electric

Time to “Switch” to the eSCRAMBLER Motorcycle

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by Eduard Pana from https://www.autoevolution.com/ While most of the designs of modern electric bikes have futuristic looks and maybe not-so-practical angles, the Switch bike keeps the classy retro scrambler look, which is greatly appreciated by the old-school bike enthusiasts. Matthew Waddick has made a collaboration with Michel Riis in order to achieve a simple, yet functional and sporty electric bike. The base concept started from the eTRACKER concept, getting beefed up with a more powerful motor and a larger battery. The main performance points the bike should tick are: reaching a top speed of 150 kph (93 mph), a 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) acceleration time of 3.2 seconds and a realistic range of around 150 km (93 miles). And it looks like the prototype checks them all. In my opinion, this e-bike looks even more retro than some real cafe racers. Just the fact that Riis and Waddick designed a “fuel tank” to hide all the cables and magic circuits that manage the motor, and also to keep the non-electric look, is really sleek. Even the frame has the classic dual pipes going under the battery (in this case), just like most classic bikes. The motor was placed onto the swingarm, keeping a clean look of the rear wheel, and also making tire changing a much easier job, than if the motor had been placed into the wheel itself. The bike also has built-in GPS tracking, three power delivery modes, cruise control (who would need that on a scrambler?) and of course, an ABS system. Supposedly, this is the system that has postponedthe launch date for so long, because it needs a lot of testing and fiddling in order to make it work as intended. Switch claims that a road-legal eSCRAMBLER will be available in 2022, so if you want […]

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Riding This Electric Motorcycle Must Be Like Mounting a Steel Beam

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by Eduard Pana from https://www.autoevolution.com In a world where internal combustion motorcycles reign over electric vehicles, there are some guys who love electricity combined with exotic designs. Joseph Robinson is one of the guys who love the minimalist and futuristic design that can only be managed with electric vehicles. Because of the many limitations traditional engines provide, electric motorcycles are convenient for futuristic designs because the only major concerns are: where do you locate the motor (which can be placed into the wheel or into the frame), having a square’ish space for the battery, and fitting 2 wheels at the ends of the bike. Robinson managed to design a concept bike with a Z shape frame that starts in the front headlight and extends to the rear lower swing arm. It seems the front suspension has struts hidden under the plastic covers of the fork while the rear suspension isn’t hidden from the eye of the beholders, having a pretty hefty shock as presented in the photos. The rider’s position on the bike resembles the position on a super sport bike, with the rider leaning forward for more aero points. However, the bike does not provide any kind of wind protection for high speed cruising on the freeway, so that means this bike is specially designed for city driving and very light touring rides (the battery is limiting the distance you can cover with an electric vehicle anyway). As a bonus point, it seems like the handle bars and pegs are foldable so you can get more aero when going on a straight line… I’m joking, of course, they should be folded when the bike is parked, in order to save some space in tiny areas (I always get my T-shirt caught on my bike handle bars when I’m moving

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Zero’s SR/S electric motorcycle promises up to 201 miles of range

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by Steve Dent from https://www.engadget.com by Alex Perry from https://mashable.com You can also charge the premium model in under an hour. Like EV owners, electric motorcycle riders suffer from range anxiety. Zero Motorcycles is trying to alleviate that a bit with a new model, the SR/S. It can go up to 201 miles in the city and 103 miles on highways — better numbers than the last SR/F model all around. Best of all, Zero managed to keep the price just above the SR/F by keeping the same platform and introducing a full fairing to improve aerodynamics. On top of the full fairing, the SR/S has a more relaxed riding position, but otherwise uses the same battery pack and engine as the last model. As more of a sport touring-type bike, it also weighs about 20 pounds more than the 485-pound SR/F. However, it still goes like heck thanks to a 100 horsepower, 140 foot pound motor, hitting speeds up to 124 mph. The base SR/S can go 161 miles on a charge or 82 miles on the highway, so to get the extra range you’ll need to add the Power Tank option. It takes four hours to charge the base model with a regular charger, or 1.3 hours with the 6 KW rapid charge option. However, you can speed that up to two hours (regular charge) and one hour (fast charge) with the premium bike. Other features include the Cypher III operating system that can handles traction control, braking and charging, along with connected capabilities that lets the owner monitor bike status, alerts, system upgrades and more. The SR/S is now available starting at $19,995 (compared to $19,495 for the SR/F), or $21,995 for the premium model. The 3.6 kWh Power Tank option runs an additional $2,895 and will

