Author Topic: Tacita off-road electric motorcycles  (Read 666 times)

Richard230

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Tacita off-road electric motorcycles
« on: November 22, 2013, 10:46:51 AM »
Here is an Italian company that is entering the electric off-road and enduro motorcycle market.  The look like pretty nice bikes. You can read the article here:

http://rideapart.com/2013/11/electric-road-bikes-italy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HellForLeather+%28Hell+For+Leather%29
current bikes: 2018 16.6 kWh Zero S, 2011 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 Classic, 2009 BMW F650GS, 2007 BMW R1200R, 2005 Triumph T-100 Bonneville, 2002 Yamaha FZ1 and a 1978 Honda Kick 'N Go Senior.

Shinysideup

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Re: Tacita off-road electric motorcycles
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2013, 12:34:49 PM »
Found this in the article:

"Unlike some other electrically powered motorcycles the Tacita bikes feature a five-speed transmission, which uses a conventional hydraulic clutch."

Brammo better get busy in Europe with their BrammoParx and their own bikes to populate them!

protomech

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Re: Tacita off-road electric motorcycles
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2013, 01:15:42 PM »
Looks good, but expensive.

In the comments someone links to a designer's vision of a renewable energy ADV base camp for electric bikes. Also worth a read.

http://74fdc.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/e-venture-a-motorcycle-biophilia-experiment/
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Shinysideup

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Re: Tacita off-road electric motorcycles
« Reply #3 on: November 22, 2013, 02:12:12 PM »
In the comments someone links to a designer's vision of a renewable energy ADV base camp for electric bikes.

http://74fdc.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/e-venture-a-motorcycle-biophilia-experiment/

Interesting philosophical perspective and nice sketches. I'm left wondering about the engineering feasibility: What's the likely output in kWh of the combined solar tent and wind turbine? How long should I plan to remain in camp before I can continue my ride with a full charge? Any SWAG's, Protomech?

protomech

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Re: Tacita off-road electric motorcycles
« Reply #4 on: November 22, 2013, 05:40:11 PM »
Thin film solar is very light, but not very efficient.

Powerfilm FM16-7200 is 120W, unfolds to 4.5' x 7' (~40 W/m^2).
http://www.powerfilmsolar.com/products/?fm167200&show=product&productID=271514&productCategoryIDs=6571

At 5-6 pounds, though, you could string up as many of these as you can afford ($$$$) and wish to carry. Fixed-angle solar can catch maybe 5 hour-equivalents during the summer, so about 600 Wh per day per panel.


Wind of course can generate all day long, provided the wind is blowing. Arista 300i is a good example of a man-portable wind turbine, at ~15 pounds plus mast (20' okay, 30'+ better.. and that's going to be a rather heavy mast). It is rated for up to 420W at its maximum wind flow speed of 20 m/s. At a more typical wind speed of 5 m/s, it is rated at 76W. Assuming constant 5 m/s wind flow, it would produce about 1800 Wh per day. A burstier pattern - say 10% 10 m/s wind flow, 60% 5 m/s wind flow, 30% 0 m/s wind flow would yield a little less power. It'll just depend on the particular wind characteristics of the site, especially the height of the surrounding foliage.

http://aristapower.com/wp-content/themes/accelerate/pdf/300i.pdf

Read a review of a similar micro turbine. Summary: micro-wind isn't worth the effort in his case.
http://roadtreking.com/experiment-portable-wind-turbine/

Thinking about setting up a 20' or 30' mast, I'm inclined to agree. Unless your area is very windy or not conducive to solar, a portable mast-mounted wind installation seems like more trouble than it's worth. Maybe alternative wind power, like tethered kites or similar would be easier to install.


Micro hydro generators are an alternative to solar or wind. This will probably constrain your choice of base site substantially - and disturb the local environment more - but it should offer fairly constant power. Bourne's man-portable BPP-2 weighs 25 pounds and generates up to 600W, or 14 kWh per day at maximum power output.

http://www.bourneenergy.com/futuremain.html#SPP


Probably the easiest scenario would be to double up battery packs, and have one battery pack charging on solar while you ride on the other one during daylight hours. Both battery packs could be charged by wind or hydro overnight, and they could also provide some AC power as well for lighting or small electronics. You could use an electric stove for cooking if you like, or a solar oven during daylight hours.

For easy battery swaps, you would probably want battery packs made of multiple modules like the Empulse (7 1.3 kWh modules weighing ~25 pounds apiece) or the 2013+ Zero bikes (2 2.5 kWh modules weighing ~45 pounds apiece).

3 solar panels combined with a single wind turbine will likely produce 3-4 kWh of renewable energy per day - 75% during the day, and 25% at night. Assuming 80% efficiency into the battery packs, this would give you around 2.4 - 3.2 kWh of energy per day, or around 20 to 40 miles of riding range.
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Shinysideup

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Re: Tacita off-road electric motorcycles
« Reply #5 on: November 22, 2013, 06:47:29 PM »
Wow! I just KNEW you'd come through!

Let's see, along with the solar tent, a telescoping pole, a wind turbine, a water turbine, I'll have precisely enough room to pack a toothbrush!

Still, it sounds as though I could cover almost twice as much ground with much less effort than hiking...

PS: Here's one not-so-encouraging account of trying to use a portable wind setup:

http://roadtreking.com/experiment-portable-wind-turbine/
« Last Edit: November 22, 2013, 07:08:56 PM by Shinysideup »