Mission Motors unveiled their new racebike for the 2011 TTXGP, the Mission-R. Even the most diehard fans of conventional motorcycles will have to admit, the design of this electric racer is every bit as pleasing to the eye as your average internal combustion racer. It packs a substantial performance punch, as well.
Powered by a 141 horsepower liquid-cooled 3-phase AC induction motor delivering 115 ft-lb from 0 to 6400RPM. Top speed is 160+ mph which it can reach in its one and only gear.
Öhlins suspension, Brembo brakes, Single-sided billet aluminum swingarm, so far it sounds like your typical racer with high end components, then you add in MissionEVT battery modules and a MissionEVT 100kw controller to fuel the AC 3 phase electric motor and you have your basic high end factory electric racer.
The bike looks good, the specs are great, all we need to see is how it actually performs.
Link: Mission Motors
akaaccount says
There’s so much potential in the controllers for those motors, you can make them do anything – high speed, high torque, minimum energy consumption – all with the same rotor and stator. Future generations of tuners (bikes, cars, whatever) will spend the majority of their time manipulating the output of motor controllers. As much as I love the sound of exhaust, you gotta admit it’s gonna be pretty cool.
Viv Collins says
@akaaccount yep nail on the head there I think, the way this opens up the design possibilities boggles the mind, the future looks very interesting
Brandon says
I’d be interested to know how much it weighs.
Mark says
545 lbs.
Carlo says
AC motor will need an inverter mmmmmmmh…
Apart from that, the bike looks great and, on paper, performance seems more than interesting.
Mike1200 says
Well, that definitely lowered the ugh-factor on electric bikes.
OK, so we’ve seen electrics and diesels… why not Hybrids? They might even be practical enough to be marketable someday. (have they just been in my blind spot or are they so dispicable thay don’t catch any press?)
Ryan says
@Carlo – 3-phase AC motors are much more efficient than DC motors, which is why you see them in high end electric vehicles.
I need no further proof that we’re living in the future…
Mike D says
Anybody know the ballpark cost of this bad boy? I’ve got a basic crotch rocket motorcycle with just the basic DC motor and lead acid batteries. Wondering if the price point is such that we may not see a lot of these in the short run.
FREEMAN says
@ Mike1200: there are hybrids around. OCC teamed up with Schneider Electronics and built a hybrid chopper, for example.
rohorn says
Very Interesting sponsors in the design & fabrication business:
3phase AC tells me this sport is maturing – cool!
Richard Gozinya says
@Mike1200 Honda might have been working on one, but I’d guess that it’s significantly more difficult to build a usable hybrid motorcycle than a hybrid car. Weight and size are of significantly higher importance on a motorcycle, as is balance.
That said, it’s great seeing more people pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
Scott says
Nice! You know, with all these electric bikes coming out, I have trouble keeping them all straight. If someone had a web-site (hint, hint) it would be cool if there were some kind of easy and up-to-date reference guide that would give a run-down of the major players. For example, something that could have photos, specs, availability for street-bikes, info. on race bikes and the series they run in, factory location, future plans etc.
Mark says
They are not planning on selling these and have no plans to produce anything at this point. This is yet another showcase of their technology to hype up their company in an effort to accumulate more venture capital. My guess is that once they have enough, they will go public and move to China to manufacture bikes that people can actually buy.
There isn’t one single piece of technology on this bike that hasn’t been around for decades already. Given enough money, anyone can build a prototype like this to show off.
The hard part, and the only thing of value to us, would be manufacture a bike like this for under $20K. From what I see so far, they have no intention of doing that.
Greenman says
I love it, but wonder why the commercial road offerings (except Brammo) are so staid. I guess price is still the issue, but am puzzled why (eg) Honda hasn’t gone down the Prius path. Build an attractive e-bike, sell at a loss, but build market position, knowledge and longer term cost reductions as you go.
Still I think 2-3 years and we will have very nice offerings for us non-racers!
