wonderful.. I especially loved the ending

maybe they should send the vid to Kawasaki.

WANT!!! WANT BAD!!!! Its a thing of BEAUTY!

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Very cool project. Wonder about speed/range?

1. as dag already stated: what about speed and range? and reliablity?
2. it isn't enviromentaly friendly as long as the batteries are full of those nice little chemicals (someday they have to go to waste) and as long as the power comes from power plants that burn oil / coal etc.
3. it is in no way safe, why do you think e-cars are so difficult to built regarding to safety? (Notebook battery fires anyone? ;-))
5. i hope he never crashes with that 'helmet' on ;-)

All in all i like it very much, it's really some nice work. But beware: There's a reason why electric engines are still only on their way. Anyway: Cool stuff :-)

Those looked like lead/acid batteries conan, and I don't they in general are apt to burn like lithium ion laptop batteries (nowhere near the energy density either). Of course you're more likely to get an acid burn when you crash, but is that better or worse than a gasoline fire and smaller acid burn from a regular bike?

The power source is a serious issue I agree. I can't stand it when people suggest that electricity (or similarly hydrogen) is a SOURCE of energy - it's just a means of transmission. Now in a place like France where they have more nuclear power than they can use (especially at night) charging batteries would be a good alternative to burning fossil fuels.

Still a good video!

He's forgetting the most important part of a gas engine on a motorcycle - the noise it makes. Tiny, dull painted cycle vs. giant fucking Hummer with a driver that can't hear you or see you? I don't need to be a wiz to figure out who will win.

>> ^PerfectlySane:
He's forgetting the most important part of a gas engine on a motorcycle - the noise it makes. Tiny, dull painted cycle vs. giant fucking Hummer with a driver that can't hear you or see you? I don't need to be a wiz to figure out who will win.


You've got a point there.

*happy

Adding video to channels (Happy) - requested by calvados.

From the youtube info, the bike does 45 MPH - changing his 6:1 gear ratio up would change his low-end torque and top-speed, and his math says it'll do about 30 miles before needing a recharge, which would take about 6-8 hours.

Which would be ideal for a short commute such as his. Better batteries would probably do a lot to improve his range, but considering that he's using 4 cheapo deep-charge marine batteries from Walmart, that's damn respectable. This is an exercise in modest necessity - it does what he needs. He doesn't need the freeway to get to or from work, so really he doesn't need anything faster than what he's got it tuned to.

Quote from his comments:
Here in Southern California (power company: SCE), when I charge this bike, about 50% of the electricity comes from natural gas, 20% from Nuclear, 15% renewable (Geothermal, Wind, etc), and only 9% comes from coal

Specs from his youtube info:
D&D SepEx Motor (about 45 ft-pd torque at 2000rpm)
400 Amp Alltrax Controller with PC link
Four 12 volt deep cycle marine batteries (Wal-Mart)
Four on-board battery chargers

Total cost: $2800, $1000 of which was the price he paid for a dead Ninja bike. It costs him roughly $0.02/per mile to ride.

Quite the bargain, if you ask me. My dad has a dead Honda Hurricane 600 in his garage, and I'm thinking a project like this would be awesome to do to that.

>> ^oileanach
The power source is a serious issue I agree. I can't stand it when people suggest that electricity (or similarly hydrogen) is a SOURCE of energy - it's just a means of transmission. Now in a place like France where they have more nuclear power than they can use (especially at night) charging batteries would be a good alternative to burning fossil fuels.

>> ^Kagenin
Quote from his comments:
Here in Southern California (power company: SCE), when I charge this bike, about 50% of the electricity comes from natural gas, 20% from Nuclear, 15% renewable (Geothermal, Wind, etc), and only 9% comes from coal

Nuclear energy and gas/coal are unsustainable/inefficient/old-fashioned/dangerous (esp. nuclear)/centralised (elitist) sources of energy, e.g. read this article by Jeremy Rifkin
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0929-33.htm
Conclusion of the article is that there are a lot better options available: "Instead, we should pursue an aggressive effort to bring the full range of decentralized renewable technologies online: solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass. And we should establish a hydrogen storage infrastructure to ensure a steady, uninterrupted supply of power for our electricity needs and for transportation."

Seems to be missing one critical element, which is the controller that is found in many modern golf cart that allows for regenerative braking. Let off the throttle on a down hill or coming to a stop, and it spins up the motor sending energy back to the battery. It's a shame to burn it all of as heat and brake pads. I'd still like a go.