Purdue students convert Yamaha to electric

[Brammofan]

http://www.gizmag.com/kleinschmidt-danielson-alltech-electric-motorcycle/21299/

Pretty impressive:  Two Purdue University engineering students have recently completed the conversion of a Yamaha YZF600r to electric power that further pushes the envelope to more than 120 miles (193 km), using batteries cooled by phase change material.
...
As for the build pair's immediate plans - Kleinschmidt told us that he's just partnered with Purdue's Andrew Westrick and Tony Coiro to work on an electric bicycle for the Clean Energy Trust 2012 challenge. Danielson has started work on a new electric motor design with funding from the Thiel Fellowship.

(Tony Coiro frequents the elmoto.net forum)

[protomech]

Neat project - was wondering about the tesla branding on the side until I read through the photos.

The bottom battery box looks like it would scrape pretty quickly when riding vigorously. 120 mph seems pretty slow for a claimed 70kw, though the article claims that's the battery pack's output, not necessarily the motor / controller output.

Beefy specs. Nice to see an EV conversion with a J1772 charger as well.

[FreepZ]

I wonder what they are doing to get such a good range.
 
The article says that the range was extended through thermal management of the battery.

To help extend the life and the range of the battery pack, the build team began working with AllCell Technologies to incorporate the company's phase-change thermal management technology into the design.

Does keeping the battery at a regular temperature really make that much difference? How hot do those batteries get when they are in use?

Besides fairings, what other components could affect the range? Controller? Battery management system?

I'm also curious about how the heat gets dissipated from the PCM once the entire block has liquefied.
As far as I understand PCM, it absorbs heat by turning from solid to liquid (similar to how water maintains 0 C while transforming from solid ice to liquid water) but unless the heat can go somewhere, eventually the entire block will heat up. I suppose continuous use would cause the batteries to heat up, but at least the initial heat could be absorbed thereby protecting the batteries for some time.

In any case, any range extending technology is good news for the EVs of the future!