General The Future of Motorcycling is Electric, and I think it's gonna happen FAST.

I think Moto may be right that eventually the demand for electric bikes will increase, but I also believe this will be more in Japan, China, and Europe first. I believe the Western Hemisphere will be the last to embrace battery powered bikes. We have too much love for big, noisy, chrome covered rattle rattle bolts dropping off and oil dripping type bikes. For North Americans, it all comes down to manliness over efficiency.
 
Baldbiker said:
I think Moto may be right that eventually the demand for electric bikes will increase, but I also believe this will be more in Japan, China, and Europe first. I believe the Western Hemisphere will be the last to embrace battery powered bikes. We have too much love for big, noisy, chrome covered rattle rattle bolts dropping off and oil dripping type bikes. For North Americans, it all comes down to manliness over efficiency.
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I think you're right, but not 100% for the reasons you listed. What you describe as rattling, loose bolts, and dripping oil ... those invoke images of older Harleys to me. Today's Harleys don't normally suffer from those issues, and out of my 3 bikes, the one that gets the highest MPG and has by FAR the biggest engine... is my Street Glide Special. Its 114ci engine gets 40-50mpg for me, hand-calculated. Highway runs get closer to 40, back roads rides get closer to 50. My last tank was 46.5mpg. My Kawasakis [2005 Vulcan 800 and 1979 KZ650SR] both get in the 30-35mpg range.

Here in America, a lot of riders value noise and shakiness and think that adds manliness, but a lot of what drives us is range. Our country is big, and the current crop of electric bikes is limited to 100 miles, and in most cases less. A fair amount of us like doing 100-200 mile riding days, which isn't possible with the current infrastructure and battery tech.

-John
 
Drakhen99 said:
Our country is big, and the current crop of electric bikes is limited to 100 miles, and in most cases less. A fair amount of us like doing 100-200 mile riding days, which isn't possible with the current infrastructure and battery tech.
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This is true, and it's why E-motos aren't taking off in the US. Better battery tech does exist, Tesla has the best right now, but that tech has not filtered down into the lesser markets like motorcycles. It will in time, but probably 5-10 years away yet. And once solid state batteries become mainstream then everything goes electric easily. Motorcycles, jet skis, boats, airplanes, all of it. SS batteries are 10+ years off yet though.
 
Moto Mengy said:
This is true, and it's why E-motos aren't taking off in the US. Better battery tech does exist, Tesla has the best right now, but that tech has not filtered down into the lesser markets like motorcycles. It will in time, but probably 5-10 years away yet. And once solid state batteries become mainstream then everything goes electric easily. Motorcycles, jet skis, boats, airplanes, all of it. SS batteries are 10+ years off yet though.
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I think we're gonna have to recall all the silicone in Hollywood in order to pump it into the Thrilling Initiative for Transportation Scheme.

We'll call it BOtOx for BatterieS, and offer a discount or rebate on non-silicone implants so people trade in their old ones.

-John
 
Drakhen99 said:
Here in America,.... a lot of what drives us is range. Our country is big, and the current crop of electric bikes is limited to 100 miles, and in most cases less. A fair amount of us like doing 100-200 mile riding days, which isn't possible with the current infrastructure and battery tech.
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Our country - Australia - is also BIG and has bugger all infrastructure (and a lower population and therefore tax base to support additional infrastructure).

Electric just isn't doable even for cars. A majority of Tesla owners here who also travel distance would own a separate car for the road trips.

1626139558001.jpeg
 
LandyVlad said:
Our country - Australia - is also BIG and has bugger all infrastructure (and a lower population and therefore tax base to support additional infrastructure).

Electric just isn't doable even for cars. A majority of Tesla owners here who also travel distance would own a separate car for the road trips.

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Since I didn't know, I didn't want to speak about it, but basically any geographically large country is going to have problems with the adoption of electric vehicles, for all the reasons you and I listed.

-John
 
Drakhen99 said:
Since I didn't know, I didn't want to speak about it, but basically any geographically large country is going to have problems with the adoption of electric vehicles, for all the reasons you and I listed.

-John
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Only at first. Once the charging infrastructure gets in place it will be easy to drive any EV with a decent range long distance.

It's why Tesla's are so good at road tripping here in the US now, the Tesla Supercharging network is everywhere and makes charging super easy and plentiful.
 
Moto Mengy said:
Only at first. Once the charging infrastructure gets in place it will be easy to drive any EV with a decent range long distance.

It's why Tesla's are so good at road tripping here in the US now, the Tesla Supercharging network is everywhere and makes charging super easy and plentiful.
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Still takes too long to recharge today's batteries, and the fast-charging lessens battery life, no matter if it's your phone or car.

Anyone here have small kids & go on a road trip? Pit stops have to be as short as possible and you're wrangling your spawn constantly.

-John
 
The downtime it takes for charging is the issue though eh.

What's the range of a Tesla between charges?

My missus went for a drive the other day - > 600 kms. So even the most expensive long range Tesla Model 3 would have stopped at the best case scenario of 568 km.
 
IIRC, it's a minimum of like 35 minutes to charge a Tesla at a Supercharger.

Some of the recent car mags have had articles in them where they're taking Teslas on longer trips, and the stops are the killer. They try to minimize it by combining a food stop with a recharge, but you're still down when you'd rather be traveling.

-John
 
The most efficient way to road trip a Tesla is to drive 200 -250 miles between Tesla superchargers and charge for 15-25 minutes at each one, supercharger hopping so to speak. This way you're never fully charging the battery and you're never fully draining it either, you are only charging 50-70% each time, just a bit more than needed to reach the next supercharger, which goes faster than fully draining and topping off all the way.

This is really only a Tesla thing though, as other brands of chargers aren't reliable enough to do this with yet.
 
What happens when instead of 0.5% of the population having electric cars it goes to 5% ?
Will it be possible for infrastructure to keep up 0- build enough superchargers?
Its no good if I need to charge my car and someone else has just plugged in....
 
LandyVlad said:
What happens when instead of 0.5% of the population having electric cars it goes to 5% ?
Will it be possible for infrastructure to keep up 0- build enough superchargers?
Its no good if I need to charge my car and someone else has just plugged in....
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In America, our electric infrastructure in several areas is already overtaxed. Add in a million or more electric cars, presumably all charging at the same time [overnight], and you've got a recipe for disaster. It's already been a problem in California, if what I read is correct. They had brownouts and people couldn't charge their cars.

-John
 
Well, for Europe is is going to be 2035.
From that moment onward, all new motorcycle models that are being sold need to be electric.
 
LandyVlad said:
Typically euro ambitious rubbish, I'd lay money it won;t happen that quickly.
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It will.
If Denmark or Norway can pull of their even more ambitious plans, then 2035 is gonna stick>
But, it is only selling of new models. So second hand prices will skyrocket and we shall see a big increase in older bikes being restored and kept in as good condition as possible to last as long as possible ;)
 
LandyVlad said:
Typically euro ambitious rubbish, I'd lay money it won;t happen that quickly.
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I think it will, that's 14 years away. With how fast the auto market is shifting to electric the smaller sub markets will follow afterwards, including motorcycles. Once solid state batteries are mainstream electrifying all transportation will be an easy task.
 
Moto Mengy said:
I think it will, that's 14 years away. With how fast the auto market is shifting to electric the smaller sub markets will follow afterwards, including motorcycles. Once solid state batteries are mainstream electrifying all transportation will be an easy task.
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But what about Jumbo Jets, I ask?

I have yet to see a plan for a mid-air recharging station!

-John
 
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