Yamaha electric bike prototype

It looks like Yamaha is displaying an electric motorcycle prototype at the Tokyo motor show. I seem to recall several discussions about electric MC's a couple years ago, I know there are a couple models available, although I've never seen them on the streets where I live.

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2017/10/13/yamaha-reveals-wild-electric-motorcycle-concept.html

Nice! Runs on three AA batteries!

TOTALLY AWESOME RAND!!! DEFINITELY appears that electric motorcycles have come a long way!!!!

Here is another point of interest for me that you all may enjoy..

Coming out of Canyonland N.P. a number of years ago we pulled into a fuel station (kinda pricey place - 5.29 a gallon for 85 octane). There sat a bike that appeared to be plugged into a 110 volt outlet, it had been "streamlined" like bikes that run on the Bonneville Saltflats, had some decals on it and just looked suspiciously like something I should check into (its a flaw in my charector, always nosing around...)..

I Tweeks sitting on the fuel island and boogied over to the suspicious bike. Tippy went inside to get something to drink (cool off - it was well over 100).. The bike looked to be an electric motorcycle built for highway usage.. Some pretty elaborate fairing type work and lots of NASA looking wiring and stuff.. Tippy came out and told me that she thought she noticed a guy inside that had probably been riding the bike.. Of course we went right back inside to check him out..

Come to find out the guys name is Terry Hershner (sp), riding cross country on his electric bike. He was on his way to Ohio for some fuel economy competetion with the likes of Craig Vetter, Mr. Vetter Fairings himself (whom he is very good friends).. His goal was 1000 miles in 24 hours (good ole iron butt stuff) at zero cost!! Said he could run about 80 mph for almost 150 miles without a recharge.. I was telling him about our love for coasting downhill and about a 39 minute coast we had experienced at Kings Canyon last year and how I imagined he got the same "feeling" riding an electric bike as we do coasting down mountains - engine off, in neutral (the silence is amazing).. He was amazed at us for doing that - even let me to sign the back of his bike!!!

My back started hurting just looking at that thing.....

I was in a discussion just the other day about the future of electric cars and trucks since GM, Ford and Volvo all have recently announced that they expect to be all electric in the next 10 years.

Now if a production electric car can do 0-60 in 3 seconds, and top out at 200, I wonder what an electric sport bike can do. Might even be able make @cowpuc and Maggi look like a couple of old V-Twins.

I was in a discussion just the other day about the future of electric cars and trucks since GM, Ford and Volvo all have recently announced that they expect to be all electric in the next 10 years.

 

Now if a production electric car can do 0-60 in 3 seconds, and top out at 200, I wonder what an electric sport bike can do. Might even be able make cowpuc and Maggi look like a couple of old V-Twins.

Got that right Jeff.. Only thing is,, I highly doubt that falling over at 200 mph on an electric bike would hurt any different than falling over on a fossil fuel one so those youngin's who will be riding them best start practicing on 2 wheels today..

,,, looking maybe even farther down the road to future touring,, I cant help but wonder if these mini drones with camera's on em are gonna turn into some form of individual transportation.. Those little things already have a "return home" thing in em so if ya loose track of em all ya gotta do is push a button and they will come right back - pretty cool.. Be neat to walk out to my garage, drag out my drone, punch in your address, climb in the seat,, fly over the pond (draggin a fish line for Salmon), hover over your shed and drop an egg into each of the nozzles on the White Washer, land in your drive way, climb in your 2 seater drone and fly out to that Ice Cream joint your always about...

The End,,,, take that back,,, The NEW Beginning

Ok so I get the point, I really do, electric vehicles are good for the planet & all that stuff, but what I want to know is why do people driving electric vehicles not have to pay for their fuel? When I pull in to a gas station I have to pay for a fill up. At present people with EV's have charging stations that in most places cost nothing to use. It's a "perk" for being a trendsetter & having an EV.

In Vancouver Canada they recently had to introduce a parking time limit at charging stations because some users would park there all day with their vehicle plugged in as it was cheaper than paying for parking downtown!

Look, I'm not against electric vehicles at all, but the electricity to power/ charge them has to come from somewhere & it costs to produce it. I think we are being misled & breeding a group of EV users who are being "bribed" by Gov't to have an EV. (e.g.Rebates, Free charging points, being allowed in HOV lanes with only one person in the vehicle).

People are being misled into mistakenly thinking that their fuel is basically free & will always be so. If they plug in at home it's not free, why should it be so anywhere else? In addition power companies are trying to get us to reduce energy usage, so how does that work when there are more & more EV's?

The Zero electric MC was one I looked at a few years ago. There's a dealer for them here in Atlanta. It appeared well built and enough like a light weight real MC to be of interest. I think we had a brief forum thread about them once upon a time.

It looks like the Zero being ridden in the Ironbutt had some extra streamlining applied. I didn't know Vetter was still around.

http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/

Which end is the front?

Which end is the front?

The end pointed at The Dairy Queen, of course !!