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How data is driving new approaches to transportation

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from New York Times Analysing digital streams of information from electric scooters and motor-assisted bicycles are helping solve travel congestion issues. Five seconds after a Los Angeles rider unlocks a dockless electric scooter with a smartphone app and sets off to a destination, a cityoperated databank is informed. Five seconds after the trip ends, typically no more than a mile away, another alert updates the record, noting the location. In 24 hours, the exact route is uploaded and logged for analysis. That ride to the bus stop or the convenience store, emissions-free and nearly silent, would seem to be a zero-disruption event in a sprawling city with millions of people and vehicles. Yet extrapolated over years, it foreshadows a shift of potentially enormous consequences. While the identity of that rider is unknown to the city, a stream of data from the scooter’s GPS module and cellphone link — speed, time of day, battery state of charge — flows to cloud servers an average of a million times a month during Los Angeles’s pilot program. Each trip is but a trickle of bytes, yet it is a rich resource for the planners and the policymakers who hope to tame the persistent tangle of traffic in this vehicle-dependent metropolis. That vehicular chokehold can weigh as heavily on a neighborhood dweller as it does on a road user. “Cities have to assure that their resources are used efficiently, and that includes the shared spaces,” said Stephen Zoepf, chief of policy development at Ellis & Associates, a Silicon Valley consultancy that helps cities develop transportation technology plans. “The effects of crowding, in noise and emissions, are a tragedy of the commons,” he continued, using an economist’s term for situations in which resources are depleted by those acting in self-interest rather than the general good.

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Futuristic SA motorcycle to go into production

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by Denis Droppa from https://www.businesslive.co.za Unlike anything yet seen on two wheels, Pierre Terblanche’s R1.1m Hypertek electric bike takes shape A futuristic South African motorcycle that attracted interest at a recent international motorcycle show is to go into production in two years’ time. Looking like a prop from a Blade Runner movie, the prototype of the outlandish Hypertek electric bike was unveiled in November at the EICMA show in Milan, Italy, the motorcycle industry’s premier annual showcase. The Hypertek is a collaboration between SA’s Blackstone Tek (BST), a Johannesburg-based company specialising in carbon-fibre automotive components, and well-known SA designer Pierre Terblanche who penned iconic motorcycles like the Ducati 749 and 999. The striking Hypertek takes a bold sidestep from conventional motorcycle design. Looking like it was assembled from a giant Meccano set, it features no fairings and has all its mechanical elements on display, with the lithium-ion batteries housed in a finned, engine-like casing. Is it pretty? You decide. Is it spectacular? Heck yes. The bike is powered by an 80kW electric motor and has an estimated range of about 200km, taking as little as 30 minutes to fully charge on a DC quick charger. BST’s Terry Annecke says the $80,000 (R1.14m) bike is aimed at the high-end luxury market and will be hand-assembled in small volumes at BST’s Joburg factory from early 2022. She says the Hypetek has received 10 confirmed orders with at least 50 people “seriously interested” since the bike’s appearance at EICMA. Annecke expects a mostly international clientele for the bike, although the first two orders were placed by local buyers. “The Hypertek is aimed at people who appreciate it for its exceptional design and Pierre’s reputation,” she says, adding that the world-famous Barber motorcycle museum in Alabama, US, wants one for its collection. Terblanche, the

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Electric scooters can help cities move beyond cars v pedestrians

