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Torquehd
| | Posted on Monday, March 24, 2014 - 07:58 am: | 
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The Energica, while not yet commercially available (to my knowledge) looks like a more affordable contender. The article says it will be ready for market in 2015.
http://www.cycleworld.com/2013/09/23/2015-energica -ego-electric-superbike-first-ride-review-photos-v ideo/
http://www.energicasuperbike.com/
It has limited reviews and information available. I doubt it's on the same level as the Mission, but it may be a stepping stone to affordable Electric sportbikes. |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Monday, March 24, 2014 - 10:38 am: |
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About 100 miles at 45 MPH, so usable for a normal commute.
$20K still puts it in the "have money to burn" category. |
Sifo
| | Posted on Monday, March 24, 2014 - 11:17 am: |
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About 100 miles at 45 MPH, so usable for a normal commute.
$20K still puts it in the "have money to burn" category.
And takes it out of "superbike" territory. Actually the power available takes it out of that territory too.
I do think it's pretty impressive though. Not useful for a simple day ride on the bike though. Very expensive commuter bike. Impressive as it may be, those two limitations puts it in a very small niche market. |
Torquehd
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 10:10 am: |
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Anyone know why the Mission would use an AC induction motor instead of a permanent magnet axial flux motor?
From what I've read, the latter provides a greater power density and efficiency than the prior.
Also, Reep, since you seem like you know a little about electric motors, are you familiar with Yasa motors? They seems like they have very good power to weight ratios, and their size would be perfect for a motorcycle, but I've never seen an E-motorcycle using a Yasa. |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - 12:59 pm: |
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I was mainly electronics. Machines and Power 2 was one of the only two D's I got in college. 
So I am just a good speculator.
I think I know that one though... a permanent magnet motor (or generator) is limited by the strength of the magnet in terms of how much power it can make (or generate). But it can "bootstrap" from nothing (no battery).
A non permanent magnet motor uses two sets of coils, one as the spinny part, one as the stationary part, both powered. So you can control the strength of the magnetic field and make a stronger magnet and more power. it also means you can't start with nothing when you want to use it as a generator, you actually need a battery to power up the coil at the same time you are spinning the motor. So you need a battery with some power to be able to charge a battery.
Of course if you are sending power to a spinny part, it needs a wire hooked to it, so you need some kind of brush and contact arrangement. Permanent magnets don't need wires to work, so you can just glue them to something and spin them without any complicated and fragile brush setups.
I'm sure the dual coil motors are more efficient across larger performance envelopes. Permanent magnet motors can probably be very efficient within a narrow range of peak power (corresponding to the strength of the magnets). |
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