It depends on what kind of rider you are and how far you want to go, but more importantly how fast you want to accelerate and how fast you want to go at top speed.
I was in Germany recently on the autobahn and I noticed just so very many Teslas sitting in the middle lane while we overtook them for miles and miles I just kept seeing them.
I asked my brother in law how come these Teslas are being overtaken by us in our turbo diesel when they are so fast and he said to me that it is because their range is so limited that although they can go fast they have to sit in that middle lane, and can’t use their capabilities, otherwise they will run out of power, and won’t be able to get to their destination.
So the same thing will apply to these motorcycles. If you’re a kind of guy that wants to do 300 or 400 kilometres in a day around mountain ranges and really giving it some then an electric bike is not going to be for you.
From my experience of using an electric car, I do go slightly slower on the highway than when I was using a ICE.
Not because of range anxiety, the electric charging network is well developed in France so finding a place to charge has never been an issue so far.
No, it’s because when you get an electric car you start being way more conscious about how much energy you are using and the energy usage difference between 130km/h and 110km/h is quite significant for not a big difference in time.
Haha. I get it. It’s a company car though. As many are. The corporation pays the fuel bill. So the vehicle has to be able to perform like that for many, many km. And it does. There will be a change coming for sure, but right now, the EV just can’t do it.
I was not thinking about the cost for the wallet but more for the cost for the environment.
I don’t think using 5 time more energy just to gain few minutes is the best use of limited resources, we are transitioning from a world where resources a considered unlimited to a world where resources are scarce and need to be used appropriately.
So there is a change coming for sure but I expect the change will be more that speed on highways will get lower, few countries are already considering lowering the speed limit on highways.
I wrote a post a couple of weeks back covering some of your concerns. You can find it here.
Specifically, even with coal as a source, EVs are cleaner anywhere from a few months to under 2 years. Some cars are built carbon neutral like my ID.3, the ID.4 and I believe Kias
I guess I wasn’t really discussing the economical or environmental benefits or negatives of either of the types of vehicles. I was more describing that somebody who likes to ride, and ride hard, will probably not want one as it won’t have the range that they require under load. Exactly as my experience seeing the Teslas sitting in the slow lane in Germany demonstrate.
I think, waiting for actual experience reports is going to be better. The air resistance of a bike is lower, so the effects of going faster are reduced. Of course, though, the battery is going to be smaller, so maybe it still requires optimizing fuel efficiency as much as possible.
Bikes are not very aerodynamic. A car has much better airflow because everything is enclosed. Of course bikes do have less front end area and so they do fairly well, but a good car isn’t far behind despite being much larger.
It depends on what kind of rider you are and how far you want to go, but more importantly how fast you want to accelerate and how fast you want to go at top speed.
I was in Germany recently on the autobahn and I noticed just so very many Teslas sitting in the middle lane while we overtook them for miles and miles I just kept seeing them.
I asked my brother in law how come these Teslas are being overtaken by us in our turbo diesel when they are so fast and he said to me that it is because their range is so limited that although they can go fast they have to sit in that middle lane, and can’t use their capabilities, otherwise they will run out of power, and won’t be able to get to their destination.
So the same thing will apply to these motorcycles. If you’re a kind of guy that wants to do 300 or 400 kilometres in a day around mountain ranges and really giving it some then an electric bike is not going to be for you.
From my experience of using an electric car, I do go slightly slower on the highway than when I was using a ICE.
Not because of range anxiety, the electric charging network is well developed in France so finding a place to charge has never been an issue so far.
No, it’s because when you get an electric car you start being way more conscious about how much energy you are using and the energy usage difference between 130km/h and 110km/h is quite significant for not a big difference in time.
I can imagine. We were doing between about 160 to 240 over a few hours. That’s a lot of energy to burn.
Going at 160km/h is using around twice the amount of gas per 100km compared to going at 110km/h.
At 240km/h it’s 5 time the amount of gas ! At this speed you should be the one worrying about range, not the EV owner.
Haha. I get it. It’s a company car though. As many are. The corporation pays the fuel bill. So the vehicle has to be able to perform like that for many, many km. And it does. There will be a change coming for sure, but right now, the EV just can’t do it.
I was not thinking about the cost for the wallet but more for the cost for the environment.
I don’t think using 5 time more energy just to gain few minutes is the best use of limited resources, we are transitioning from a world where resources a considered unlimited to a world where resources are scarce and need to be used appropriately.
So there is a change coming for sure but I expect the change will be more that speed on highways will get lower, few countries are already considering lowering the speed limit on highways.
I wrote a post a couple of weeks back covering some of your concerns. You can find it here.
Specifically, even with coal as a source, EVs are cleaner anywhere from a few months to under 2 years. Some cars are built carbon neutral like my ID.3, the ID.4 and I believe Kias
I guess I wasn’t really discussing the economical or environmental benefits or negatives of either of the types of vehicles. I was more describing that somebody who likes to ride, and ride hard, will probably not want one as it won’t have the range that they require under load. Exactly as my experience seeing the Teslas sitting in the slow lane in Germany demonstrate.
No, it’s my fault. I was supposed to be responding to another comment about pollution. Sorry for the confusion.
Got you. No problem
I think, waiting for actual experience reports is going to be better. The air resistance of a bike is lower, so the effects of going faster are reduced. Of course, though, the battery is going to be smaller, so maybe it still requires optimizing fuel efficiency as much as possible.
Bikes are not very aerodynamic. A car has much better airflow because everything is enclosed. Of course bikes do have less front end area and so they do fairly well, but a good car isn’t far behind despite being much larger.