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[Richard230]

This is a great catch for Zero Motorcycles: 
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/former-brammo-exec-brian-wismann-joins-zero-motorcycles/

[frodus]

They caught a keeper with him!

Good luck Brian!

[protomech]

Hot damn. That's awesome, and imo a "stick a fork in it" moment for Brammo

[Richard230]

Hot damn. That's awesome, and imo a "stick a fork in it" moment for Brammo

Except I seem to recall that Brian's last job was working for Polaris/Victory and not Brammo.  My guess is that either he was part of the Victory garage cleaning, or he saw the handwriting on the wall and realized that his passion for electric motorcycle development wasn't going to lead to a great future at that company any time soon.     Whereas at Zero....   

[NEW2elec]

I could see a push towards faster bikes.  Question is will he push for liquid cooling or stick with the status quo.
Transmissions?

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

I could see a push towards faster bikes.  Question is will he push for liquid cooling or stick with the status quo.
Transmissions?

You know what you need to get either of those? A new more robust frame. I'd welcome a better frame for sure.

[benswing]

I hope he brings a lot of the lessons learned in racing with victory to Zero. Also it would be great if he could influence them to use a higher voltage so they can eventually utilize DC fast charging. 

Welcome to Zero, Brian!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[protomech]

I hope he brings a lot of the lessons learned in racing with victory to Zero. Also it would be great if he could influence them to use a higher voltage so they can eventually utilize DC fast charging. 

Welcome to Zero, Brian!

I wonder if that was an ulterior motive to the "long brick" 2017s.

56S 1P instead of 28S 2P would be 196V to 235V, assuming an operating range of 3.5V to 4.2V per cell. That's probably close enough for a 200V minimum DC quick charger to operate, and maybe they have enough room to squeeze in another cell or two.

Motor is relatively easy to re-wind for higher voltage.

Motor controller and charger will be the big puzzle. Sevcon never offered a "small" Gen 4 in the 200V range, but they haven't publicly published their gen 5 product line.

It also effectively kills the Power Tank.

So who knows!

[NEW2elec]

I could see a push towards faster bikes.  Question is will he push for liquid cooling or stick with the status quo.
Transmissions?

You know what you need to get either of those? A new more robust frame. I'd welcome a better frame for sure.

Well if your going that far they may as well give it some contact points for, oh I don't know, fairings?

[Justin Andrews]

I hope he brings a lot of the lessons learned in racing with victory to Zero. Also it would be great if he could influence them to use a higher voltage so they can eventually utilize DC fast charging. 

Welcome to Zero, Brian!

I wonder if that was an ulterior motive to the "long brick" 2017s.

56S 1P instead of 28S 2P would be 196V to 235V, assuming an operating range of 3.5V to 4.2V per cell. That's probably close enough for a 200V minimum DC quick charger to operate, and maybe they have enough room to squeeze in another cell or two.

Motor is relatively easy to re-wind for higher voltage.

Motor controller and charger will be the big puzzle. Sevcon never offered a "small" Gen 4 in the 200V range, but they haven't publicly published their gen 5 product line.

It also effectively kills the Power Tank.

So who knows!

Lower Amps required, faster top end, quicker charging.
Power electronics are more complex, but if Sevcon can deliver.

The potential future achilles heel of the Zero was always going to be its low voltage. I pray that you are right, and they are preparing for a voltage increase.

[Electric Cowboy]

I'm not sure hiring someone whose last two companies failed is so great. But maybe I am more pessimistic than you guys.

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[Brammofan]

I'm not sure hiring someone whose last two companies failed is so great.

Not quite. Brammo sold off the electric motorcycle division to Polaris, but Brammo still exists as an electric drivetrain company. Brian never worked for Victory or its parent company, except to help with the transfer of the division and as a technical adviser when they went racing.  And although Victory is gone, Polaris is still going strong. 

[Rhamphorhynchus]

To increase the voltage by much, they'd have to switch from MOSFETs to IGBTs in the controller, with the efficiency loss that goes along with that. I'd be surprised to see that happen.