Triumph Daytona - Electric Version
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$77,000???!! So... even at today's prices of about $3 per gallon... You could buy 25,666 gallons of gas. I think that would get you pretty far on a standard Daytona 675... lol
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7,113 Posts
True, but the interesting thing may be that now that there is an absurdly expensive, yet usable version, that bodes well for an affordable bike in the near future. Almost any technology tends to rapidly drop in price...the "Li-Po" batteries the R/C guys use for their planes now cost a tenth of what they cost just a few years ago. The performance and range are well within what I'd be looking for.
WTF is that windscreen?? They must have stolen the prototype from the Vision.
WTF is that windscreen?? They must have stolen the prototype from the Vision.
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True and I do see these becoming a viable option in the future. Here is an awesome car for not much more and close to the same performance as this bike.. of course, a car as more room to store a battery
http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/specs.php
http://www.teslamotors.com/performance/specs.php
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7,113 Posts
I've seen Tesla on Modern Marvels or one of those shows. Very interesting. What I don't get is why the very usable electric Saturn EV1 was taken off the roads and scrapped. I watched "Who Killed the Electric Car?" a while back, and I gotta tell you, even if you factor in a large degree of melodramatic BS from the producers, it sure seemed strange that they were dragging these cars out of the hands of leasees who were begging to keep them. Evil "Big Oil" in cahoots with GM? Behind the scenes engineering and safety issues? Or just not the right time or place market wise? Hmmm.
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Really? They said that about the EV1. But, most people don't actually drive almost 200 miles day to day. And, although it took several hours to completely recharge the EV1, you could get 80% in 20 minutes. Not perfect, but not really that bad. 143 miles would work fine for me for 90% of my trips. Then again, I'm not in Utah or Texas.
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One problem....
I vote for Dr Bussard's fusion plants. Small ones placed in every neighborhood. Then you don't need the nationwide power grid any more or the huge oil/coal burning plants and all the employees and bureaucrats and associated lobbyists, etc. etc.
Yeah. That'll happen soon.
...with the EV is that you are not really saving much fossil fuel rather you are shifting the smog from SoCal to central Utah. While it might make some people feel better about themselves it doesn't affect the planetary situation much. But that's not the real problem. We do not have an electrical power infrastructure that could begin to handle the demand of a hundred thousand EVs in SoCal much less millions of them. Changing away from fossil fuel energy production in the USA will require a complete shift in thinking and I suspect it will take a lot more vision and creative thought than I see demonstrated.
I vote for Dr Bussard's fusion plants. Small ones placed in every neighborhood. Then you don't need the nationwide power grid any more or the huge oil/coal burning plants and all the employees and bureaucrats and associated lobbyists, etc. etc.
Yeah. That'll happen soon.
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First, I completely agree with you on the fusion, or even well managed fission electrical generation. It's almost criminal how we've allowed ourselves to fall so far behind on this technology, especially considering what we have to go through to use fossil fuels.
However, I'll disagree with you on the electrical grid. It's a very well known fact that there is huge amount of excess capacity in electrical generation and distribution virtually everywhere, at night. I realize the people who made the movie had an agenda, but their stats (my recollection, BTW) showed enough excess capacity to charge hundreds of thousands of cars every night without adding one iota of generation or distribution capacity.
Finally, consider this: industries and technologies tend to be symbiotic. There was no petroleum industry until there were autos, and autos didn't really take off until there were readily available sources of gas and diesel. I suggest that starting the migration away from fossil fuels in the auto industry can provide the leverage to build clean nuclear power that I think we both want.
However, I'll disagree with you on the electrical grid. It's a very well known fact that there is huge amount of excess capacity in electrical generation and distribution virtually everywhere, at night. I realize the people who made the movie had an agenda, but their stats (my recollection, BTW) showed enough excess capacity to charge hundreds of thousands of cars every night without adding one iota of generation or distribution capacity.
Finally, consider this: industries and technologies tend to be symbiotic. There was no petroleum industry until there were autos, and autos didn't really take off until there were readily available sources of gas and diesel. I suggest that starting the migration away from fossil fuels in the auto industry can provide the leverage to build clean nuclear power that I think we both want.
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7,113 Posts
Yeah, I certainly don't have firsthand info on Cali, so I'm limited to what I read and hear from "sources." FL has issues at peak hours, but lots of capacity after 9 pm.
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7,113 Posts
BTW, remember I was asking you about mileage? On my last road trip on the Concours I made a point of being conservative with the throttle. Mileage went from around 30 mpg to over 40! I guess fun has it's price...
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That movie was a total BS. GM scrapped the program because they leased less than 800 cars in the total lifespan of the EV1. By any measure, that is a sales flop.
GM had to scrap the cars when the leases expired because it would not make economic sense to have an entire service infrastructure to service such a piddly number of cars. Plus, once the batteries died, the lessees would have no way to replace them. Some conspiracy.
There have always been fuel efficient cars available for sale in this country. Until recently, no one buys them.
WSJ estimated real cost of an EV-1 at about one million GW's per. That'd be some serious green for a car.
Methinks Buz is right and KM be wrong. The EV-1 was a complete failure....though I concede that it MIGHT be early to say that.
Earlier this week, very downbeat article in WSJ about lack of real progress in battery tech. Even worse, progress slower than anticipated with respect to mini fuel cells which were expected to replace batteries in cells, pods, laptops, etc, asap. Oh, well. Maybe they need to hire you know who from you know where to set things straight
Me? I'm a bit surprised that we have yet to see compound supercharging - even though VW did sort of do something similar on a Euro only GTI...
Methinks Buz is right and KM be wrong. The EV-1 was a complete failure....though I concede that it MIGHT be early to say that.
Earlier this week, very downbeat article in WSJ about lack of real progress in battery tech. Even worse, progress slower than anticipated with respect to mini fuel cells which were expected to replace batteries in cells, pods, laptops, etc, asap. Oh, well. Maybe they need to hire you know who from you know where to set things straight
Me? I'm a bit surprised that we have yet to see compound supercharging - even though VW did sort of do something similar on a Euro only GTI...
What a total waste
Oh wait, maybe the Harley riders since they spend an enormous amount of cash on low performance motorcycles.
That's nice, wreck a beautifully designed and performing motorcycle for a slug with a top speed less then most Harleys and at 3 times the cost. Oh yeah people will line up for these.
Oh wait, maybe the Harley riders since they spend an enormous amount of cash on low performance motorcycles.
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4,369 Posts
I don't know Dave, that bait you're using seems pretty old. Not many hard core HD guys on this bored. Most HD owners on MO also own a 'Busa, or a standard, or a Duc, or something other than an HD as their second third or fourth bike.
And I don't think it's a big discovery to learn that HDs (and any cruiser, really) aren't sportbikes, and they can be pricey. It's kind of been covered a few thousand times.
If you're looking for some good fishing try switching bait to Global Warming or Democrats vs. Republicans.
Also, the Helmet Law topic has been beaten to death around here, too.
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11,482 Posts
Better yet, if you truly thrive on conflict; type something not Politically Correct - that'll get the behind-the-scenes flamewar goin', and getcha called "Racist Bigot" faster'n anything else (amidst cries of "how come every Bigot claims 'Not Pee-Cee'...blah, blah, blah.....).
We don't Tolerate Intolerance 'round here. Or even making-fun of Intolerance........... (that would be Intolerable!)
It's all part of the Zero-Tolerance Policy.
(I should know, as I'm Public-Arsehole #1 on certain "Bigot Lists" around here, regardless of my actual beliefs and actions)
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