Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Alan Stewart]

http://www.rideapart.com/articles/tacita-electric-cruiser-hits-road

[Richard230]

Looks nice.  But getting it to the market in volume is always a challenge.  As is staying in business long enough to establish a decent retail sales, parts, servicing and importing network. Not the easiest thing for an Italian firm to do in the U.S.

[nevetsyad]

They've been in the electric motorcycle business for years. They built the T-Cruise just for the US market, which is pretty well reflected by the design, the website uses US prices, I'm hopeful that this will quickly be an option for those that want an electric motorcycle that isn't a Zero.

[NEW2elec]

From the video I can't tell if they are trying to sell a motorcycle, blue jeans, sun glasses or a night tour of Italy.  Give me some bike stats and features not style lessons.

[nevetsyad]

http://www.tacita.it/t-cruise/ - scroll down for stats.

[Richard230]

http://www.tacita.it/t-cruise/ - scroll down for stats.

Impressive statistics and the prices seem about right for what you get.  Now I wonder where they are going to being sold in the U.S.?

I find that 5-speed gearbox a little worrying, though. It kind of reminds me of the one used in the Brammo Empulse, which seemed to be somewhat of useless to me and a bit of trouble servicing, obtaining parts for and maybe not as reliable as you might expect.    Personally, I think they should delete the gearbox and stick with direct drive.

[nevetsyad]

Europe is too small, too many chargers? No need for a huge, expensive, heavy beast like that, besides in the US.

[Richard230]

I also found the comment about sticking to a 120 volt drive system interesting.  I guess that is why Zero sticks to their 117 volt platform.

[nevetsyad]

Yup, just had that conversation on the Facebook Zero owners group. Sounds like these people found a way to charge at 400v, then convert it to 120v for storage.

[protomech]

Yup, just had that conversation on the Facebook Zero owners group. Sounds like these people found a way to charge at 400v, then convert it to 120v for storage.

I'm not sure about that .. charging to 80% takes 40 minutes on the 15 kWh bike .. at 125A that sounds about right for charging a 120V battery (~15 kW ballpark).

They're certainly not doubling the voltage and then transforming down. Seems like a lot of complication vs simply asking for the correct supply voltage, assuming the CCS chargers can drop down that low.

Still .. level 3 charging on a sub-$35k bike is pretty exciting! Even without any aero treatment, 168 miles is a lot of range. I haven't read details of the test spec but I suspect that is constant highway travel. Supercharger-equipped bikes are probably still ultimately better for road trips given the current state of CCS charging in the US, but that will change very soon with new CCS vehicles.

I hope this instills a sense of urgency into Zero to offer a true L3 charging solution.

[nevetsyad]

Energetica is poised to make an announcement soon also, and they have CCS on everything. Rumor is, SR priced bike.

The CCS standard allows for 200–600 volts, but I believe most stations only do ~400+. Same has chademo standard supporting Zero's pack voltage, but then finding out many stations didn't bother going that low and being fully compliant.

[protomech]

Energetica is poised to make an announcement soon also, and they have CCS on everything. Rumor is, SR priced bike.

The CCS standard allows for 200–600 volts, but I believe most stations only do ~400+. Same has chademo standard supporting Zero's pack voltage, but then finding out many stations didn't bother going that low and being fully compliant.

Yes, lower voltage will be a continued problem until e-motorcycle manufacturers are willing to go beyond 120V.

Hardly scientific, but here are the top hits on Google for "CCS charging station datasheet":

Schneider EVDC48050CHACCS - 50 to 500V, 125A
Efacec QC45 - 50 Vdc to 500 Vdc, 120A
Efaced QC50 - 50 Vdc to 500 Vdc, 125A
ABB Terra 53 - 50-500VDC, 125A
Siemens Fast Charge 150 kW - 30 – 920 V (!), 200-400A

Quick check around shows others from DBT, Bosch that go only to 200V. So certainly will be compatibility issues.

[nevetsyad]

Standard is 200+VDC http://www.sae.org/servlets/pressRoom?OBJECT_TYPE=PressReleases&PAGE=showRelease&RELEASE_ID=1587

Wiki says the same.

I mean, don't get me wrong, if they all support it, hellz yeah. Lets get a 1C, CCS, Zero adapter!

[protomech]

Standard is 200+VDC http://www.sae.org/servlets/pressRoom?OBJECT_TYPE=PressReleases&PAGE=showRelease&RELEASE_ID=1587

Wiki says the same.

I mean, don't get me wrong, if they all support it, hellz yeah. Lets get a 1C, CCS, Zero adapter!

I suspect the standard requires a minimum of 200 or 250 Vdc lower support, with optional coverage down to well below 50 Vdc. The standard spec is expensive ($76) and not generally available online, unfortunately.

They definitely do not ALL support it, which will make planning any kind of long trip very dicey on the Tacita or a CCS-equipped Zero. And maybe even if technically supported, it may work poorly in the real world if it has not been tested.

[Hansi]

I hope this instills a sense of urgency into Zero to offer a true L3 charging solution.

Definately, long overdue if you ask me..

Hardly scientific, but here are the top hits on Google for "CCS charging station datasheet":

Schneider EVDC48050CHACCS - 50 to 500V, 125A
Efacec QC45 - 50 Vdc to 500 Vdc, 120A
Efaced QC50 - 50 Vdc to 500 Vdc, 125A
ABB Terra 53 - 50-500VDC, 125A
Siemens Fast Charge 150 kW - 30 – 920 V (!), 200-400A

Quick check around shows others from DBT, Bosch that go only to 200V. So certainly will be compatibility issues.

Here in Norway we had some DBT chargers before, but they were very unstable and have been replaced. Never seen a Bosch, so compatibility doesn't seem like that much of an issue to me..