Tried out some electric motorcycles Zero S and DS

[BertTrack]

I had a nice ride on them.

The S gave me a little too much the feeling of being sat on the handlebars despite weighing in at 180kg, that's 40 less than my Track and you notice the weight only when going slow and climbing up a sidewalk etc. Well balanced.

I quickly went for the DS as it's wider up front and a bit more "mature" in it's seating position. Also more ground clearance. 11kw of Lithium Iron phosphate battery. Range for both aprox 220km when taking it very easy in the city. Impressive.

http://youtu.be/89gkA911eCc

[gilburton]

Don't think they will sell in the UK at those prices?
I was interested in buying a cheap electric scooter once and taking in to account all the costs inc battery replacement I found that in the UK you would only save the £16 road tax yearly with the disadvantage of poor range so a 50cc scooter was a much better bet.
I'm only talking about the cheap Chinese types costing around £500 so to spend nearly £12000 on the Zero,considering the conventional alternatives, is not really an option.
I would like electric vehicles to succeed but at the moment there is no real incentive to get one.

[Stuart]

Attended a talk come sales pitch on the Zero's tonight. The torque is comparable with my Tiger but even the most expensive electric (with 4 batteries) at £13k only has a range of 137miles before needing a re-charge. It don't come near my Tiger
Must admit though that with less parts to go wrong the Zero may yet have its day.
Also heard Phil Edwards talking about his electric dragster.

[gearhead1951]

go to www.nanowerk.com and do a search for batterys , antigravity batterys (brand name) are already on the market and there are better ones in the pipeline !

8 times the energy storage capability of the best li-on batts previously available !!

[Stuart]

The drag bike they (wealdevt) are working on may well be powered by a large capacitor which will get some recharging under braking to lessen overall charge times for second runs down the strip.

Zero don't see their bike as replacing petrol, only complementing it. Horses for courses etc. the multi fuel diesel would be ideal for third world countries with little or no access to hi tech batteries or recharging power.