"Tapas" (tapas)
11/18/2019 at 11:02 • Filed to: bikelopnik
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"Tapas" (tapas)
11/18/2019 at 11:02 • Filed to: bikelopnik | 1
| 8 |
I’m very surprised that Electric bikes haven’t caught on as much as Electric cars have. You need get more out of a smaller battery, because you aren’t moving 3600 lbs of meat, metal and fluids.
Maybe it’s because electric bike prices haven’t come close to being reasonable/comparable to a gas bike? For example, this is one of the most good looking new bikes I’ve ever seen. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
Tekamul
> Tapas
11/18/2019 at 11:28 |
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That looks pretty uncomfortable, and has a tiny battery in the name of looks. I think people paying $80k for that don’t really have a need for the $80k.
I bought a (new) electric bike for the same cost as a Ducati Scrambler (what I had started out looking at) after tax credit. It can be done, but a lot of riders have a usage model that doesn't fit EVs. Just going out to log a ton of miles for the sake of riding aligns really well with gas and a plethora of gas stations.
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Tapas
> Tekamul
11/18/2019 at 11:35 |
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Ah I see.
Snuze: Needs another Swede
> Tapas
11/18/2019 at 11:39 |
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That thing looks SO COOL!
But not $80k cool.
KSUENGINEER
> Tapas
11/18/2019 at 11:56 |
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The energy density of the battery isn’t there yet. Most electric motorcycles have a pretty poor range on a single charge. Most ICE motorcycles have a range from just under 200 miles for a full tank. Harley Davidison Livewire has a combined range of 88 miles & charges with DC fast charging 0-80% in 40 minutes/0-100% in 60 minutes. It weighs 550lbs and has a 101 horsepower. The Zero SR/F has a combined range of 109 miles and charges 0-95% in about an hour. It weighs 498 and makes 110 horsepower. Many bikes that make this much horsepower (i.e. Triumph Street Triple, Yamaha MT-09, KTM 790 Duke, etc.) weigh on average 100-150 lbs less than their electric counter parts and have much better ranges. Also, all of the ICE variants are significantly cheaper than their electric counterparts.
It’s also interesting to see the comparisons in the MotoGP series. In yesterdays Valencia races the fastest lap times for MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3, and MotoE were 1'31.116 (27 lap race), 1'34.820 (17 lap race, shortened due to morning weather delay), 1'39.948 (15 lap race, shortened due to morning weather delay), 1'40.350 (7 lap race), respectively. The weight/horsepower that MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3, and MotoE bikes are 348 lbs/~260-300hp (1000cc), 319 lbs/140 hp (765cc), 325 lbs(weight w/rider)/~60hp (250cc), and 550 lbs/147hp, receptively. As you can see the weight significantly hurts the lap times that professional riders can achieve, and the number of laps/distance the bikes can achieve when using the most power available. The MotoE bikes make more than double the horsepower than the Moto3 bikes & have are the same lap time, but can only achieve a third of the race distance.
I think of these bikes as big city scooters. It is very daring to take these outside of the city. The lack of range and long charge times gives the rider about a 50/50 ride time to charge time. Not great.
This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
> Tapas
11/18/2019 at 12:10 |
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I love my Ebike, but those kinds of asking prices are what will keep them from proliferating any time soon. Cool as it looks, it’s worth about 5 grand to me . Others would probably pay 10-15 for the privilege, but 80 is a price that everyone should balk at, even those who can a fford it.
Pickup_man
> Tapas
11/18/2019 at 12:37 |
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There’s two things really that are keeping me off of electric bikes at the moment, one very very minor, and one fairly big.
The minor issue is range. Most E-bikes yet don’t have quite enough range to make me comfortable. My commute is about 40 miles round trip on 55-65 mph roads, which is easily covered by most E-bikes at the moment, but if I need to run errands that usually takes me 10-15 miles further away from home. If I stay off of the 80 mph interstate and back road home I should have enough juice to make it, but it’s getting pretty close to the uncomfortable zone for bikes with roughly 100 miles of mixed range.
I also like to take long trips on occasion which an electric bike simply can’t do, especially with the lack of charging infrastructure around here.
Both of these really are very minor issues, I can plan ahead on days I might need to run to town, and either drive, or take the gas bike, and I already have a four bike garage, so keeping a larger gas bike around for long trips is no problem.
The big issue though is price and availability. Electric bikes are still very expensive. Zero’s bikes are fairly reasonable, but option them up and they get very expensive, very fast. Harley’s Livewire, as cool as I think it is, is hardly worth mentioning at $30k. Whatever bike that is above, looks really cool, but excuse me while I collapse into a pile of laughter over the price.
Couple the high prices with the fact that the used bike market has been a buyers market for a long time now with no signs of slowing down and electric bikes have a long uphill battle. Seriously, it’s crazy how much bike you can buy for such little money on the used market.
nermal
> Tapas
11/18/2019 at 12:49 |
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An electric car can be a transportation appliance or a status symbol . A bike is usually either an emotional or recreational item.
$80k electric bikes will only sell to people that can afford to set $80k on fire and not miss it.
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Tapas
> KSUENGINEER
11/18/2019 at 15:56 |
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Whoa thanks for the detailed insight.