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by Alex Hern from https://www.theguardian.com The government is showing signs of legalising electric scooters on roads, but new laws should be about safety, not horsepower If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that being hit by a scooter hurts less than being hit by a bike. That may sound like a strangely negative place to start, but it’s sort of fundamental to why I’m glad the government is finally showing signs of legalising the use of electronic scooters on public roads across the UK. The current state of the law is a mess. Its broad strokes are reasonable enough: powered vehicles require an MOT and registration to use on public roads, while unpowered vehicles do not. Pavements are for foot traffic only. Access requirements complicate matters, but only a little: wheelchairs, both manual and powered – legally, “class three invalid carriages” – can go on pavements, while some – class four – can go on roads as well. Then, in the 1980s, the law was modernised to support the first generation of electric bikes. Fitted with simple motors that aided hill climbs, it felt silly to ban them as electric vehicles, and so a new category – the “electrically assisted pedal cycle” – was invented, and the laws amended further in 2015 to remove weight limits, allow for four wheels and increase the maximum power of the motor. Which means, as the law stands, you can ride a four-wheeled vehicle of potentially unlimited weight, largely powered by a motor up to 15.5mph, on public roads without training, licensing or registration. But not an electronic scooter. Nor, for that matter, a 5kg, 10mph “hoverboard”, unlikely to hurt anyone save its rider. Looking at the laws from the ground up, the distinguishing characteristic should be safety, not how a

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Chinese Startup NIU Reveals U.S-Bound Electric Motorcycle, Three-Wheeled Scooter

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by Mircea Panait from https://www.autoevolution.com Harley-Davidson isn’t trailblazing the industry with the LiveWire electric motorcycle. Two-wheeled vehicles with e-propulsion are huge in China and a few other places around the world, but the Middle Kingdom takes the lion’s share in terms of volume. More than 30 million units are sold in the People’s Republic each year, and this causes a little bit of chaos in the urban jungle. Major cities such as Beijing and Taiwan have banned e-scooters in 2016 along with segways, but nevertheless, business is good. So good in fact, a startup called NIU decided to showcase two models at the CES 2020 for the U.S. market. Not to be confused with Chinese automaker NIO, the company plans to roll out the RQi-GT electric motorcycle and TQi-GT covered three-wheeler to places like San Francisco, San Diego, Austin, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and even Honolulu. NIU first landed in the United States with a fleet of 1,000 mopeds in Brooklyn as part of a partnership with Revel. The mopeds in question feature 60 and 80 miles or range, respectively, Panasonic batteries, and up to 3,800 watts of get-up-and-go from the e-motor. Billed as an urban performance motorcycle, the RQi-GT is capable of 160 km/h (100 miles per hour) from 30 kW and two removable batteries with a total capacity of 6.5 kWh. In other words, riders can expect up to 130 kilometers (80 miles) in one go. Thanks to that kind of range, the RQi-GT has the makings of an interesting commuter mobile. Next up, the TQi-GT is a little more special because it’s the manufacturer’s first self-balancing electric three-wheeler. As if that kind of technological wizardry wasn’t enough, look forward to autonomous driving (or riding?) functionalities such as self parking. The TQi-GT comes in second in terms of top

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AI-Driven Electric Motorcycle Shows Self-Driving Tech Is About More Than Autonomous Driving

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by John Koetsier from https://www.forbes.com/ Damon Motorcycles unveiled its new electric motorcycle today at CES in Las Vegas, calling it “the world’s smartest, safest and most powerful electric motorcycle.” My first thought: it can’t be both the most powerful and the safest. Then I kept reading. And I started believing it might be possible. First off: the power. The Damon Hypersport has “over 200” horsepower, which is a lot for a motorcycle. But even more impressively, it delivers 200nm of torque at zero RPMs … the classic electric vehicle advantage. (Although how RPM means something in an electric motor is a mystery to me.) Thanks to that power, the bike has a top speed of 200 miles/hour. Which, by the way, doesn’t sound very safe. But the safety features are impressive. As you’d expect in a motorcycle, they’re not about crumple zones or air bags. Instead, they’re about intelligence. Specifically, predictive intelligence: what’s around me, where is it going and what do I need to avoid? The Hypersport will track the speed, direction and acceleration of up to 64 moving objects around the bike, Damon says. Damon calls it the “CoPilot 360º advanced warning system.” CoPilot 360 uses cameras, radar and “other sensors” to know what’s around and alert riders to threats, the company says. “We spent the last three years developing an AI-powered, fully connected, e-motorcycle platform that incorporates CoPilot, our proprietary 360º warning system … Damon motorcycles will be the safest, most advanced electric motorcycles on the market.” – Jay Giraud, co-founder and CEO, Damon Motorcycles That’s not just about what’s ahead of you. The system “looks around corners,” although I’m sure it’s not bending any laws of physics, and keeps an “eye” on the rear to see what might be coming from behind. And, it will learn

