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20 kWh / 160 hwy miles / 1 hour CHAdeMO / $27000 PP1

1 (5.3%)

20 kWh / 160 hwy miles / 1 hour CHAdeMO / $23000 PP2

3 (15.8%)

15 kWh / 120 hwy miles / 1 hour CHAdeMO / $23000 PP1

0 (0%)

15 kWh / 120 hwy miles / 1 hour CHAdeMO / $20000 PP2

3 (15.8%)

Interested in touring but primarily need lower prices

2 (10.5%)

Interested in touring but primarily need more range

0 (0%)

Interested in touring but primarily need faster charging

2 (10.5%)

Not interested in touring electric

8 (42.1%)

Taco

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 19

[Richard230]

I think it all depends how you use your electric motorcycle.  I use mine for daily local transportation and for utility purposes to replace my car and because it is much easier than starting up one of my IC motorcycles and driving a few miles to get somewhere and not even being able to fully warm up the engine or recharge the battery.  I can go three miles to the grocery store, another half mile to the hardware store, 8 miles to visit my mother, another three miles to ride to the mall, a couple more miles to hit the drug store, etc.  If I did all that on an IC motorcycle in one trip, I would be creating an acid bath in the crankcase and the battery would be flat by the time I got home.  If I was still working, I would be riding my Zero every day a distance of 10 miles there and 10 miles back.  If I need to go over 80 miles, I then ride one of my IC motorcycles, such as I will be doing this week as I ride up to the BMW national rally in Salem, OR. A larger battery would give me more options for recreational riding and if the bike weighed another 80 pounds or so it wouldn't bother me any more than does my current stable of 500 pound bikes.  Actually, I prefer a heavier bike for its more stable ride on the highway.

So, I really don't need fast charging as I have no intentions of only owning an EV for all of my transportation needs - especially consider the cost of the fast charging system.  Finally, unlike the gas station industry, at this point in time, you can not depend upon charging stations being both accessible and operational.  The infrastructure just isn't here yet and it will likely take many years before you will be able to depend upon finding a charging station on every corner, having it properly maintained and in working condition, like you can with a gas station.

[ColoPaul]

I would love to tour by Electric motorcycle someday.   Before that can happen, battery chemistry and technology would have to improve and there would have to be some fast charging infrastructure in place.   
I would want 25 -30 KW of battery and recharge time < 15 minutes.   That is a pretty tall order and a big advance from where things are today.   Oh, and I would not want the bike to weigh any more than the 2013 Zeros either.   
I also like to tour on motorcycles in remote back road places so the charging infrastructure would have to be widespread.  I don't want to motorcycle tour on I5. 
A hybrid motorcycle would be heavy and complex.   

I think that Zero should stay in their niche until battery tech and charge infrastructure get a lot better.

Ditto.  Really well said.

[nicktulloh]

Why not a sidecar full of batteries? I've had several hacks, the last was a 2005 Thruxton that I raced in the AHRMA Thruxton Cup Series for three years and then put on the street with leading link forks and a Motorvation Spyder. I'd toss a couple of 50 lb bags of sand in the hack when it was empty.

You can hang a hack on almost anything.

[protomech]

I think it makes more sense to focus on reducing charging time rather than larger batteries. There are plenty of ice bikes that can't travel more than 120 on a tank of gas, it's just that they can be refilled quickly.

Yes. The two can't be easily isolated however.

You need to have enough range to hop between DC charging points with a suitable margin of error. More range beyond that is nice, but perhaps not required.

I usually think of charge rate as a C-rate. When evaluating cells of differing density, charge power density by weight or volume is probably the more important factor.

120 mile range @ 70 mph with a Vetter aero fairing needs around 12 kWh. Most CHAdeMO chargers max at 48 KW or 100A, so a 4C charge rate is "enough". 480V 25Ah pack would do the trick.

I wonder what the densest available cells are that can accept a 4C charge rate.