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[Richard230]

Found it, thanks.

“So the first 50% of throttle movement accesses less than 30% of the torque, but then when you want to push it harder, as you go up from the other 50% of throttle rotation as measured by a potentiometer inside the handlebar, it progressively delivers more and more torque.

At least that is apparently the way it was on the prototype mule.  But that may not be the case on the production Strike. 

[Doug S]

So the upshot is, the torque delivery is non-linear to the throttle position. That's probably a good thing. Human senses tend to be more logarithmic than linear anyhow, so it might feel more intuitive, in addition to helping keep people out of trouble with that monster torque delivery. Most people aren't going to whack the throttle open without knowing what they'e doing and being ready for it.

[togo]

> ... as measured by a potentiometer inside the handlebar, ...

Um, not hall effect? 

[ultrarnr]

Here is a brief comparison between the Lightning Strike and the Energica Ego. Bottom line is the Ego is more expensive but you get a lot more electronics.

[Alan Stewart]

Here is a brief comparison between the Lightning Strike and the Energica Ego. Bottom line is the Ego is more expensive but you get a lot more electronics.

To be fair, Lightning may not have revealed every detail yet.

[Richard230]

Here is a brief comparison between the Lightning Strike and the Energica Ego. Bottom line is the Ego is more expensive but you get a lot more electronics.

To be fair, Lightning may not have revealed every detail yet.

Of that I have no doubt.     I think there is still a lot of mystery hidden under that fancy sportbike plastic. 

[protomech]

They claim they'll deliver the 20KWH one first, starting in July, but you have to pay half now if you want one.

I've added Lightning Strike Carbon to my long range electric motorcycle comparison spreadsheet.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yWRS4EHtyGPexF4lcX4nlG5bTlSQ7Oh7tBTWL5zlbPo/edit?usp=sharing

I've also sorted the columns in order of availability, Harley Davidson is at the end, of course.  Lotta smoke and thunder from over there.

Really nice work on the sheet. I hope edits are okay as it's open for editing - I've added some information about range and charging speeds. I can back these out if not wanted.

This is what I want to see from electric bikes in 2019 - effective fairings for efficient highway riding, large-format batteries, and L3 charging. Basically my personal dream punchlist, and what I think electrics need to really move beyond a commuter product and reach mainstream bikers.

I hope Lightning can deliver, but I don't believe they can. Here are some of my concerns:


1. The specs are incredible - well beyond what Energica and Zero offer.

20 kWh battery, carbon fiber fairings, $$$ components, L3 charging, 6 kW L2 charger.. for less than the 12 kWh Zero SR-F Premium.


2. The battery weights don't make sense.

To the best of my knowledge, Alta (RIP) had the densest production battery at 185 Wh/kg.

Let's say Lightning has 200 Wh/kg. That's 55 pounds difference between 10, 15, 20 kWh batteries.

Lightning claims a difference of 10 lbs between 10 and 15 kWh models, and 20 lbs between the 15 and 20 kWh models.


3. The prices don't make sense.

$13k - 10 kWh Standard Range
$17k - 15 kWh Mid Range, same equipment as Standard Range
$20k - 20 kWh Carbon Edition, adds carbon fiber fairings, 6 kWh L2 charger ($1500 alone), L3 CCS support ($1500 alone), Brembo and Ohlins components, upgraded dash, etc.

I don't see any compelling reasons to buy the midrange bike.


4. The reservation deposit is fully refundable - provided the company has funds to return - but is not held in escrow and will clearly be used for development.

I would regard any reservations as a donation to the company in order to secure an earlier bike should it make it to production.



As I said - I hope Lightning makes it to production and can profitably produce the Strike. Their racing bikes still hold records, and they've been operating in the EV space for close to 10 years but have not yet offered a mass production bike.

Remember what happened with Mission - let's hope for more success for Lightning.

[Brammofan]

Dang it Proto, rock solid analysis as usual.

[Richard230]

Here is RevZilla's take on the Lightning Strike - but based only upon their press release  : 
https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/first-look-lightning-strike-standard-mid-range-and-carbon-edition

And in case that is too much excitement for you, I will toss in this review of the new Vespa Elettrica     : 
https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/vespa-elettrica-first-ride-electric-scooter-review

[ultrarnr]

So it is now several days after Lightning's big reveal of the Strike. But if you go to Lightning's web site it is really tough to find the details on the Strike. You would think it would be front and center but it isn't. I found the details on the Strike by clicking on the link for "About" and then clicking on "News" and then you see the article on the Strike reveal. There are no photos of the Strike there, only computerized images of what Lightning claims the bike will look like. Even under the "Community" link where the "Photos" link is there is nothing on the Strike, only the LS-218. If this bike is really going into production in July you would think there would be a production ready version out there. There is no doubt that action photos of riders having a great time on the Strike would help sell the bike and convince riders to put down a down payment on one of them. This really looks like a lot of smoke and mirrors. I hope I am wrong. Lightning sure got the motorcycle world excited with a few details of the Strike. But days after the reveal the details are still buried deep on the web site instead of being front/center and no actual photos of the bike has increased my skepticism. Time will tell.

[NEW2elec]

Well that's funny, Lightning had 2 video links from their webpage.  One was a history of Lightning Motorcycles and the other was this video.
Now it's just on their YT channel.

[Brammofan]

Well that's funny, Lightning had 2 video links from their webpage.  One was a history of Lightning Motorcycles and the other was this video.
Now it's just on their YT channel.

If you listen at about 15 seconds and again at the end, there are audio "watermarks". Not sure what that's all about, but maybe they uploaded the wrong version?

[Richard230]

It looks like they added the closeups of the Strike to the original longer (and boring) video that popped up during the day of the Strike launch.

[wavelet]

Dang it Proto, rock solid analysis as usual.

++ Very nice!
One thing I'd add -- correct me if I'm wrong, but the claim of adding 100mi of range in 20min yields 10kWh in 20min using Lightning's  own city range number for the "standard" model (100mi city range), which gives an average (not peak) charge rate of 30kW. On a 10 kWh battery, that implies a C-rate of 3 . Isn't that rather high?

[alko]

Dang it Proto, rock solid analysis as usual.

++ Very nice!
One thing I'd add -- correct me if I'm wrong, but the claim of adding 100mi of range in 20min yields 10kWh in 20min using Lightning's  own city range number for the "standard" model (100mi city range), which gives an average (not peak) charge rate of 30kW. On a 10 kWh battery, that implies a C-rate of 3 . Isn't that rather high?

A lot of things don't make sense about the lightning specs. Personally, I don't think they even know themselves yet.