Electric Bikes comming to a bike shop near you

[Aphex]

Well Vic Park anyway.

Read about these in the worst on Saturday. R-E required although they claim performance similar to 500-600cc machines.

Vectrix U.S.A. - Home (US)

[Desmo]

Thats a scooter, not a bike.

[Aphex]

Meh.. its got two wheels.

[Eukanuba]

What do you make of this claim ?

I would have thought that bikes would be more environmentally friendly, given they use a heck of alot less fuel..

Vectrix U.S.A. - The Environment

" While gasoline powered motorcycles (including motorbikes, scooters, mopeds) account for a small % of vehicles in use, they are extremely polluting, producing a disproportionate amount of emissions and noise for their size. A typical motor scooter produces 3X the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions as a large diesel truck, and 8-10X as the average automobile "

[Barfridge]

Maybe they mean 2-stroke, which would be about right.

But a fuel-injected bike with a catalytic converter meeting Euro-3 spec, no bloody way.

[Sunshine & F'n Rainbows]

So, how will the licenses for these work?

[Aphex]

The worst said R-E required.

[Nero Diablo]

What do you make of this claim ?

I would have thought that bikes would be more environmentally friendly, given they use a heck of alot less fuel..

Vectrix U.S.A. - The Environment

" While gasoline powered motorcycles (including motorbikes, scooters, mopeds) account for a small % of vehicles in use, they are extremely polluting, producing a disproportionate amount of emissions and noise for their size. A typical motor scooter produces 3X the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions as a large diesel truck, and 8-10X as the average automobile "

Nah its actually quiet right its called economies of scale whilst a bike overall will emite less and use less to cover XXX distance than one person in a dunnydore or similar vehicle. Put four people in the dunndore and run two bikes with two people on them all of a sudden the dunndore uses perhaps 5% more where as the bikes have used double of everything.

This is why Buses and trams are more effcent than cars and trians more effciant than buses despite they are usually powered off coal fired power stations. A bike is efficent at transporting one or two people around so in the intrestests of the next MAD ride who's going to organise the bus fleet.

[Ryven]

From the acceleration/top speed specs and the output of 20kws at peak I'd rate it somewhere between a 125 and a 250cc four stroke.

I think in terms of efficiency they're saying something like either my bike being 250cc and only 160kgs getting 3 litres to the 100 is poor in comparison to a 1600kg(10X) V8 using 15(5X) litres to the 100. The car being effectively 10X the weight but giving better relative fuel economy. Or perhaps same again, only relative displacement. That said the argument in favour of bikes would be if you're using the bike you probably doing have 4 people to fill the car to make the additional petrol consumption worthwhile. Then there's the power for your capacity: 30kws for a 250cc is far more efficient than a lot of cars. Particularly a 300kw (10X) 6 litre V8(24X).

[Ozboy]

Go to Bikers Corner, they've had 2 scooters in there for months.

[Davey]

A nearly silent - minimal profiled vehicle for Perth's roads! Talk about asking for it.

[Aphex]

From the acceleration/top speed specs and the output of 20kws at peak I'd rate it somewhere between a 125 and a 250cc four stroke.

I think in terms of efficiency they're saying something like either my bike being 250cc and only 160kgs getting 3 litres to the 100 is poor in comparison to a 1600kg(10X) V8 using 15(5X) litres to the 100. The car being effectively 10X the weight but giving better relative fuel economy. Or perhaps same again, only relative displacement. That said the argument in favour of bikes would be if you're using the bike you probably doing have 4 people to fill the car to make the additional petrol consumption worthwhile. Then there's the power for your capacity: 30kws for a 250cc is far more efficient than a lot of cars. Particularly a 300kw (10X) 6 litre V8(24X).

Have yet to see a 250 with peak torque of 65nm.

[Ryven]

Have yet to see a 250 with peak torque of 65nm.

True, the torque is impressive. I was talking in terms of overall power and acceleration when I made my comparison, mind. That said, this kind of vehicle is aimed at economy, not performance.

If they released something with around 50kws and slightly better torque, I'd have to give it serious thought. Even if it did mean a top speed of say 130 with a 100km range that'd be enough for a daily commute. Limited as a recreational vehicle, but going in the right direction.

[Aphex]

With some of the new battery technologies around I dare say it wont be too far off. Lipo's would be great and give better range & output but I wouldnt want to be anywhere near the bike if it crashed with them also can be a little unstable when recharging. There are other technologies that have even more power still. Hopefuly we'll see some of these emerge in the next few years.

[House]

Have yet to see a 250 with peak torque of 65nm.

At the wheel?

If not, it means nothing, as it has not yet suffered from transmission torque multiplication fuckery.

Engine/motor torque figures are a bunch of wank, because without decent engine/motor rpm speeds to back them up, the transmission will have to rape the available torque to get decent wheel rpm speeds.

Power ratings account for rpm speed as well (Power = torque x rpm), and are a much better indicator of how much go the engine or motor will have when coupled to a drivleine and wheels.

It has similar power figures to a 250, and the acceleration figures are along the lines of 250. The seemingly great peak torque figure really doesn't mean much at all.

EDIT: To clarify, I say transmission in the sense of any type of gearing between the motor and the wheels, even if there are no seperate gears as such.

Given the motor makes peak power at just 3000rpm, there would be a lot of torque rapage going on to get decent wheel speeds, so I imagine the peak torque at the wheel will be much less than than the 65nm the motor can apply to its driveshaft