Viable for adv touring awaits battery tech to improve pretty dramatically.
Local rides are now practical, some off road and trials bikes...but range and charging speed still needed and to a degree charging stations.
A Gold Wing has enough space and weight for a decent size battery pack. If the Ducati 18kWh battery pack weighs 110kg (and that's not state of the art, by the way! that's Chevy-Bolt-era storage to weight ratio - makes me suspect that Ducati is sandbagging their claims) then a bike the size and weight of a Wing ought to be able to handle double that, if not more.
Charging stations are going to be showing up everywhere over the next few years.
As usual with this sort of thing, companies will fit into one of three groups - as will consumers. Lead, follow, or get run over.
Any mention of EVs on social media reveals that there are an awful lot of consumers that will be in the "get run over" group.
Not me if I can possibly help it. At this point, I have no intention of purchasing another vehicle with a combustion engine. I know there's plenty of consumers in that group, too.
I was told once, when I started working for one of the majors, "everything you do here is sales support".
If a manufacturer figures there's money to be made they'll run with it, and vice versa.
also find it hilarious that most manufacturers are like " guys we need to make efficient affordable practical commuter electric bikes to pivot for the future"
For me, sound or noise isn't a defining issue toward character or feel of a bike.
The aftermarket exhaust companies haven't made anything from me over 40+years. In fact, my KTM690 came with a Leo Vince slip on which I found annoyingly noisy/loud (and cheap looking) even after repacking so I bought a stock can and was back to being happy.
Appearance/style and how it's used define it's character for me, and "feel" is related to performance and maybe the confidence or comfort I develop with the machine.
That's not to say I don't enjoy or appreciate the exhaust note/mechanical music of a Vincent, my Norton, my old Triumph Speed Triple, HD XR750's on a mile track, 2 stoke road racers and many others.
Been waiting for an electric minivan, but the Odyssey is still running fine. Why throw out what is still usable?
In the meantime we had another blackout. Infrastructure was supposedly upgraded a few years ago, from having several blackouts per year, and seems to be reverting. Maybe the neighbors with electric cars have backup natural gas generators; but that might be in the bad books now too.
On an electric bike, it's almost trivial to add some front wheel power/regen if desired. That could have interesting implications for street bikes. On the track probably less so as regen won't be enough to matter under hard braking and power won't matter as much under hard acceleration as the front wheel doesn't have much weight on it anyway. On the street though, the front motor may weigh less than adding more battery to extend range. Maybe not as maybe they can get all the regen you'd want from the rear wheel but I doubt it.
As for all feeling the same, it is easy for each bike model to have a different software defined torque curve. On a "sport" bike, have the power build with revs to get the rush. On a cruiser, let torque fall off so hp doesn't keep climbing. To make a hairy rider experience, you could simulate a 2 stroke coming on the pipe or a 80's turbo car with lag-lag-waaaaahhhh. Not as fast but probably quite entertaining.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
: 