Mark says
It’s all battery cost. My guess is that the 14.4Kwh battery pack in this bike costs approx. $12K alone, and approx. half that if purchased in huge volumes. The batteries alone would account for 1/2 the cost of an entire GSXR 1000. So if Suzuki decided to build a bike like this, it would cost just slightly less than $20K, with less performance and range and more weight. I’m not sure any of the big manufacturers are ready to commit a huge investment into that prospect just yet.
Forzaman says
Very heavy,very expensive,battery replacement costly,limited range,quieter than a blender,moves the emissions from the bike to the coal, gas, nuke powerplant…this is the future?
FREEMAN says
@ Forzaman: yes, it is. Everything starts somewhere, or did you always think the combustion engine was as “efficient” as it is today?
rohorn says
The Hildebrand & Wolfmüller was slow, unreliable, had poor range, and was a commercial failure. To think anyone was dumb enough to build OR buy motorcycles when they were obviously a bad idea.
Battery cost? BFD – this is a racer – what does a replacement race ready Superbike engine cost? How long do THOSE last?
I’d rather have the emissions at the powerplant than in the pits, my shop, dining room where it is parked, etc… This could even be worked on in my dining room. My wife puts up with a lot, but I’m sure not going to tear down my Kawasaki engine on the dining room table.
B50 Jim says
All we need is double the battery capacity we now have, and it’s instant competition for internal combustion. Battery capacity has doubled in just the past two or three years, and signs point to it doubling again, and even more so, quite soon. E-vehicles move the emissions from millions of moving locations to a few central locations where it’s easier to control. 100+ horsepower, bags of torque, sweet handling, clean operation; what’s not to like? Maybe for vintage-English enthusiasts, a model could be built with an oil-drip device that leaves puddles of biodegradable vegetable oil under the bike.
Was it John Lennon who said “The future is electric”? He didn’t mean vehicles but it sure applies. We’ll be there sooner than we know.
Tinman says
If the influx of Electric vehicles brings on the building of more Nuke Plants, Im all for it…If you think Windmills will supply enough power for our transportation needs your living in a fantady world. Oil based fuels are dominant because they work so well, Without Government subsidies none of these”Greenie”ideas would get a 2nd look, let alone any venture investments, Its all a scramble for my Tax dollars.
todd says
I’m guessing corner speeds are critical with this.
To get to 160+ MPH with a 6400 RPM motor you need slightly less than a 3:1 gear reduction. That’s only slightly less than the 24.36:1 overall first-gear reduction of a Honda Rebel 250 which betters the Mission Motors bike by 20 lb-ft potential at the rear wheel (345 vs. 365) – but you don’t stay in first gear on a Rebel for long. It’s more like your engine gets bigger as you go faster – starting out with a 250 and ending up with a 600 on the top end.
-todd
Forzaman says
Yeah, we already have rolling brownouts here in California, lets add a bunch more vehicles to our overburdened infrastructure. Easy to control pollution….what? Nuke waste,coal waste etc. We already can measure pollutants from Chinese coal plants in the US. Plus all the nasty recycling or lack of. Batteries like this size cost a fortune and are degrading from day one. Plus charge time and lack of spare packs.Engines can be re-built indefinetly. This is still a long ways off. I’ll stick to my 370lb Duc.
todd says
It could more easily be compared with riding around on a CBR600RR stuck in 6th gear (52 lb-ft x 6.7:1, 6th gear overall = 336 lb-ft) slipping the clutch to get rolling.
-todd
kim says
@Greenman; I was wondering about Honda doing something electric too, even if they’d do it at a financial loss. They regularly build something off-the-wall and definitely non-profitable, just to show off a bit, like the CX650 Turbo, the NR750 and the Rune cruiser, and – possible – the CBX.
Mark says
@ Todd, the 6400 RPM figure is not the rev limit of the motor, it’s just producing 115 lb/ft of torque from 0-6400 RPM. The rev limit of the motor is closer to 14000 RPM.
So your original gear ratio can easily be doubled to 6:1, now your talking at least 700 lb/ft to the rear wheel. Still not superbike rear wheel torque but a lot closer, and that torque is instantly available without having to ever clutch and downshift.
zyxw says
I hate to ask such a pedestrian question, but what kind of range does this thing have when racing? Are the races very short?
