They’re almost here… (electric motorcycles)
Jul 18th, 2010 by Leo
One thing I won’t miss with combustion engines is the heat that gets blown on your legs riding on a hot day. Not that batteries and electric motors don’t heat up, but nothing like the exhaust burn inducing heat of a typical street bike. This next generation Brammo looks almost plausible as a street bike…except for one small problem: Electrics are best around cities because of the shorter commutes and the efficiency of electric motors in traffic – but where can you plug in your electric motorcycle if you live in an apartment?
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Recharging the moto isn’t that bad. It’s far from ideal for sure. At least two obvious solutions come to mind.
Removing the battery and taking it inside is one option. The batteries on full on “supersport” electric bikes are too heavy and unwieldy for that, but for the lighter ones, I know of at least one person who locks his electric scooter outside and takes the battery up and put it’s one a charger indoors. He fitted some quick disconnects to make it easy to accomplish this.
Running electric cables out a window is the other obvious option. I know several people who do this for various reasons. One is actually for a electric scooter. He locks it in the easement / alley between buildings and drops an extension cord out his window and plugs in that way. I can imagine this becoming very common with the Brooklyn brownstoners if they can get over the Vespa brand.
Check out the nifty cost calculator on http://www.empulsebuyer.com/tcoCalculator.php
Since electric vehicles have a higher up front cost, this nifty calculator shows you how a comparable gas powered bike would stack up cost-wise over time.
What it tells me is that electrics are *almost* here… With the Fed tax break and gas at nearly $4/gallon, it would still take nearly 15,000 miles before a Brammo Empulse 10 would equal the cost of buying and operating a 600RR…