www.DRRiders.com

au contraire mon frere, electric motors produce pretty decent torque. So much in fact, it sometimes needs to be controlled

Tiger100 is quite right about the torque. It is available right away. Some of the makers like Brammo have actually added circuitry to hold off on full torque until up to a certain speed. I may not be a fan of the current state of electric cars and bikes, but I do read about them. What can I say, I am a nerd.

Soapbox: At this point electrics are okay for short commutes. But sometimes people forget about how big some of the countrys are around the world. The US, Canada and Australia are good examples. Around here, most of the people that I know commute at least 15 - 20 miles one way. A 60 mile commute (120 daily) is not uncommon. Many times on freeways doing well over 70mph.
Also I don't think anything of heading to southern Indiana on a Saturday morning without a destination or a time to come home. I can't do that right now with an electric.
And even at $5 a gallon of gas it takes a long time to make up the difference in price of a new electric or a used ICE vehicle.
If I lived in a city and seldom had to go further than 10 - 15 miles at a time an electric might make sense.
Personally, I love ICE's. Nothing compares. Just saw the movie Fast 5 today. It just wouldn't have been the same with electrics or hybrids.
End Soapbox.

Tiger 100 is perfectly right. The early e-bikes had the problem that the instant torque killed heavy-duty o-ring chains within 600-1000 miles, cause torque is available right from the very bottom. I´m working for a magazine about 2-wheel-commuting (mostly covering scooters, small displacement bikes and pedelecs) and are also into the e-market. In Austria the GasGas-importer has been working on an e-trial-bike on the technical base of a stock GasGas: It works, but for real trial sports there is no way to do it without a clutch. The clutch and transmission utilized in the Brammo Engage could be a big step forward (Italian company behind it).

Questions yet to be answered are range, size, weight and standardization. Today you could buy the same e-scooter moped with an AGM-battery for 2000 $ or with a LiFePo4 for 4000. Including a weight-difference of 40 lbs. And you can dump the AGM-battery after about 500 cycles, while the LiFePo4 will do about 1.500. Still too expensive, though.

But the main problem with e-traffic is much more on the practical side: Every manufacturer uses his own standard for batteries, charging and so on. Once manufacturers agree upon a common standard for batteries, the way for "electric gas stations" could be free. You buy your vehicle with or without battery, ride till the red light gets on, go to the station, change battery and off you go. This would boost the range-problem more than including heavier/more expensive batteries with an ever-growing amount of electric capacity. Unfortunately there is currently no sign of manufacturers thinking into this direction ... For cell phones the EU is pressing manufacturers towards standardized charging (which is a good and overdue idea). So it should be a question of time (and amount of electric vehicles on the road) until such a step is made in this field also. It would only be a first step though - standardizing the whole storage-complex including batteries and charging devices would be the thing to accomplish!

It's coming boys, can't stop it, so embrace and prepare!

Just before I hurt myself and lost my job at the start of the year I was in the process of starting a electric drag build. Wasn't going to set any world records, but I was aiming for some track records. In a couple of years, maybe less I'll be heading back.

They are not for everyone, and the statement that they are useless because of their range is idiotic. We have a plethora of vehicles out there for all needs, a study in 2007 found the average daily commute in the USA was 29miles, WELL within the current capacity of all commercially available EV's. Companies getting on board with solar charging stations at work, and government rebates for home solar installs (Australia) makes 'fuel' more available. It's not for a courier, or someone travelling LONG miles daily, but for those heading under 70miles one way, today, we're there.

Batteries need to come a long way, and they will be over the next 10 years. This is a major sticking point due to costs, but over time as pioneer companies and EV owners pave the way, we'll move towards better tech.

With the increase interest in EV racing, TTXGP, Hybrid F1 in 2014, EV drags and Superbikes we'll be seeing A LOT more over the coming couple of years.

The first time I saw the Killacycle cut a 8s pass I was hooked, and will now with Chip Yates lapping 1000cc super bikes I'm a convert for good :p

I love my DR and it will be a LONG time before I'm touring Aus on a EV bike, that said I'll be hurtling down a drag strip near you completely silent and blowing doors of 600hp cars for 4c of power :p

Next step for me in touring bikes is a small displacement diesel (see Hays Tech) running on home grown canola oil.

Felix

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Rob