With today’s batteries, our 2016 SR ZF13.0 with a Power Tank (i.e. largest battery configuration we offer) delivers close to 200 miles in the city and close to 100 miles at 70 mph. This is already a very capable product for a variety of usage cases. And, when energy density doubles, we could build a similar bike with twice the range, or with similar range and half the battery weight and cost. The latter means being able to eliminate close to 100 pounds and thousands of dollars.
A good point.
Gas motorcycles typically have 100-200 miles of range, even though additional range costs very little in terms of weight, packaging, or cost. Some have even less range, ie peanut tank bikes that are meant for local cruising only.
Further, electric motorcycles can charge overnight - they will start each day with a full tank, in essence.
The drawback is that quick charging for motorcycles is virtually non-existent today. I think that's what drives many proclamations from traditional motorcyclists that want 200, 300, 400 miles of range before "I would ever buy one of those things".
As quick charging infrastructure moves into place - which should align well with increases in battery capacity discussed above - I think there will still be a very healthy market for bikes with 10-15 kWh of onboard capacity, even if a 30 kWh battery pack is possible.
As an aside:
While range in 2016 is almost 6x what the range was in 2009, total battery module weight of a ZF13 + power tank is about 2.5x the weight of the 2009 S module (80 pounds vs ~220 pounds). In fact, the 2016 monolith + power tank together weigh about as much as the entire 2009 S bike! That's not to discount the huge improvement in quality, capacity, range etc .. but there's no room to double battery weight again, unless you start talking about 800 pound cruisers. And even then I'm not sure.
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Topic: Cycle World - Abe Askenazi Interview (Read 982 times)