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[Doug S]

I wonder how much of this is hypothetical talk. Tesla has expressed an interest in opening up their charging network to partners who are willing to abide by the same terms, ie no-marginal-cost charging and up-front network registration.

I don't think it's hypothetical. You can say a lot of things about Elon Musk, particularly his propensity to meet schedules that he himself announced, but you really can't accuse him of not walking the walk when he talks the talk.

Beyond the fairness of insisting that people share the cost of the infrastructure Tesla has single-handedly created and is offering to allow use of, there are very significant risks in allowing anybody to use it. Someone could easily destroy their own equipment and try to hold Tesla liable, destroy supercharger stations, even cause fires and threaten harm or death to themselves or other people. My interpretation is simply that Tesla wants to be very sure to keep anybody away who doesn't REALLY know what they're doing, and doesn't have the skills or resources to work with Tesla to prove their implementations are extraordinarily solid. I know if it were my decision to make, that bar would be set VERY high. Being willing to share resources with other manufacturers doesn't mean they want a bunch of hackers dicking around with their industrial-power-level equipment.

[Richard230]

Here is a cute video review of the prototype (still) Lightning LS-218 by Gismag. When the reviewer goes riding though the redwoods, he takes off from the Alice's Restaurant intersection and rides south along Highway 35, which is the road that I ride almost every Sunday morning. That is not a road that I would want to go all that fast on. Too many deer, cops and a 50 mph speed limit. However, he is doing it and not me. Fast bike, but not cheap and they have only sold one so far that I know of.  When will the production bikes be reviewed? That (very nice) prototype has been around for a while.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Di...ature=youtu.be

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Fixed video link:

[Richard230]

Fixed video link:

Thanks Brian.  As usual I didn't double check the link that I posted.   

[NoiseBoy]

His reaction from 4:18 onwards is one of the best things I have seen on youtube. The bit about loud pipes saving lives is spot on too.

[Richard230]

Yesterday I posted the GisMag video on the BMW site that I frequent (lots of great jokes posted there) and it received a number of "likes" from BMW owners all over the world so far.   

[kensiko]

Yep, great video! If only it could sell.

[Chocula]

I think if they had them available, they would sell.  At least more than the one that has thus far been delivered.

[ultrarnr]

It looks like Lightening has sold another one! Looking on their Facebook page they show the first black and silver LS-218. Very nice!!!! It seems like Lightening is going to be like Bell Custom Cycles, they will build on demand but are never going to have a dealer network of any kind. If you live close to them they are an option but for those of us on the east coast getting support in case of a problem will be a serious challenge.

[Richard230]

The Lightning LS-218 just made the front cover of the June 2015 issue of the San Francisco Bay Area magazine City Bike. A test ride review article is featured in the magazine, but it appeared to be a very controlled ride from the Lightning HQ in Palo Alto to Alice's Restaurant in the Santa Cruz Mountains and back.  A ride of about 40 miles, round trip on city and secondary highways.  The only thing that really caught my eye in the article is the claim of a range of 100 miles from the 12 kWh battery pack.  That range claim is never followed by the speed that you need to travel to achieve it.  The article has no other new information, but a couple of the accompanying photos are interesting.  One photo shows the "factory", with two completed bikes in the foreground and one unfinished bike in the background.  Another photo shows the test rider on the bike and he looks like a "monkey on a stick".  His feet are on the rider's pegs where the passenger's pegs would be located on a Japanese sportbike. A very uncomfortable-looking riding position to me.   

[protomech]

\The only thing that really caught my eye in the article is the claim of a range of 100 miles from the 12 kWh battery pack.

http://lightningmotorcycle.com/product/specifications/

The hero image for the specs page claims 100 miles average range at highway speed. That's not very specific, but it is consistent with Lightning's claims of "usable freeway speed range of over 100 miles" since early 2012.

It seems like Lightning is getting a little more serious about selling bikes. We've seen first ride reports from Motorcycle USA Gizmag and City Bike ... maybe we'll see a real product review soon. I'd like to see full MIC/SAE range specifications as well; I suspect their highway range claim is a little optimistic.

Production bikes have continued to evolve while Lightning gestated. In 2012 Zero's $14k bike had 43 miles of highway range, 0-60 times around 10s, and topped out at 88 mph. In 2015 the same $14k buys you 77 miles of highway range, much nicer equipment including ABS, 0-60 time around 5s, and 95 mph top speed.

[Richard230]

This is review by Translogic is one of the better video ride reviews of the Lightning LS-218 that I have seen so far.  It includes an interview with Richard Hatfield taken in his shop/factory, so you get to see a little of what that looks like, too.  All of the outdoor scenes were shot at the Skylonda parking lot across from Alice's Restaurant and along Skyline Boulevard to the south: 

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/06/11/lightning-ls-218-electric-motorcycle-translogic-178/

[Ranga]

When you build products like these, technical difficulties are inevitable. But shutting off while on a media test ride... that's a companies worst nightmare.

[Richard230]

When you build products like these, technical difficulties are inevitable. But shutting off while on a media test ride... that's a companies worst nightmare.

I was kind of surprised that Richard Hatfield wasn't asked about that power interruption.  I think he should have been asked about it and offered an explanation, even it it was just a programming "glitch" or "operator error".   

[Ranga]

When you build products like these, technical difficulties are inevitable. But shutting off while on a media test ride... that's a companies worst nightmare.

I was kind of surprised that Richard Hatfield wasn't asked about that power interruption.  I think he should have been asked about it and offered an explanation, even it it was just a programming "glitch" or "operator error".   

They may have but didn't include it.  I have yet to see a negative review from Translogic.
And besides, I doubt he had an answer that quickly.