Fully Charged reviews e-bikes

[protomech]

Nod once for "did the acceleration make you mess your pants"..

[protomech]

Another dual-agni concept bike has popped up just recently.

Engadget article
http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/08/roskva-electric-motorcycle/

elmoto discussion
http://www.elmoto.net/showthread.php?2417-Roskva-electric-motorcycle-revealed-in-Norway-with-carbon-fiber-chassis-and-clothes

I don't expect to see this hit production anytime soon, or for a sane price. Neat idea though.

[Deadly Silent Ninja]

Another dual-agni concept bike has popped up just recently.

Engadget article
http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/08/roskva-electric-motorcycle/

elmoto discussion
http://www.elmoto.net/showthread.php?2417-Roskva-electric-motorcycle-revealed-in-Norway-with-carbon-fiber-chassis-and-clothes

I don't expect to see this hit production anytime soon, or for a sane price. Neat idea though.

The comments on the engadget's website are always--how can I put it nicely?--inspiring!

Anyway, it's a cool race concept, but it doesn't seem too new. I didn't see anything about prices, so it's just another nice thing to look at and hope someone will eventually take the step to a new production bike like Brammo and Zero. Concepts are really cool, but I am itching to ride an elmoto on a daily basis.

[protomech]

Any more news, machone?

It appears the Agility does use a LMC motor. See this blurb on LMC's news page:

Agility Global Ltd. is a vehicle design and manufacturing company specialising in zero-emissions transportation solutions and we at LMC are proud to be a part of this exciting new British urban sports bike. By developing a new motor with the Agility team we will be powering the Saietta into the future.

Agni Motors (which presently employs Cedric Lynch) has a brief history of the Lynch motor, along with some details of the connection between Lynch Electric Motor Company (LEMCO) and LMC. of course, this is being presented from only one point of view.

In July 2002 the Danish parent company of LEMCO dismissed Cedric Lynch. An industrial tribunal ruled several months later that the dismissal was unfair and also ordered LEMCO to pay Cedric a large amount of money it owed him. On the same day LEMCO was put into liquidation heavily insolvent. Many of its assets had been transferred over the previous few months to L.M.C., a previously dormant company owned by the same parent company, which has since continued making motors in the UK.

Subsequently Cedric got together with his friend Arvind Rabadia, who together with his Brother Hasmuk Rabadia had been thinking of starting a business in India, and set up Agni Motors to make further-improved versions of Cedric's motors.

And in a 2009 BBC interview:

Agni Motors CEO Arvind Rabadia: "[Cedric] is a quiet and unassuming man, not interested in money just his motors and people have taken advantage of him."

Cedric: "I’d been involved with another company that was manufacturing their own version of my motor. Their parent company dismissed me in 2002 when they had all the technology in their hands."

[machone]

Sorry for the delay in replying but I've been away from electronic contact, which was nice!

W.R.T. Agility, they requested and I gave them a VERY detailed profile of my most probable usage and of my daily commute. This included every set of lights, realistic speeds and other possible stops. They have built a simulation ride and are testing it now. I have not yet been contacted about the results but I will be organising a test ride soon(within the next month). The delay is in travel cost which has taken a hike due to the Olympics.

Will post if there's any 'real' news. All ebikes seem to be shy or slow with mainstream reviews.

[kingcharles]

@machone, any news from Agility? I read that they are going for a 2 speed gearbox now.

[protomech]

https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/energy-efficiency/articles/-/blogs/9319124

If they're just now getting funding to look at gearbox development .. Brammo had a working prototype in spring of 2011. So don't expect to see a working multi-gear Saietta for a couple of years.

Are the Saiettas in production now? The article gives that impression.

[kingcharles]

There should be a working prototype with 2 gears in 6 months.
No info on production though.

[FreepZ]

I hope they succeed. Making a robust 2 gear gearbox is really quite difficult, as Tesla discovered when they tried to put one in the Roadster.

“Last December, when the two-speed transmission designed by a previous supplier proved not to be durable, we announced we would modify our approach,” said JB Straubel, Chief Technology Officer of Tesla Motors.

They ended up with a single speed gear box, and modified the rest of the powertrain to achieve their range/speed goals.

Perhaps some new minds can think of new solutions.

[860]

I hope they succeed. Making a robust 2 gear gearbox is really quite difficult, as Tesla discovered when they tried to put one in the Roadster.

