Electric motorcycles!

Domenick

Domenick

Well-Known Member
Tacita reveals electric cruiser at U.S. motorcycle show.
Cruisers are popular America-style bikes, but in the relatively small world of electric motorcycles, they haven't really existed. (Yes, boutique builders like Brutus/Bell Custom Cycles can build you a one-off, but that doesn't really count as serial production.) So, if Tacita, an Italian company, decides to sell these in the States, they would really be the first.

An interesting bike. It looks pretty decent. It has a muti-speed gearbox and a big 27 kWh battery. It's said to have a range of 168 miles, which seems pretty short compared to the size of the battery, but is a pretty decent compared to most of the market. (For comparison, a Zero S with 15.8 kWh gets 153 miles combined hwy and city)

I can also be had with either a 7.5 or 15 kWh battery, for less money.

Tacita11-770x440.jpg
 
I've been watching this Aliquis A1E e-Superbike project out of Sweden for the past couple years. It's an interesting approach, to say the least, to an electric motorcycle. It uses a YASA 400 motor with a Sevcon Gen4 size 8 controller powered by A123 battery cells. Visually, the naked tube frame design really pops out at you, not to mention the ISR hub steering set up.

Finally, its builder has done a "1st drive," the video of which I present below. You can follow this project on its Facebook page.



And here it is sans battery.
Aliquis sans battery.webp
 
Icon just used a pair of Zero FX in its latest Raiden UX - Waterproof Collection promotional video.

Besides some graphics and chain kit (instead of standard belt, which might not hold up in this kind of riding), they appear to be the standard bike.

 
Had never ridden a motorcycle until this past weekend. While it wasn't electric, it was truly exhilarating and now I simply have to buy one (maybe not now, but eventually). Electric motorcylces sound super cool, especially since I most appreciated the torque of the motorcycle. Will definitely have to look into these!
 
I got my motorcycle endorsement just so I could test ride electric bikes. I've ridden the 2014 Zero S and SR and the Harley Livewire. I turned down a chance on the Energica Ego because I'm an idiot I didn't think I had the experience to handle it. (I should have said yes, really, and just been super careful). I also missed a chance to ride the Alta earlier this year because my former job got in the way. That was a huge bummer.

But yeah, riding electric is pretty awesome. After riding the Zero SR, their quickest bike with a 3.3-second 0-to-60, I wrote something like, "I didn't see it, but I'm pretty sure the hand of god came down out of the sky, grabbed the front forks, and with all her ever-loving strength, pulled me some seconds into the future."

Really incredible acceleration experience. Quick, linear feeling, with no gear changes to modulate forward motion. I'm hooked. But poor and married, so the motorcycle, electric or otherwise, is still elusive.
 
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2018 Zero Motorcycles Get Bigger Batteries, Rapid Recharging, Improved Performance

Zero Motorcycles has just revealed its 2018 lineup and its looking pretty good, unless you were hoping for big changes. This year was about evolution, not revolution, though surely that's coming soon~ish.

Very happy to see that, as usual, they've gone with the latest chemistry and have bigger batteries on most of the models. Don't think anyone updates they're batteries as often as Zero. Either that, or they're just in a better position to have it noticed, since it results in higher kWh numbers instead of the same kWh, but lower weights, as might happen with cars.

Went over the materials pretty well, so if you have any questions, I can probably answer them. If I don't know the answer, I probably know someone who does.
Anyway, check out the linked piece above. It's short on pictures, but there's video of all the bikes.
2018 Zero Motorcycles.webp
 
Sarolea is a Belgian electric motorcycle maker that brought back a brand that was 50 years dead. They began their efforts by competing in the TT Zero, a one-lap race of the Isle of Man's Mountain Course, and have developed a bike for consumers called the Manx 7 that should be fully revealed next year. They teased us with a shadowy image a while back, and now in their Christmas mailout, they've released a second teaser. Here it is below.

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Alta has radically altered prices on their product line, lowering some by thousands of dollars. Also, for 2018, they appear to be getting a small power bump, 42 hp, up from 40, and a loss of 2 lbs (on the MX, at least.)

This brings their bikes a bit closer to the more affordable Zero Motorcycles FX/FXS. I can't help but wonder if this also doesn't presage a more powerful machine in the works, something comparable to a race-prepped 450cc bike. Fingers crossed.
Alta Pricing.webp
 
Alta Motors Set to Debut “R” Version of Its MX Bike

Looks like my speculation in the previous post was at least partially correct. Also, a little surprised to hear the Redshift can suffer from thermal cutback (mentioned in comments following linked piece) under the right (or wrong) conditions.

I'd like to know how well the redesign does in ameliorating this. Crazy that, after so many years of effectively handling heat from internal combustion drivetrains, engineers are having trouble managing it in EV systems.
 
Alta Motors has a new, even higher performance, model called the MXR. You can read about it >here<, but basically, it the Redshift we know with 50 horsepower and 147 lb-feet of torque, and a 1.5 hour charging time (with optional charger).

Where the other Redshifts benchmark a 250cc race bike, this is about 350 cc equivalent.

They also created a trio of absolutely awesome videos featuring their new MXR model. Enjoy!





 
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So, this is a bit of an odd story. An American company, which appears to import and sell bikes from China under its brand, has has launched an electric cruiser in India. Or, at least, they are debuting it at Auto Expo 2018. Starting price tag is $7,800 for the very small battery version, but the battery goes up, supposedly, to 27 kWh.

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Have any of you guys heard any reportsb or comments on the reliability of the Zero S/SR ? I don't live in the US and we don't have a dealership here, but I'm still thinking of importing one even without dealership support.

Sent from my LG-H990 using Inside EVs mobile app
 
danielbal1694 said:
Have any of you guys heard any reportsb or comments on the reliability of the Zero S/SR ? I don't live in the US and we don't have a dealership here, but I'm still thinking of importing one even without dealership support.

Sent from my LG-H990 using Inside EVs mobile app
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Certainly anything from 2012 or previous is to be avoided. I follow the Zero owners Facebook and people do have problems on occasion. It's hard to gauge what percentage of owners have difficulties because the people who are problem free, and I believe that is the vast majority, don't spend much time writing about their trouble-free experiences.

I would go to the Zero Motorcycles portion of the Electric Motorcycle Forum, and the Zero Owners Group on Facebook to get a better sense of reliability. As for support, if you buy through Hollywood Electrics, they seem to be at least as good as offering support for most things as the actual company.
 
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