The purchasing of electric vehicles is on the rise. There are quite a few advantages to electric over gasoline powered vehicles, but the main issues with electric motorcycles remains the battery life and range.

On top of cutting carbon emissions while driving, electric motorcycles have better acceleration than normal motorcycles. Because there’s no transmission, the power coming out of the engine isn’t hindered by multiple gears before it’s transferred to the wheels, creating more torque. Also, because the heaviest part of the bike is the batteries, the weight can be separated evenly throughout the bike and lower to the ground. A lower center of gravity means better balance at lower speeds, which isn’t achieved in a gas-powered bike with a bulky engine. Finally, the most practical advantage (and my personal favorite) is the engine noise: there is none. Motorcycles have an obnoxious, belching yell that hammers my eardrums as they pass me the road.

The fastest electric cycle to date is the Mission One made by Mission Motors. It tops out at 161 mph, which is about the 70^th percentile among bikes tested at the Bonneville speedway in Utah. It also has a higher-than-average range of 150 miles, which is certainly enough for most people to commute to and from work and run daily errands before plugging in to charge overnight. Unfortunately, these cycles aren’t going into mass production in the near future, but there are more practical choices out there.

Among the most acclaimed (but also available) bikes is the Zero S by Zero Motorcycles. It has a top speed of 70 mph and an estimated drive time of about 45 min. It’s more expensive than most 600CCs at $11,995, but it comes with Geek Squad support courtesy of Best Buy. With technical support and a top speed that is highway-friendly, the Zero S leads the pack in innovative but practical bikes available to the common consumer.

If you’re looking for top-of-the-line innovation, check out anything created by Jake Loniak. His take on the motorcycle is a wearable exoskeleton called the Skele-Cycle. Technically, it’s a tri-motorcycle, but the innovation itself is new to the market and may re-vamp the market completely. It’s top speed round out around 75 mph, and is controlled by 36 pneumatic ‘muscles’ that inflate and deflate to change steering. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, this bike would be silent on top of speedy.

Check out more innovations at PopSci.com and keep your eyes on the horizon for newer and better bikes.

Exo-Cycle demonstration.

Photos from:

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2008-08/wearable-motorcycle

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-09/worlds-fastest-electric-motorcycle-sets-new-record

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2009-07/test-drive-zero-motorcycles-electric-zero-s

Tags: Electric Vehicles, Motorcycle, Radford University, Whim

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 11:20 am and is filed under Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.