Mark says
A typical TTXGP race is 25 miles. If this were a streetbike, I would imagine the range would be approx. 140 miles at a slow cruise of 40 mph. An electric motorcycle typically consumes about 100 wh/mile at that speed.
Hawk says
This will undoubtedly be a one lap wonder at the 2011 TTXGP at the IOM. But then, the TTXGP is a one lap race, albeit 36 miles long. Practical as a commuter? I don’t think so …. but that’s not what this was built for.
Rohorn mentioned the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller. About a year ago, I saw one as a “barn find” for sale for $60,000. I understand it was bought and sold for $300,000. It was really unrestorable with many missing parts. If you’re ever up in Vancouver, Canada, come to the Trev Deeley Collection. They have one in running condition.
woolyhead says
Still the battery……always the battery. If one desires to be a hero build an electric bike for the masses (affordable ? ) . Still the electric builders deserve credit for trying…..eventually we just might make progress .
Cameron Nicol says
Who owns the battery patents??? Oil, big business, auto companies. When the batteries become cheap enough ( the pattents run out ) we’ll all have electric bikes. As for where to get that power, if our governments were less worried about getting re-elected we might have a chance at a future. Just take a good look at Denmark. By the way, the bike scenes in Tron Legacy are awesome. Both the Duck’s and the electrics.
rob says
2WD hybrid, front wheel hub drive electric, rear wheel petrol/diesel drive.
Random says
Nice packaging, but still viable only as racing prototypes. Battery costs/range/replacement still big issues.
Even though it probably sounds like something in Star Wars (that is, nice – at least for me) there’s still a lot of ground to cover to reach ICEs. If some nice inline four engine bikes from big manufacturers were already running on ethanol (currently only small singles work on it) it would be a real challenge to eletrics.
Yeah, there’s still some CO2 production issues in vegetable fuels. But there’s no need for new coal/nuclear plants, no rare minerals needed to make a battery, no new tech needed to recycle it. And there’s still a lot of energy in a small package.
Bob says
@Tinman: do you think petroleum doesn’t get subsidized? They get waaaaaaaay more subsidies than “greenie” ideas! The multiple Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups anchored in the Persian Gulf are not there for goodwill. And they’re not cheap! When you start to look at the amount of taxpayer subsidies that petroleum gets, we are actually paying between $11 to $18 per gallon…….. but yeah… it’s the environmentalist that are soaking the taxpayers… riiiiiiiight…
@Random: you can run ethanol in any ic engine- it’s just a matter of adjusting your stoichiometry.. However the issue with ethanol is not that it isn’t a great fuel,(it is!) but that it needs LOTS of petroleum based fertilizers to grow the corn/feedstock. And the biggest problem is that at the end of the day, in America, there isn’t enough corn fields for the amount of gas tanks here, it’ll always be an expensive boutique fuel. Now coal-based synthetic alcohol fuels.. oh yeah!
But back to the bike at hand– WOW! Great looking bike- electrics have a way to go to catch up with ICE’s, but at least this one looks like it’s taking the challenge seriously!
rohorn says
If you are wondering how this would look with a V-twin engine, go to the Motonium website and check out “Moto Sketches”. http://www.motonium.com
This is the same designer that did the Honda “New American Sports” concept. Funny how there is some world leading design talent right here in the USA – I’m looking forwards to both the USA market and the USA manufacturer(s?) catching up.
rob says
http://www.gizmag.com/ktm-2wd-hybrid-dirt-bike/10348/
KTM might have a go. This has a small electric motor in each wheel to provide extra torque when needed. Regenerative braking?
Blue Blade says
Well….. ya think Mark Miller will be jealous???!!! Naaaaa… me think (hope) the TTXGP will be overshadowed by the TT Zero… and perhaps TTXGP might consider their 2009 fortune in being invited to the Isle of Man? No?
To quote from 2010 TT Zero:
\Sulby Speed trap saw three machines clocking over 100mph with MotoCzysz the fastest at 135mph. Manx team ManTTx were the second fastest with 107.200 and Agni’s Z1 from Agni Racing third with 104.200.\
and that was in real race conditions 8 months ago… lotz has happened since.
