Dyno'd my Empulse TT

[HadesOmega]

Nor-Cal Cycles in Millbrae, CA held a free dyno day party so I decided to take the Empulse down and run it, would be interesting to see an electric motorcycle on a dyno.  I had them do one run in ECO mode and the rest in SPORT mode.  It was done on a dynojet dyno and was at 50% SOC.  Put out about 43WHP no torque figures.  I'd say that's about right seeing as how the Victory website lists 50HP.  The technician said after about 5k RPM it would stop gaining power.

Video here:



https://photos.smugmug.com/Events-and-Touring/Nor-Cal-Cycles-Dyno-Day-03-31-2018/i-L6zHqpK/0/f1227079/XL/0331181323-XL.jpg

[Shinysideup]

"The technician said after about 5k RPM it would stop gaining power."

That's NOT what the graphic report shows!

Nor is it what I feel with my butt dyno.

[frodus]

Looks like the test was all done in 1 gear. Right?

[HadesOmega]

He said they run it up to 5th gear, it's too bad there's no torque graph, it'd probably be a horizontal line.

I feel when the bike is in the upper RPMs it does feel like its losing power.  That's the case for all the electric bikes I've ridden.  All the power is in the low and mid RPMs.

Another interesting thing is where would you hook a dyno up to the get the tachometer reading is what I was wondering when I was riding there, there's no spark plug wire to hook it up to.  But the dynojet doesn't use a tachometer, it's power vs speed.

[Shinysideup]

I went to the same place a couple of years ago with my Brammo R and was also disappointed that they can't offer torque readings for the freebie day.    Well, it IS free!

Brammo said that peak power and peak efficiency occurs at 5K rpm. Your graph shows an increase past that point, however. I too feel power falling off, but not until well past 6K. When going for max acceleration, I try to shift at 6K.

I also remember that torque is limited by software until above 4K as a wheelie preventative.

[BrammoQC]

You would have seen a substantial increase at the higher SOC levels...

FYI- Factory testing was done in 4th gear

[HadesOmega]

Yeah I'm sure a lot of the power output is dependent on the how the controller outputs the power.  I mean its definitely noticeable the difference in the power curve when its in ECO mode. 

Does the output change with SOC?  I'd imagine maybe if it's lower like around 20% it maybe less because of the voltage sag.  It would be interesting to dyno it at different SOC levels.  Electric bikes so many variables.

[BrammoQC]

Yep, output changes with SOC...albeit very little at higher SOC (>95%) but will reduce along the way.

[HadesOmega]

Interesting would be interesting to see the difference in power at different SOC.  So I'm assuming when manufacturers list specifications for HP it taken at 100% SOC.

[Shinysideup]

I remember soon after I got my bike how shocking it was to feel the motor "missing" as the software protected low cells under WOT when the SOC was at or below 30%. Felt like an ICE does with fouling plugs.

[Richard230]

I remember soon after I got my bike how shocking it was to feel the motor "missing" as the software protected low cells under WOT when the SOC was at or below 30%. Felt like an ICE does with fouling plugs.

My 2014 Zero S (and others) would do that at 100% SOC when the regen would kick in when braking while riding down the hill in front of my home. It would do this for the first couple of miles, until the batteries discharged a bit. Zero solved this issue on the 2017 and 2018 models by reducing the maximum voltage of the battery pack from 117 volts of the 2014 model to 116 volts in the later bikes.  They also increased the minimum voltage of the battery pack when the SOC shows 0% on the display on the newer models.  My 2014 Zero would come to a compete stop at an indicated 0%, but reports are that the 2018 models will run for another 20 miles or so after showing 0%. Of course this reduces the perceived range of the pack, but no doubt increases the life of the batteries and also the chance of being stranded while on a ride.

A lot of these types of issues seem to be the result of deliberate programming by the manufacturer in an attempt to achieve certain goals that are important to them at the time of developing the firmware.

[HadesOmega]

I do know that when my SOC gets low to go easy on the throttle or else I'll hit that low voltage cutoff and it'll just limp.  I've noticed the SOC will suddenly drop when it low, like when I was riding back from the dyno I had 10% getting off the freeway and then suddenly it just went to 0%.  So remembering I still had 10% not long ago I just rode it to a charging station as slow as I could.

I know the Energica does the same thing with the regen when its fully charged the regen is weak.  My Prius does it also, the Prius will also try to bleed off energy by spinning the engine with the motor at a stop if it's full.

[PaulHMartinez]

Whatever they tell you, it seems pretty cool to do that.
Neat idea.
Would be great to get a torque reading.