Tesla

[MrLongbeard]

I hope they pay this no mind and don't think about bikes;
https://pipeburn.com/tesla-concept-bike/

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I hope they build it, it'll give me something else to laugh at

[The Spin Doctor]

It's ghastly. Tesla have been talking / leaking stuff about building a electric bike for several years.

[lostboy]

That is possibly the most hideous thing posted yet. If it hadn't got Tesla written on it then it would have been laughed out of existence already.

[McNab]

When are they going to are the rest of the cardboard box off?

[Taipan]

looks like just another Sportsbike to me...

[KungFooBob]

Chain drive, I thought Tesla has more imagination than that?

[mangocrazy]

What a PoS. Did the budget run out before they got to the paddock stand?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Looks well suited to hipsters - stupid handlebars, no mudguards, big gap under seat and unsuitable tyres

[Mr. Dazzle]

As far as I can see, this has nothing to do with Tesla beyond having their name stuck on the side?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Having just skim read the article, I get the impression it hasn't got a motor or battery

[Horse]

Having just skim read the article, I get the impression it hasn't got a motor or battery

It's computer graphics, nothing exists.

[Felix]

Chain drive, I thought Tesla has more imagination than that?

First thing i noticed. Would a belt not be better on the environment. That is what the ugly thing is all about is it not?

[Horse]

Chain drive, I thought Tesla has more imagination than that?

First thing i noticed. Would a belt not be better on the environment. That is what the ugly thing is all about is it not?

No, it's not. It's a styling exercise, no more

[darthpunk]

I would have thought they would have upped the game and put electric motors directly on the hub, chain drive seems a bit lazy.

Also with motors directly on the hub you could be looking at 2 wheel drive.....and I don't say that just because we'd be a step closer to Akira bikes

[dern]

I'm excited by the electric stuff that will come along and I think that the Tesla engineers have done awesome stuff to bring the technology forward but I couldn't buy anything from Tesla as Elon is such a massive helmet.

[Horse]

I would have thought they would have upped the game and put electric motors directly on the hub, chain drive seems a bit lazy.

@Mr. Dazzle Have you said something before about gearing down (via chain) because of rev limits on the motors?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah....motors tend to be more efficient when they're smaller, lower torque, spinning faster. Generally you're going to see a trend towards faster, smaller motors. Car motors are sorta 10,000rpm now with the top spec ones being maybe 15,000rpm or a smidge more. Wheel speeds (car and bike) tend to max out at about 3000rpm and even that would be really fast.

That said...in wheel motors are also a thing. As with all this sorta topic, there's a big fat "it depends" attached to any statement.

[A_morti]

There's already plenty of scooters with hub motors. I never took one apart but I imagined the motor is spinning faster than the wheel, using the hub as a ring gear?

[Mr. Dazzle]

There's already plenty of scooters with hub motors. I never took one apart but I imagined the motor is spinning faster than the wheel, using the hub as a ring gear?

Yeah that too. Planetary gearboxes in the centre of the wheel usually. Like an old Sturmey Archer.

The reason you see it on scooters is simply down to power...a 5kW motor isn't very big. You can get a 50 or 150kW motor which fits inside a hub, but that's right out there ATM.