Comments on: BlueShift Electric Motorcycles

By: SonOfEris

SonOfEris — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:13:28 +0000

I have noticed in your posts about electric motorcycles you always mention “range and convenient fillups” as an advantage for gasoline powered engines, and you often admit that “we’re getting closer on those points.” I don’t know if you’ve heard about the recent MIT announcement, but we are in fact getting very close to solving these drawbacks to electric vehicles.
Re-engineered battery material could lead to rapid recharging of many devices
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/battery-material-0311.html
Of course these announcements often come years ahead of their appearance in the marketplace. Maybe we’ll see this one sooner since it sounds like a variation of existing battery technology and not something altogether new.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:59:26 +0000

while all this looks cool it seems everyone is focused on performance from the git go. I might be wrong but remember “first gear it’s alright, second gear lean right, third gear hang on tight”. Hmmm, afordable fun machines start a revolution!.

By: Ry_Trapp0

Ry_Trapp0 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:26:36 +0000

its a little futuristic looking for me, but still looks pretty cool!

By: Spartandude

Spartandude — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:36:07 +0000

@ todd;
Drat should have refreshed before posting then I wouldn’t have doubled your comments.

By: Spartandude

Spartandude — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:34:06 +0000

More thoughts. Other sites claim Blue Shift’s bike can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in 3 seconds. So my previous calculations are bogus for analyzing this bike. It probably gets this acceleration through gear reduction (motor is not on the wheel). Which also means that the stated torque is useless for comparison to ICE bikes. To calculate performance the gear ratio needs to be known. Although they say 200 ft lb is available across the RPM range this is just an approximation, albeit a reasonable one except near peak RPM. The torque would drop near peak RPM due to the back emf, which is based on voltage available and motor design.
I am liking this more, but I don’t think it has a good enough cost/benefit ratio to influence my next motorcycle purchase.
Peace.