Mission Motors has been refining the Mission One electric motorcycle in preparation for the TTXGP and they’ve added a full fairing to help with the expected high speeds of the TT course. Unlike many racetracks with lots of turns and shorter straights, the TT course allows a lot of high speed and wind resistance will play a significant role.
Mission Motors had another obvious problem with this situation, where do you test for that environment? One possible answer was a stretch of road near the home of one of the Mission Motors folks, but the non road legal racer couldn’t just be rolled out for a test so they made arrangements for a police escort and a camera car and off they went.
The test rider says it was super smooth, acceleration was always a simple twist of the wrist, no shifting necessary, regenerative braking provided a sort of engine braking effect while slowing for turns, just like a normal engine, and the turbine like sound on acceleration just added to the experience.
Watch the video and listen. Think you might want to ride one of those?
Video below:
Link: Mission Motors
Related: Mission One from Mission Motors
Greybeard says
I wonder if they’d have enough juice left over for an onboard sound system?
That way they could have sound tracks of various iconic motorcycles selectable by the flick of a switch to appeal to whatever mood you’re in.
MotoGP? Cruiser? Single, twin, multi?
A city setting that’d bellow “HEADS UP!” “COMING THROUGH!”
The mind boggles.
😉
Kenny says
Any chance of a return of the infamous streamliner fairings from the 50’s/60’s or was it the 30’s. Darn it. Got the entirity of the internet but i’m too lazy to look it up.
GoRogerGo says
@Kenny – The MV Agusta Dustbin Fairings, banned by FIM? IIRC, they worked quite well. I think it would be interesting to see an “Unlimited” approach to aero mods. I’m sure it wouldn’t take long before everything looked the same, but I’m sure the data generated by such an exercise would be fascinating.
Don says
Will the TTXGP be televised in the states? Or perhaps a web feed?
Skizick says
Quite as they are, they may have to resort to “deer whistles” on the front so folks don’t wander out in front of ’em. Pretty slick.
Colin says
I keep reading about these but what is the general range on these things? I’m assuming that if they are racing they are going to need a rather high energy output and a decent range but I havent seen any of this mentioned before.
Highspeedhamish says
Color me dumb, but why isnt there a frikken transmission on these things? Surely the lower the rpm the less drain on the batteries. Its not like your going to full throttle it in a corner and risk a hide side.
No electric bike Ive seen has a transmission. I understand for a drag bike, like the Killacycle would not want a gear to change but you’d think the street/road race bikes would?
Anyone? Class? Bueller?
Don says
Highspeedhamish, as I understand it, the power curve of an electric motor is essentially flat. In other words, it has as much hp at slower rpms as it does at higher rpms. Because of that, no transmission is required; just a single speed and a throttle, which is simply a rheostat.
pabs says
16 days to go so place your bets, its a motley crew with mission and moto c looking like the front runners, with their abundant ice track experience versus the others moto c should walk it and win by a mile
Marshall says
Don’s right, and while there might be greater frictional losses in the electric motor at high speeds, it’s probably no worse than the losses through the gears in a transmission. Also, no transmission = less weight and space used up = more weight and space available for batteries, which (I imagine) is especially important in these new electric bikes because the energy density of currently available batteries is so much less than that of gasoline. If you look at the insides of that other electric bike on a dyno run (posted here a few days ago), it looks like they plopped a motor in a frame and then did the best they could to fill all the remaining space between the driver’s legs with battery packs. I’ll bet the Mission One looks very similar to that bike when you take the fairing/body off.
cycleguy says
I agree with Highspeedhamish, I see no reason why a transmission (even just a simple two speed) would not be a great benefit here. Yes, electric motors have full torque at zero rpm, but let’s look a little closer. A good sized electric motor, typical in a performance motorcycle application would make approx 100 lb/ft of torque. This torque output is similar to a Ducati 1198 (97lb/ft), but if we factor in the torque multiplication of the Ducati through the primary reduction(1.8/1) plus first gear (2.46/1) and the final drive (2.53/1) we arrive at a total torque multiplication of 6.79/1 or 658 lb/ft of torque to the rear tire under full power acceleration. In order to duplicate the acceleration force, an electric motorcycle would need a final drive of roughly 6/1, this explains the huge rear sprockets you typically see on many homemade conversions. The problem is that top speed would be approx 40 mph with the motors spinning itself to death. So, most find a compromise between acceleration and top speed and what you end up with is an electric bike that accelerates slower and has a lower top speed than a conventional motorcycle, not because it’s electric but simply because it has no transmission. This is definitely not a compromise that should be taken when trying to promote and show off these new bikes. I would hope someone can come up with a simple, small, light weight transmission that can be integrated neatly to increase the performance of these bikes.
brokenwrenches says
The battery technology has a way to go but this bike does look interesting. I like the use of an alternative motor but the old schooler in me just loves the sound of a realy good exhaust note. To me an electric bike is akin to a mute lion.
