Eighteen months ago, I wrote my column about the state of electric bikes, both in terms of performance and the environment. At the time, I was not overly impressed with either aspect, and noted that electricity was a long way from being competitive with internal combustion. Since I wrote that column, though, a lot has happened.
In the 09 TTXGP race at the Isle of Man, Rob Barber won the one-lap race on his Team Agni machine with an average speed of approximately 87 mph. Just one year later, Mark Miller won the Island’s TT Zero race on the MotoCzysz E1PC with a lap at 97 mph. That’s a pretty hefty jump in just one year; if we look at some TT history, motorcycles took from 1949 to 1957 to make the same increase in lap speed. Perhaps more impressive, the fastest trap speed in the 09 TTXGP race was 106 mph, while last year the MotoCzysz went 135 mph, a huge increase.
Closer to home, Chip Yates entered his electric bike in two races at the first WERA West round at Auto Club Speedway this year. WERA does not have a class specifically for electric bikes, but the club placed Yates in the Heavyweight Twins classes against bikes such as the KTM RC8 and Ducati 1198. While the electric bike was not all that competitive against the big twins (Yes, Yates did finish on the podium in both races, but neither class had many competitive entries), it lapped at about the pace of a well-ridden SV650 or 125 GP bike and posted a top speed of 158 mph. Comparing lap times from some of last year’s TTXGP races with times the fastest superbikes would turn at the same track, Yates’ lap times represent a significant step forward. For example, at Infineon last year, Sean Higbee won the TTXGP race turning lap times approximately 20 seconds slower than some of the superbikes. Yates, however, was less than 15 seconds off a quick superbike time at Auto Club Speedway. The top speed number is likewise a huge improvement, 23 mph faster than the MotoCzysz went less than one year ago. To be fair, race distance plays a part in how much power electric bikes have available for a single lap, but these are still impressive accomplishments.
In the time since I wrote my column, I also did quite a bit of research for the electric bike story I wrote (The Silent Future, Dec. 10). That research gave me a better understanding of what people like Chip Yates and Michael Czysz are struggling with, and my attitude toward electric bikes has changed at least somewhat. No, I haven’t turned my back on internal combustion just yet, but if the present rate of progress carries on, we’ll have decent electric sportbikes sooner than I had originally thought. What about the bikes available now? Well, the Mission One E-Superbike remains the only electric bike we’ve tested to date, and even that was a very limited first-ride courtesy of Alan Cathcart as the bike is available in only small production numbers. I’m talking electric bikes that are competitive in terms of both performance and price with their electric counterparts, and that is still more than a few years in the future.
Another factor that’s changed my mind is that electric bikes will, in one fell swoop, eliminate motorcycling’s ongoing problems with noise. This not only refers to sportbike and cruiser riders with loud pipes, but also the huge off-road contingent; it could have a positive impact on the motorcycle industry as a whole. When I grew up, going for a ride was a simple matter of opening the garage up, pulling my Z50 out and riding to the open field right across the street, where I could make as much noise as I wanted practically any time of the day or night and nobody would care. Finding such an idyllic place to ride is becoming increasingly difficult as time goes on, and that is one reason that fewer kids are getting into motorcyclesone of the big concerns in the industry right now. Youngsters simply don’t want to bother loading up and driving for a half houror moreto ride a motorcycle when they can be happily entertained right now by video games, television, instant communication with their friends or any of a dozen other distractions.
With an electric bike, however, we’d be back at the beginning. Even an empty lot in an otherwise packed subdivision is a potential place to ride, where you wouldn’t bother even the people living right next door. Riding, for kids, would be much more accessible and easy to do. That would hopefully bring more new people into the sport, something that would make a lot of people happy.
As I said in my previous column, there’s plenty of life left in the internal combustion engine. But at the rate things are progressing, it’s looking increasingly like electric bikes are going to be here sooner than we think. SR
I haven’t turned my back on internal combustion just yet, but if the present rate of progress carries on we’ll have decent electric sportbikes sooner than I had originally thought.