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Damon’s Electric Motorcycle Will Have 200-Mile Range, 200mph Speed, Safety Suite

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by Bill Roberson from https://www.forbes.com 2019 was a big year for the nascent electric motorcycle niche, and it looks like 2020 is going to start with another shock to the system with Vancouver B.C.-based Damon Motorcycles announcing some eye-opening performance numbers and cutting-edge safety tech for their upcoming machine, called the Hypersport. A prototype Hypersport and specifications were revealed Tuesday morning at the 2020 CES electronics expo in Las Vegas. Damon claims the Hypersport will be be capable of some fairly hyper numbers, including 200 horsepower, a 200 mile-an-hour top speed, and 200 miles of highway range, as well as 300 miles of range in urban riding. Additionally, the Hypersport will be bristling with technology heretofore unseen on most any motorcycle, including on-the-fly adjustable ergonomics and a car-like rider safety system. Damon had previously sent out emails ahead of the CES reveal teasing the fact that “200” was their “magic number,” so while it might have been easy to deduce those figures, they still stand out against the specs of competing bikes, which often struggle to achieve half of those performance figures. A run of 25 premium high-spec bikes with a price of $40,000 will be the focus of an initial Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, while a more mass-market Hypersport will come in at $24,995. The crowdfunding campaign will complement additional financial backing from Round 13 Capital, Techstars, Fontinalis, Extreme Venture Partners and Pallasite Ventures. Ahead of CES, Damon CEO Jay Jiraud told Forbes.com the Hypersport will feature their exclusive on-the-fly adjustable ergonomics package, called Shift, and an extensive rider awareness/safety system they call CoPilot. The Shift ergo system will be able to change things like seat height, handlebar height and footpeg location, changing the riding position from a tucked-in sport posture to a more standard-style sit-up arrangement for more comfortable

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Damon Motorcycles and BlackBerry QNX Revolutionize Motorcycling with the Introduction of Hypersport Pro Electric Superbike

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– Damon to unveil flagship motorcycle, the ‘Hypersport Pro at CES 2020 in BlackBerry Limited’s (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) booth #7515, North Hall. – #FutureOfMotorcycling Interactive Experience will be open to all CES attendees in the BlackBerry booth from January 7 – 10, 2020 VANCOUVER, British Columbia and WATERLOO, Ontario, Jan. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Damon Motorcycles announced today that its CoPilot™ advanced warning system will be powered by BlackBerry QNX technology across its entire line-up of advanced electric motorcycles. As part of the agreement, Damon has licensed BlackBerry QNX technology, including its industry-leading real-time operating system to serve as the safe and secure foundation for the Damon CoPilot warning system on its new flagship electric motorcycle. Damon will unveil this disruptive, limited edition superbike, the Hypersport Pro™, and open reservations to the public online and at CES at 10:00am PST, January 7th. In BlackBerry’s booth, attendees will also be able to experience Damon’s next generation motorcycle first-hand in the #FutureOfMotorcycling Interactive Experience, a rideable, leaning stationary motorcycle that uses virtual reality to showcase the motorcycle’s unique features on the show floor.These features include its powerful all-electric performance, its CoPilot advanced warning system, and Shift™, its patented rider ergonomics that lets riders electronically adjust the Hypersport’s riding position while in motion. CoPilot uses radar, cameras and non-visual sensors to track the speed, direction and velocity of moving objects around the motorcycle. Attendees can book a time slot to experience it at CES by visiting damonmotorcycles.com/VR. “We’re on a mission to unleash the full potential of personal mobility for the world’s commuters,” said Jay Giraud, Chief Executive Officer of Damon Motorcycles. “To address this, we spent the last three years developing an AI-powered, fully connected, e-motorcycle platform that incorporates CoPilot, our proprietary 360º warning system. By building it on BlackBerry’s best-in-class

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