It’s no secret that as gas prices soar and battery technology evolves, electric bikes are fast becoming the next big two-wheeled thing. That trend is clearly evidenced by the strong showing ebikes are making at this year’s Eurobike trade show, currently taking place in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Over the next several days, we’ll be showing you a few examples that we’ve spotted at the show, but to start things off… well, let’s kick out the jams and go with the “Oh come on, you can’t be serious” ebike. It called the BlackTrail, and with a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), it’s officially the world’s fastest electric bicycle – and probably the most awesome-looking, to boot.
The BlackTrail is the result of a collaboration between two German companies, namely PG-Bikes and carbon fiber products developer UBC, which also designs parts for Formula 1 race cars and Porsche Carrera GTs … Details
At the 2010 BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials week Lightning Motors took the FIM and AMA land speed record for special construction partial streamlining electric motorcycles (300-APS-W) with an official two-way average speed of 173.388 mph. Blasting down the course at 170.732 mph with a 10 mph headwind, Lightning Motors’ return run was clocked at 176.044 with no wind.
This was a marked improvement over the team’s unofficial 166mph pass last year, but still short of the company’s goal of hitting 200 mph on the salt flats. Coming straight from the track at VIR, the only modifications to the Lightning electric motorcycle was … Details
Because they produce no exhaust gases in operation electric vehicles (EVs) are seen as the eco-friendly alternative to conventional gas-fueled cars. While zero-local emissions is clearly a big plus, other factors contributing to the overall environmental impact of EVs are often overlooked – namely the manufacture, usage and disposal of the batteries used to store the electrical energy and the sources of power used to charge them. Now, for the first time, a team of scientists from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (or EMPA) have made a detailed life cycle assessment or ecobalance of the type of lithium-ion batteries most frequently used in EVs, to see if they really are as environmentally friendly as their manufacturers would have us believe.
The Bullet Buckeye team from Ohio State University has set a world record average two-way speed of 307.7mph (495km/h) with its battery electric Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2.5. The lithium ion battery powered car eclipsed the previous 245mph (394km/h) world land speed record for battery electric vehicles set in 1999 by White Lightning. The new record was set by the Bullet at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah this week, is pending certification by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the worldwide motor sports governing body.
The Bullet was required to make two speed runs, one each in opposite directions and within 60 minutes, in order to be considered for the record … Details
Okay, so maybe you saw the bicycle pedals in the picture. Forget those for a minute. You can sit on this thing (no need to pedal), twist the throttle and do 62 miles per hour. Sure, range is quite limited when you go that fast, and “cruising speed” is substantially slower.
The point is this. As Jay Leno explains in the video below the specification list from PG-Bikes (in its Germanglish, unedited), the Black Trail is an electric transportation device so light you can pick it up and put it on the bus with you, or put it in the back of your SUV. According to its manufacturer, you can recharge it 80% in 30 minutes (2-1/2 hours for 100% charge) … Details & Pictures
Who would have thought even three years ago that we’d be comparing three U.S.-manufactured electric street motorcycles priced for popular consumption, and with no less a mission than to change the world?
While Zero, Brammo and Native may only sometimes allude to this intent, anyone paying attention to all the rhetoric pouring forth can see this is a goal in which these small startups seriously hope to play a significant role.
Accordingly, the Zero S, Brammo Enertia and Native S are … Details & Pictures
Twenty-three hours into the toughest production-car race in the world, the Porsche 911 GT3 R hybrid was leading, more than 30 miles in front of the next car. And then, with an hour to run in the famed Nürburgring 24-hour race, the car failed. Despite the array of breakthrough machinery, the culprit was a simple valve spring.
Now we’re driving the exact same car, Porsche’s idea of racing into the future. Given that the hybrid came within an hour of winning Germany’s premier endurance race, that future is close at hand … Details
The Bullet Buckeye team from Ohio State University has set a world record average two-way speed of 307.7mph (495km/h) with its battery electric Venturi Buckeye Bullet 2.5. The lithium ion battery powered car eclipsed the previous 245mph (394km/h) world land speed record for battery electric vehicles set in 1999 by White Lightning. The new record was set by the Bullet at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah this week, is pending certification by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the worldwide motor sports governing body.