The Mountain Course is the definitive standard – for Gladiators (to quote Rossi).
Thom says
I’m pretty impressed with this bike. It’s packaged very well. And it looks amazing! As far as the whole electric/ICE debate goes, I have nothing to say. But a bike this beautiful will gather attention no matter HOW it makes power.
M!ke D! says
Anyone that has raced r/c cars in the last decade know that the technology is already there. Now it’s just up to the manufactures to produce it, If there is demand for it then the cost will become affordable, much more affordable then it’s ICE competitors. Unfortunately this will only be available to us when the powers that be allow it to.
Mule says
Looks like a proper race bike that I’d like to ride. Power and speed look good but I don’t see a weight for this new model. That will determine road feel. Maybe at the IOM with it’s empahsis on long high speed sections weight will be less of a factor.
It seems that electric bike development is an incremental process. A little more power, a little more range, a little less weight, a little more power etc. They’ll get there for sure.
Al says
With a ‘Solarport’ at home…yes…otherwise…no
iperpaolo says
I like this layout !
akaaccount says
Nobody seems to understand that machines like this with big expensive wasteful energy storage are necessary to develop everything else that goes into an electric motorcycle. Electrical energy can be stored in a lot of ways, not just in a big lead and acid filled cube like everybody becomes tangled in thinking. Energy storage is the number one challenge in making the vehicles of the future possible; the good news is that people are working on it. When the big breakthrough comes, and it will, the technology to use the stored energy will already be developed thanks to these guys.
Keep it up.
akaaccount says
Nick5628
Everybody is arguing over the practicality of the batteries used. I acknowledged that it is a problem but that it isn’t the point of building this bike. The point is the drive system. You might want to get that bug in your ass looked at.
Dr. Gellar says
What a stunning looking bike! 🙂
This is slightly off tangent (but sort of relevant, since this is a racing motorcycle), but instead of complaining about lack of range and speed or the relatively heavy weights of electric race bikes vs. ICE machines, we should be complaining about the division of electric racing and the problems it has created brought about by the politics, greed and stupidity of the TTXGP and the FIM. Like many of you perhaps, I want to see the Mission R compete head to head against the 2011 offerings from MotoCzysz, Brammo, Lightning, Agni and Chip Yates/SWIGZ.COM as well as others on the same tracks. But thanks to the TTXGP and the FIM, the chance to see this happen is slim at best. The new maximum weight limit (why is that necessary?!?) set by both sanctioning bodies has already eliminated the Chip Yates/SWIGZ.COM effort, while as shown last season, the split caused by the two organizations dilutes the potential fields and leaves teams and manufacturers unsure which series is the best to compete in. Maybe we’ll get to see most of these teams compete against each other at the TT Zero on the IOM, but I’d also like to see them all go at it on closed-circuit tracks too, like at Laguna Seca during the MotoGP weekend. The field in the e-Power race there this year was maybe eight strong. That’s a joke. Many of the TTXGP grids weren’t much better. Unify electric motorcycle racing under one international series, and that field and it’s quality will grow. The speeds and lack of noise may still not be that impressive to some, but the racing will be better and the show will improve. And in the years to come, so will the machines.
Anyhow…as I mentioned before, I’d just like to see this beauty go heads up with the other top electric racing dogs on the same tracks, in the same racing series…
Mule says
There still seems to be lots of criticism of the electric bikes and the range/weight. To me, they seem to be improving in leaps and bounds. No we don’t have the perfect commuter bike yet which seems to be where most of the critics focus their attention. News flash: This is a developing, evolving technology/application. We are seeing it unfold real time right here on the internet. Previous evolutions of this sort (aircraft, spacecratft, weapons) all happened behind closed doors or in some exotic test facility. This time we get to see every single step and the critics are pouncing on every mis-step in the development.
How many Atlas missiles went into the ocean or never left the pad prior to putting a man in orbit? There’s countless other examples as well.
Just sit back and read/watch it unfold while you continue to ride your CB200 Rebel back and forth to work . Let these people do what they do. Weights will come down, the bikes will get range and performance will increase. It’s gonna happen and it costs us nothing to watch.