Last year’s TTGXP, was a huge success, with electric motorcycle manufacturers from across the world taking the trip out to the Isle of Man for the single lap race. Agni Motorcycles walked away with the 2009 crown, but many electric motorcycle manufacturers sat out the inaugural race. 2010 is going to be a much different year as the TTGXP expands its series to several different countries. The first race is scheduled to take place at the Infineon Raceway in California.
Throwing their hat into the ring with the likes of Mission Motors and Brammo is Roehr Motorcycles. They are promising to bring their an eSuperbike to the TTGXP that has more torque than most family sedans. Sweet!
By Christopher DeMorro •
November 16, 2009
One hangup for a lot of folks unsure of electric drivetrains is the cost. Most electric cars are out of the price range a majority of the population can afford, at least right now. Costs will go down as the technology spreads.
Brammo is getting a head start though, dropping the sales price of their Enertia Electric Motorcycle from $11,995 to $7,995, a 33% cut in price on a motorcycle that has only just hit the scene.
By Timothy B. Hurst •
September 23, 2009
The Optibike OB1 electric bike gets an equivalent of 2,287 MPG.* Could bikes like these be the future of transportation?
Ever wonder what happens when you cross the finest mountain bike components money can buy, an 850w brushless DC motor and a 20ah lithium-ion battery with motocross styling and sensibilities? You get the Optibike OB1, an electric bike that can get up to 45 miles on a nine-cent charge, and what is arguably the finest electric bicycle in the world.
In fact, the Optibike OB1 even found a spot in the California Academy of Sciences museum, touted as “the future of transportation.” There are only 24 OB1’s made per year. When one of them is bought, the owner becomes part of an elite club of enthusiastic riders. And for four fun-filled days in August, I was lucky enough to be a member of that club — or at least able to pretend like I was after being provided one for a short term test drive.
By Christopher DeMorro •
September 17, 2009
The Mission One electric superbike set a land speed record of 150 MPH at the Bonneville Salt Flats for electric bikes on the 1st of September. This record sets the Mission Motors electric motorcycle apart from the herd, proving both the viability and performance capabilities of electric motorbikes. With individual runs as high as 161 MPH, the Mission One achieved speeds faster than 70% of the entrants at the annual BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials.
Segway inventor Dean Kamen is developing a hybrid electric scooter that can run on almost anything that burns.
According to the patent, the bike has a small two-piston Stirling engine right under the seat. Though with an engine of that size, it really isn’t going to provide much juice - not much more than 5bhp.
A Stirling engine is based on tech which predates internal combustion engines by almost 100 years. It’s kinda like a steam engine in the sense that it uses external combustion. They use pistons for the crankshaft, but unlike the alternatives they have no valves for no gas ever enters or leaves the cylinders.
Tony Parker Has Built An Electric Bike Made From Junk. He Also Made A Solar And Wind-Powered Charging Station For The Bike.
Tony Parker has built an electric motorbike completely from found junk.
Why? The laid-off worker found himself with a lot of time and just began tinkering around the house.
By Ariel Schwartz •
January 17, 2009
Here’s your eye candy for the day— the Schwinn Tailwind hybrid electric bicycle. The Super Charge ion Battery (SCiB) equipped bike charges via a standard outlet in under 30 minutes (7 minutes via a 40 amp commercial charger). The 5ah, 24V battery works for 2000 charge cycles at full capacity and maintains 80% capacity after 6000 cycles.
By Joe Mohr •
July 29, 2008
My sister and I bought and assembled an electric motor for my dad’s bike this Christmas. It was the first gift he’s ever enjoyed from us.
Recently retired and now living in a suburb of St. Louis, we knew he’d never take to biking as there were a number of screw-this(!) sized hills all throughout his town. Through ten years of teaching I know that adults are far less resilient than children and often times need but one excuse to say “screw this” and go back , in this case, to a steady diet of TV watching. But we were elated to see how much he enjoyed his juiced up Electra Townie! Whether it’s riding with my mom (another proud new owner of an electric bike–she had to keep up), biking to the store for groceries, or putting it on the bike rack and hitting the Katy Trail, few days go by that he’s not on his electric bike.
This began my love affair with electric bikes.
By Max Lindberg •
May 2, 2008
The inventor says riding this bike is easy, you just have to learn to trust it.
18 year old Canadian Ben Gulak has spent a lot of time developing this motorbike, which resembles a unicycle in every way, except that it has two wheels, side by side.
How is it balanced? Ben uses gyroscopic technology to keep the bike upright, and it responds only to body movements. Lean forward, the faster you go, lean backwards and you slow down, and to either side, you get the idea.
It isn’t the speediest bike around, reaching 25 mph on a full charge, which lasts about 2.5 hours. A larger motor, however, would increase the speed, but how fast would you want to go on a unicycle?