Fellow biker insisted that I try his Zero while I was in Reno. I've been riding my RSV trike for seven years now, so it really felt

strange to me. First of all, I was up on my tip toes. Power is instantaneous and smooth. It scared me, and I was ready to get

off. This fellow has two Zero motorcycles, his second has much more battery capacity.

I was listening to a MC podcast a week or two ago and the speaker was relating how he drove his Zero through a stream. The bike was set up as an off-road version with knobby tires.

As he proceeded the water level was over the handlebars so it was completely submerged. He crossed or rode through the stream, climbed the bank on the other side, turned around and crossed back over again. Then he had a one hour ride home. It never missed a beat

Ok so I get the point, I really do, electric vehicles are good for the planet & all that stuff, but what I want to know is why do people driving electric vehicles not have to pay for their fuel? When I pull in to a gas station I have to pay for a fill up. At present people with EV's have charging stations that in most places cost nothing to use. It's a "perk" for being a trendsetter & having an EV.

In Vancouver Canada they recently had to introduce a parking time limit at charging stations because some users would park there all day with their vehicle plugged in as it was cheaper than paying for parking downtown!

Look, I'm not against electric vehicles at all, but the electricity to power/ charge them has to come from somewhere & it costs to produce it. I think we are being misled & breeding a group of EV users who are being "bribed" by Gov't to have an EV. (e.g.Rebates, Free charging points, being allowed in HOV lanes with only one person in the vehicle).

People are being misled into mistakenly thinking that their fuel is basically free & will always be so. If they plug in at home it's not free, why should it be so anywhere else? In addition power companies are trying to get us to reduce energy usage, so how does that work when there are more & more EV's?

I was listening to a MC podcast a week or two ago and the speaker was relating how he drove his Zero through a stream. The bike was set up as an off-road version with knobby tires.

As he proceeded the water level was over the handlebars so it was completely submerged. He crossed or rode through the stream, climbed the bank on the other side, turned around and crossed back over again. Then he had a one hour ride home. It never missed a beat

This is what I am talking about,, let the capitalistic free enterprize system/market decide what is and isn't gonna fly.. That said, wouldnt it be wayyyy cool if, as a follow up of what Zude heard about here = the electric scoot turned into a submarine kind of machine where a person could strap on a set of scuba tanks and go riding on the lake bottoms!! The new horizons would be endless!!!!

Well when every vehicle goes all electric. I was, am, just wonder where they are planning on getting all this electricity?

Mike

Fellow rider has written extensively about his Zero motorcycles. He believes he's addicted.

"I just now got back to my main house in Reno. I put the bike in the Sport mode and still had 40% left when I got here, after riding the bike very hard but more in the direction of the wind. The max speed I can get (indicated-no GPS) was 88 MPH. But I went up a hill at 88 and when I came down the hill it would still do only 88 MPH indicated. Seems nothing effects the top speed in either mode. Level, uphill, downhill all the same top speed. A few MPH indicated less than the spec of 91 MPH. Next ride I will take a GPS and see what it says my top speed really is. But IAC, it's certainly fast enough for me and it sure handles nicely in the turns. The way the thing accelerates is really something with the no clutch and no shifting, I pass everybody from starts by quite a distance.

This bike will get it's best MPG in stop and go traffic because every time the throttle is closed while the bike is moving, the battery is being charged by the motor that then becomes a generator. That doesn't happen much on the freeway.

BTW, all the Zero bikes have ABS.

-Don- Reno, NV"

"I think the name Zero means zero emissions, zero maintenance, zero gas, zero vibration, zero shifting, etc.

-Don- Reno, NV"

http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/zero-fx/specs.php

Electric vehicles are not free or as good for the planet as people say. Check out the mines where they get the lithium to build the batteries. Is the electricity being supplied by a coal fired power station? Atomic powered? How often do you have to change the batteries and at what cost? How many batteries are there? What about the factories manufacturing the batteries? How do you dispose of the batteries? All questions you never see mentioned in any conversation about electric vehicles.

When I was yakking with Terry Hershner about his vast experience with the "Zero" compared with my experience riding a scoot in California traffic compared to the silence of coasting on a bike out of the mountains was the fact that electric bikes are very quiet.. I asked Terry if he had experienced any situation that made him wish his bike had the loud rumble of an open piped Harley.. He laughed and said = LOTS OF TIMES!!! I suggested maybe it was time for the rebirth of the "VaaaRooom Motor" (anyone remember those?) that was popular amongest the rich kids in our area when I was growing up.. Terry didnt remember the Varoom motors but after I explained to him what they were we had a mutual laugh concerning the truth about how applicable to the subject at hand the thought of producing fake motorcycle noises really might be..

Zero Motorcycle

I think the idea is good and yes there are hidden costs for the electrical production and battery manufacture.

As far as electrical production thanks to a former president, American tax dollars are rapidly being spent to subsidize wind farms and other renewable energy sources that will not be cost effective until there is no fossil fuel available.

For batteries that is an easy one China has no problem exposing their factory workers to the hazards so they can sell to us.

Here is a bike converted for electric power I saw at a local University car show. Not real pretty, but the owner said it handled fairly well.