“Last December, when the two-speed transmission designed by a previous supplier proved not to be durable, we announced we would modify our approach,” said JB Straubel, Chief Technology Officer of Tesla Motors.

They ended up with a single speed gear box, and modified the rest of the powertrain to achieve their range/speed goals.

Perhaps some new minds can think of new solutions.

I am convinced that the problem with the Tesla was that the gear ratio difference between the two gears was just way too big.  You basically had a motor that was spinning at really high rpm, and then having to quickly change in RPM to match a suddenly much slower rpm input shaft.  If the motor had any torque going to it at all (pedal still down) then the torque would be transferred to the wheels, the axle shafts, the motor and transmission mounts, and to the transmission and motor themselves. 

They were basically doing a hard shift equivalent of shifting from 2nd to 5th and 5th to 2nd over and over again.  I'm not surprised that under power this led to bad things.

I'm hoping that having much narrower gear ratio differences on the Empulse will greatly reduce that problem.

[machone]

No news. I havn't had any time to get to the UK. I have been handed to another member of their team but so far nothing to report. I'll avoid complaining too much yet because I havn't made the effort to get over there. I have been told that I can order now and the lead time would be 3 months. This would be December delivery. I have to test ride first and I'd like to compare to a 600ice of some kind which are available for hire in London.

Agility is a much smaller operation than Brammo and they have been busy going round all the relevant motor shows in the UK selling. The demand is high according to them. As far as I know they are using the SVA process for licencing which I used for my kitcar - single vehicle approval is a piece by piece inspection of each unit produced. This 'bypasses' some of the crashworthiness and licencing requirements for mass produced vehicles. If this sounds a little heath robinson it isn't, but it does raise questions about export until they are officially producing a production bike instead of many individually UK approved units. The website needs updating and I still havn't seen any independant reviews.

I am smarting a little that I have had no results from the simulation of my commute - difficult to replicate in the UK I'm sure but I spent time producing the details and there's a faint wiff of 'stall tactic'/bs about it now, 6 weeks on. When I do the test ride I'll post here......It's not easy buying an electric bike, is it? How close to oil starvation do we have to get before EV production speeds up?

Firmly off topic but linked by battery power and technology,  I bought a couple of Roomba floor vacuum and cleaning robots a few months ago. Excellent marketing, glossy brochures, no lead time, no false claims and no pre-order list. They work and have also gained me points with my fiance! Recommended.

[machone]

The website needs updating and I still havn't seen any independant reviews.

The Agility site is updated with some more specifics. With Zero bringing out new models, Lightning selling their awesome machine and the Empulse almost ready to ship it feels like things are really starting to 'move'. Good

[protomech]

I agree. I thought 2012 was going to shape up to be the real year of the elmoto. Brammo has failed to ship to individuals, even if Enertia Pluses are trickling out to HKPD. (We still have a bit left in the year, so maybe some Empulse Rs will get out there). Zero released the 2012 to significant success, but the model has been somewhat marred by technical glitches .. now solved, but.. KTM Freeride E is the first production electric motorcycle from a traditional manufacturer, but it was supposed to be a limited run of 100 bikes in 2012 and I've heard very little about it after the news flurry late 2011 / early 2012.

So. 2013? Hopefully we'll have both the Empulse and the Enertia Plus shipping in volume. The 2013 Zero lineup is significantly revamped, and I think will give Brammo good competition .. both in sales and on the track. Perhaps we'll see the KTM Freeride E shipping in volume .. and if sales figures are released, we'll have a feel for how much the lack of a traditional manufacture nameplate and dealer network has held Brammo and Zero back to date. BRD is supposed to ship sometime in 2013. On the one-off high-end, we may see some some Lightning and Brutus bike sales as well.

TTXGP should heat up a little - I think the Empulse TTX and the 2013 Zeros will be very competitive for the eSS award, and I think they will both set a "you must be this fast to race" bar. I don't think the 'roll your own approach' will remain viable for long.. but maybe we'll see some interesting new bikes based on their powertrains.

TTX75 may be dead .. VT is moving up to a higher class of competition, and Eli may do so as well. Then again .. nominal capacity for the S ZF8.5 should be 8.5 kWh * 3.7 V nominal / 4.2 V max = 7.49 kWh ..