Motoczysz TTXGP entry
The Motoczysz E1 electric motorcycle is testing on the dyno and it sounds good. There’s a video on the Motoczysz blog.
Michael sounds pretty enthusiastic about this new direction his company has taken.
MotoCzysz is not just pursuing an electric motorcycle (that sounds like such a slow downer) but a bigger concept using electric drives – the “Digital Superbike”. The Digital Superbike, like your computer, has “open architecture” and can be upgraded and reconfigured. This is definitely an industry first and may be a major paradigm shift in the way people buy and own motorcycles.
Digital Superbikes with open architechture, I like the sound of that, buy in one configuration and reconfigure as your needs and desires change. My thoughts, some months back, was the “modular motorcycle,” which focused more on using the idea with standard bikes, Michael is going the electric route which might work even better. The open architecture idea he is describing could be huge if handled right. I’m looking forward to more details but as Michael says, he’s a bit busy right now keeping the company moving forward so we’ll have to wait to see what emerges from his shop.
Thanks for the tip, Peter!
Link: Motoczysz
Bentzra says
Like many here I have been following the Motoczysz story for what feels like a really long time. I hope that they do really well with this new direction.
Chris Y. says
So where is the dyno graph?
Hawk says
With this being their entry into the TTXGP, I’m sure that they don’t want to divulge dyno information to the competition …. Maybe on June 13th?
kneeslider says
Watching this bike on the dyno and seeing the other videos from the past few days, a person could get the impression that this TTXGP might be a real motorcycle race, not some sort of new age green tech demo, but a real kick butt race. This could be very interesting.
Spangler says
Can you please post a link to the dyno video? I am having a hard time finding it.
Thanks
hoyt says
“… this TTXGP might be a real motorcycle race”
Hopefully there will be television coverage of this event in North America, not just the race itself but footage to cover the interesting stories building up to this event.
There are businesses and university efforts going into this event. Very cool.
This is Prime documentary material. It shouldn’t be too late for any of the following to get involved.
http://www.versus.com/
http://dsc.discovery.com/
http://www.history.com/
http://www.speedtv.com/
kneeslider says
hoyt, if any of those networks are not already on it, I’m thinking (hoping?) the various groups building these bikes are taking loads of video to document the build.
todd says
Modular electrical components is a goal of many electric vehicle designers. This is not unique to MotoCzysz.
The bike (and race series) looks like fun. Let’s hope it will go on to spur development of actual road bikes. I think there is more of a market for an electric commuter bike than for an electric sport bike. It’s not like it costs too much to put gas in a bike that is only run on track days. Otherwise this might just end up being another novelty like the Segway.
-todd
RC51 says
I think that if a sportbike is fast and handles well, there’s a market for it. It seems that Michael is a pretty passionate guy, and I don’t see him getting passionate about a commuter bike, so I think this is the perfect direction for him. That said, has the internal combustion project completely vanished?
jp says
I think they’re somewhat ahead of the other TTXGP entrants in that they already have what by most accounts (Alan Cathcart, at least) is an impressive chassis and suspension setup. Ok, it may still have a load of setup and tweaking needed, but I can’t help thinking this is a rather large leg up on the competition.
This is going to be very interesting!
Schneegz says
Modular is the way to go, especially for a small manufacturer.
pabs says
no interest in ICE engines?, not quite.. there is no interest in THEIR ice engine..
i’m very excited to watch the electric TT race and see the beginning of our electric future, when technology catches up with our desires regarding battery energy density and charge / discharge rates, watch out its going to be amazing
when that happens in a couple of years its the companies with the resources, talent infrastructure, plain hard work over decades and product know-how that will sieze the lead. they will all be familiar names not outfits like this
David says
I appreciate their recognition of heritage and bloodline with the inclusion of the Philco table top model grill cover.
Kenny says
What does he actually mean by open architecture? Will he actually design a range of components that will attach to your brand new Motoczysz, regardless of the model of bike you have. Not raining on the party here, I really love the idea, not to mention the sound of these bikes. I just want to poke a few holes in it.
If you wanted all the parts(or at least most) in all your bikes to be modular you’d have to design them to accept the most powerfull and hence largest and heaviest engine, this would have a knock on effect of unnessecary weight and size in your say 250cc-equivilant or even 600cc-equivilant.
I know that car manufacturers do it all the time, sticking many different engine types in the same chassis, but that only serves to prove my point, those cars are grossly overweight and with the smaller engines can even struggle to get off the line(or at least up a hill).
This assumes that Motoczysz would go after the budget market.
kneeslider says
Kenny, your idea of open architecture might be a little off. Going back to the early days of the IBM PC, it was a system where other people could learn how it works and build things that would plug in and work with it, IBM could build their own parts (video cards, sound cards, modems), but so could any other company, as long as they built it to work within the specs, and that’s why the IBM PC grew and spawned so many other companies building PCs. In this case, you don’t build the bike to fit the parts, you build the parts to fit the bike.
