have been a bit vauge and possibly misleading (particularly if someone was thinking about a portable generator plug in at a compsite) however the point is that stuff coming down the pipe is going to require a minimal charge time (and yes it will require high amp and step up voltages), will have a long range and service life and if you ever ride one you may take a different veiw of how much fun they can be. BTW I'm sorry about the UK energy problems.
You are so right, wind and solar are not the end all of energy. Most the people that promote green energy don't really understand how the power grid works. If you don't have the big megawatt producers at each end of the grid their will be way to many stailization problems and inconsistent frequencies.
A project I worked on last spring was to design the off shore wind energy grid for California. This project was designed to take California completely off of fossil fuels. In creating the system, I found that I could not only free California, but that I could free 1/3 of the states on the western Pacific border of the United States. I will be publishing this study this year as time permits. (and yes, I have wind during peak demands) If you are interested in seeing the results of this study, shoot me a pm.
