OT: Electrifying a bike (was: (ET) drive motor speed)

["David Roden (Akron OH USA)" <roden ald net>]

I think you're going to be surprised how much power it takes to get to 70 
mph.  The aerodynamics of a motorcycle and rider are absolutely awful.  
If you can get there (I suspect that you will need more than an ET motor 
to stay there for any length of time), you'll find that carrying enough 
battery energy to stay there more than a few miles will make for a very 
heavy machine.

If you tune down your speed goal to 35-40 mph, then things look much more 
possible (and affordable).

There was a discussion of MC power requirements matter a few months back 
on the EV discusssion list.  Check the list archives at 

     http://crest.org/ev-list-archive/

for more information.  Search on "motorcycle" or "Honda" or "Goldwing" or 
some similar name.

What it amounts to is you can have speed or you can have range.  To have 
both, you'd better be prepared to carry around a ~lot~ of battery mass.  
And don't even think of using flooded batteries on a bike -- VRR (valve 
regulated recombinant, or sealed) batteries are essential for safety.  
Think "road rash plus sulfuric acid."  Ouch.


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA
1991 Solectria Force 144vac
1991 Ford Escort Green/EV 128vdc
1979 General Engines ElectroPed 24vdc
1974 Honda Civic EV 96vdc
1970 GE Elec-trak E15 36vdc
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