Translogic Goes Two-Wheeling With The Electric Brammo Empulse R Motorcycle

Here is the spec sheets for us nerds! Not too shabby!
Brammo Empulse specifications.

A bit heavier than my bike, half the HP and a smaller tank range...I would ride one around town, but would prefer my Honda for going any farther.

The electric vehicle industry needs to come up with a new battery system. I have heard about G.E. making a locomotive with some sort of sodium battery that can take a hard fast charge without blowing up.

I have heard about batteries that you drain a fluid from and replace the fluid for a full charge.

I have heard of a battery that was a fluid, it releases it's charge as it passes through a cathod and anode. When you need more power you just pass the fluid faster.

I heard about using exotic metallic foam to charge a battery as fast as a capacitor

I heard about super capacitors or hundreds of capacators in a set that could provide power to electric vehicles.

But I have not heard of a good fast charge replacement on the market yet....but I am waiting for the technology to catch up to the dreams!

Drew K

In a way the limitation on charging time is a good thing.

If you do the numbers on dumping a 10 KWH charge minus losses into just this motorcycle in say they typical 5 minutes you would spend at a gas station fueling it up the peak power demand issue becomes very apparent!

At the bikes 103 volt battery rating it likely charges at around roughly 120 volts DC. To do that 10 KWH recharge plus losses you would be needing a charging system capable of delivering somewhere around 144 KW at 120 volts or about 1200 amps at the battery!

Then the charging system must be a large capacity, lets say a 1200V capacitor bank at some kVA, which would discharge thru a rate controlling thyristor thus charging the motorcycle battery to 120V as fast as the battery can take it (heat is the usual problem). The capacitor bank would have time to recharge, they are using battery banks for control power and for AC power line back-up for brief disturbances in substations.

F-1 uses the flywheel for supplemental power, can you imagine putting your crotch over a 60,000 rpm flywheel and going for a ride around town. Although the flywheels could actually be in the motorcycle wheels, using magnetic coupling to remove / restore power as needed. Knowing at any moment...will technology put us alongside Alice Cramden for the next astronauts to the moon to find ?