Ted says
Maybe a CVT to keep the torque putting out it’s most at all RPM’s, I do wonder how long the battery’s will last at full drain, heat is a big problem and with a efficient faring getting cooling air to them might be a problem, time will tell, killacycle doesn’t give a rip, if cooks the battery and/or the motor cooks as it crosses the finish line it’s done it’s job, this is a whole different can of worms.
Matt in NC says
I so want one that sounds like a TIE Fighter.
JC says
The torque curve of the motor changes drastically depending on if you are talking an AC motor or a DC motor.
The DC motor has huge torque at zero and low rpm, and then the torque falls off as rpm increases. This results in little passing acceleration, and makes for a lower high speed relative to the motors peak power potential. It would benefit from a transmission, even if it was just a two speed.
FWIW, Killacycle (dual DC motors) uses the motor controller to switch between the motors in parallel and the motors in series, essentially creating a two speed transmission electrically.
The Tesla roadster uses an AC motor, and even it initially tried to develop a two speed transmission, and gave up due to reliability and cost and went with a single gear reduction and in part made up for it by modifying the motor controller. They lost little of the top speed and changed the 0-60 by not that much by losing the second gear.
Most car EV conversions use the existing gearbox, even if they only use one or two of the gears.
Unfortunately a motorcycle with it’s (in most cases) integrated motor/gearbox isn’t as easy to add a transmission, and it becomes a relatively large expense and weight when all you really wanted was a second gear and not 5 or 6.
Ok, rambling aside, it makes it obvious the solution is AC motors in motorcycles, and these have not caught on very quickly in the EV conversion world due to higher cost.
Miles says
@ Highspeedhamish
Color me dumb, but why isnt there a frikken transmission on these things? Surely the lower the rpm the less drain on the batteries. Its not like your going to full throttle it in a corner and risk a hide side.
Electric motors have one moving part, and AC motors have one friction part, sealed bearings. I think they can easily spin faster than a standard internal combustion engine.
IF you wanted a transmission, might I suggest a dual motor powered planetary gearset? Simply have two electric motors on a planetary system, by varying the speed and direction of the motors you can generate infinite “gear ratios”, and probably a thousand pound feet of torque.
An important consideration is where the opposing force is coming from? The batteries and rider, that is finite. It is best to take that into account when designing the torque used for acceleration.
BTW, I think the motors used can generate 300-400lbs of torque quite easily and reach over 15,000RPM, so no need for gear ratios.
Another thing to think of is the wind resistance, there is no need for the bike to go over 200mph, and I am sure it can have plenty of acceleration and reach triple digit speeds with only one gear. (Think about the Diesel F1 cars, they went to 5 gears and they don’t even have the low end torque of electric motors, and I am guessing they don’t have the RPM capability either.)
pabs says
miles
wow that pretty clever took me a minute to figure out what you meant, i understand how each motor would be geared to provide optimum performance for lower or higher speed but i’m unclear how such an arrangement would provide gearing also you’d be trading the weight of a gearbox for that of a motor
one motor could also be on the outside of the ring so the two motors counter rotate to each other
ROHORN says
It needs a transmission about as badly as it needs a kickstarter.
Miles says
@ pabs
“wow that pretty clever took me a minute to figure out what you meant, i understand how each motor would be geared to provide optimum performance for lower or higher speed but i’m unclear how such an arrangement would provide gearing ”
As it was explained to me (in my Automotive Transmissions class in college) the second motor can travel forwards or backwards at 20 RPM, thus changing the gear ratios by a similar amount. I don’t know how accurate that explanation is, but you can probably mock up one with some Lego Technics, or any differential you want to use (maybe a riding lawnmower, or a car up on jackstands with the driveshaft disconnected).
” . . . also you’d be trading the weight of a gearbox for that of a motor
one motor could also be on the outside of the ring so the two motors counter rotate to each other”
Well, each motor could weigh half (and generate half), maybe a tiny bit more to make up for the frictional losses.
Interesting info, this is the “transmission” the Prius uses:
http://www.cleangreencar.co.nz/page/prius-transmission
http://blog.autospeed.com/2009/01/22/new-diy-electric-car-opportunities/