Motoczysz could build a bike and offer a number of standard places where other component makers could plug in with their own pieces, motor mounting systems, battery mounting and plugs, controllers, whatever. The additional components could have a wide range of operating characteristics and they would work as long as they fit into the provided attachment points.
First movers have an incredible advantage here because they can establish the standard everyone else adds on to. Will Motoczysz be the one? Who knows? But someone could be and there’s a pretty good chance others are trying to do the same things.
Mark says
Going back to the IBM analogy of “open architecture”, I would like to point out that, from my knowledge of the story, having standardised all the PC components, IBM then tried to maintain control of the market by not revealing how their BIOS chip worked. Once this secret was cracked by reverse-engineering, every man and his dog were then free to make PCs that resembled IBM’s design, which were then called the “IBM compatible” machines. Going back to our electric bike, if outside manufacturers are offering compatible motors, batteries and electronics at competitive prices, what is there to then stop another company from making a slightly different frame which still accepts all of the “open architecture” parts. Suddenly you have a “Motoczysz compatible”, and the people who made the original bike have lost a sale. Standardisation of parts is a double-edged sword, and it might unleash a tidal wave of cut-price competition from Asia which swamps the original manufacturers (as has happened in the PC world).
kneeslider says
Mark, “it might unleash a tidal wave of cut-price competition”
It might also unleash a tidal wave of innovation. IBM made computers for a long time after everyone and their dog jumped in, they took part in the market explosion to their benefit as well as everyone else’s. Locking up technology is pretty hard these days, constant innovation is key to staying ahead. Computers in those early days were advancing so fast it was hard to buy one without it being superseded with a better one the next week. I can think of worse things happening to the motorcycle world.
Mark says
Kneeslider, I certainly agree that standardisation of computers was brilliant for the consumer. I would imagine that IBM lost substantial amounts of market share which they never regained, but this was soon compensated for by the rapid expansion of the PC market, which arguably may not have happened without the “compatibles”. I would be very excited to see a number of competitive e-bike manufacturers. My only concern is that Motoczysz might not be big enough to ride out the storm, and that unlike IBM, they cannot afford to pay for R&D which will ultimately benefit their direct competitors in such a way. Perhaps an alliance of several manufacturers might work together to set the necessary standards, as seen in several other industries. Best of luck to all players in the e-bike industry, it’s going to be an exciting ride in the next 10 years. Can’t wait to see the results!
Thure says
I think we are seeing the start of electric motorcycles. Most of the concepts we have seen so far are either strictly commuters or race type bikes. The Harley type bikes are not being subjected to the battery treatment, because this type of bike is so closely associated with their rumbling ICE. As electric vehicles become more common a new generation of consumers will embrace electric motor cycles. Also when the performance gap between ICEs and electrics narrows more people will start embracing this new technology. As far as the open architecture goes, well Harleys are basicly that, and if you look at the parts to build an electric bike there are many options for each of the main components i.e. motor, controller and batteries. These parts can easily be substituted as well, with most motors having some standard mount, and controllers being purely electrical components etc. The frame, suspension, brakes and general design will probably remain brand specific
Guess these efforts are just the beginning steps for these manufacturers, and in 10 to 20 years these bikes will be as common place as ICEs.
Thure
Kenny says
Sorry but I don’t understand how this open architecture will be any different from now with aftermarket manufacturers, bar the obvious exceptions of parts like batteries and motors instead of getting uprated camshafts big bore kits etc. And a lot of the parts would already have industry standards wouldn’t they, Induction motors have been around for quite a while.
Sen says
Technoogy transfer works both ways. Electric motors are used in dozens of applications, from everyday lifts and escalators to robotic arms and bridges. Better motors in electric automobiles also equals better motors in a lot of mundane equipment.
Better energy densities in batteries also means a longer life-span for that mobile phone and laptop. Better delivery of power between battery to power also means a more efficient delivery system for power stations to homes.
Quality of life as a whole will go up. At the same time, lifestyles change accordingly with concurrent technology, but that doesn’t mean the ancient is thrown away. Just look at the number of vintage car collectors and restorers. There is no need to fear or ridicule the new and the unknown.
Joe says
Whatever happend to the Motoczysz petrol powered racer ? I read a lot of marketing hype and promises how it would be realy competative on the track but it seemed to fizzel out and vanish.I was hoping I would at least see it on the track after all the development that went into the bike.
clone5 says
Funny to see the techo sh.it himself when the bike started to spool up. That would have been an instant highside!
ludofrenchalpes says
yeap des kilowatt de puissance comparer la ressource d’un réservoir des motos modernes & la durée de vie des cellules pack ; 100 % de puissance à 0 tours/Mn …
le TTxGP précise : 20.000£ exemplaire à vendre après la course … donc
3 moteurs sont ils modelables individuellement ? comment sont ils réunis ?
le 6x-6flex à son utilité ?
le prix des accus encore hot pour tous encore, mais bientôt le bruit de la chaine ou des pneus sera une question .
Michael Czysz & son E1 team vont nous faire claquer un fusible 🙂
le TT est une grande couse depuis très longtemps , et de nouveaux concept serons aussi la-bas !
je pense que moi de même …