| Author | Message | ||
     U4euh |
Don't know of this bike from Zero Motors had been talked about before, but my current issue of Motor Cyclist just arrived and flipping though out I run into what I thought was the first bike from the EBR/HERO marriage. But upon reading no such luck. But further into the article it mentions that this bike was helped to be designed by Abe Ashkenazi of non other than the no longer Buell motor company. | ||
| U4euh |
What caught my eye at first was hour much this bike looks like the Blast! *I cannot get my SMART PHONE to upload pictures dangit | ||
| U4euh |
What caught my eye at first was how much this bike looks like the Blast! *I cannot get my SMART PHONE to upload pictures dangit | ||
| Froggy |
The Zero XU? Yep it does have some similarities to the Blast!  Also, direct photo uploading is doable on just about any phone that isn't an iPhone, for that you will need to jump through hoops and use a 3rd party hosting provider like Photobucket or Imgur. | ||
| Davegess |
Abe is currently a VP at Zero and a major force in the design of their new bikes. i rode one of the small 2012 bikes and it was fun if very weird. No noise. Turned to accelerate slowly at first but it hits over 70 mph easily. Would be nice commuter, it is very flickable. | ||
| Hootowl |
Google ultracapacitors. I think they can replace batteries in electric vehicles. It was just this year that they developed a manufacturing method that made them cost effective to use. A normal 1F cap is about the size of a thermos. An ultracap that size is 3000F. They charge very quickly and hold something like 85% of their charge for three months, which is nearly as good as a battery. The electric vehicle's Achilles’ heel might be no more. Oh, and best of all, they're not made out of metals that are only being mined in China. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I have asked this a couple of times on the electric bike boards, and it is always just glossed over with no answer. What if you put electric hub motors at each end to regen and recharge the main battery ? I know that there would still be loss of power overall but would it not extend the hell outta the range ? Or am I just missing something because I am not a tech nor an engineer ? | ||
| Slaughter |
Zero does have a regenerative mode on some models. You can toggle between a performance and economy mode. It would take some getting used to in order to take full advantage of the ability to increase mileage since you'd have to re-think how you brake and accelerate. | ||
| Pikeben08 |
Hub motors generally are not that great of an idea. It greatly increases your unsprung weight. The motors also take a pounding since they do not have the suspension to cushion them. The main benefit of a hub motor is packaging. | ||
| Reepicheep |
You don't need hub motors for regenerative breaking... Just set it up on the chain / rear wheel, and have some kind of proportional control where the first part of the rear brake travel is regen, and the latter part is mechanical brake. This has been on the back of my mind in the e-bike conversion I have been building in my head for the past few years. The batteries are the unsolvable problem right now. The reasonable range ebikes are mediocre bikes for $12k today because they are $4k bikes with $8k battery packs. Off to google ultracapacitors!  | ||
| Reepicheep |
Um, some quick math shows that to get an ultracapacitor powered bike that will give me 25 HP for two hours, it would require about $360,000 in ultra capacitors. So clearly, my bike will have to be government subsidized.  Feel free to correct my math... Derivation below: 1) Looks like a 3 watt hour ultracap is $29 or so on sale ($70 list price). 2) 1 HP is 745 watts 3) So 25 HP is 18,625 watts (19 KW) 4) Maintaining that for 2 hours would require 37,250 watts (37 KW). 5) To store 37,250 watts, with each ultracapacitor storing 3 watts, I need 12,416 of them. 6) At $29 each, that would be $360,083. Ow. It could be a pretty cool way to make a cordless welder though! | ||
| Hootowl |
They're still working on capacity. This manufacturing method is very new. Today, it isn't a solution, but it could be in the future. Some applications use the cap to rapidly soak up power, then charge the batteries, effectively reducing time on the charger. Sounds like a neat idea to me. I hope they pull it off. | ||
| Brinnutz |
Yup, it has two wheels! | ||
| Hootowl |
The rear pulley/belt drive is the only part that reminds me of the Blast!. Seat looks comfortable. | ||
| U4euh |
  Here they are! Still is reminiscent of the Blast to me, thats not a bad thing either! | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
i dont see it. I mean, yeah, it looks similar to a blast as in its not a superbike style etc. And a round headlight. |
