The future is coming/here/now ? Triumph TE-1

[Couchy]

It may sound a bit unexpected, but in every electric car I've driven the powertrain has been one of the best things about it! It just goes. It's like having a winch attached to the horizon, you stamp on the pedal and 'over there' gets reeled in towards you with no hesitation or let up.

Obviously you're gonna lose the exhaust sound and snicking through the gears, but I'm not particulatly worried about an electric drivetrain being dull. Different for sure, but not boring. A 175bhp electric bike will fucking motor along!

Yup they’re fast in some cases, dull as in others. I like a good sounding engine and sequential gearbox banging and popping when changing. For transport an EV will be ok but they’ll never be as cheap to run as an engine but that’s something we’ll have to accept

[Skub]

Yes if you buy new bikes you prob won’t be able to in 10 years, but that still leaves 20+ years of engines

That'll more than do me.

[Mr. Dazzle]

but they’ll never be as cheap to run as an engine

I don't think that will always be the case - or at least, it won't be the case 'cause the vehicle's expensive. Tax maybe though.

[Yorick]

Linear power, no noise, ABS, TC, QS, Blipper, launch control, anti wheelie etc...

What happened to biking being fun and challenging ?

Sinclair C5 anyone ?

[Taipan]

Linear power, no noise, ABS, TC, QS, Blipper, launch control, anti wheelie etc...

What happened to biking being fun and challenging ?

Sinclair C5 anyone ?

Yorick earlier...

[Couchy]

but they’ll never be as cheap to run as an engine

I don't think that will always be the case - or at least, it won't be the case 'cause the vehicle's expensive. Tax maybe though.

Companies are already charging 35p kwh of electric at public charge points, that’s 10p a mile or so which is on par with a good diesel. At that cost plus the lease of a diesel it makes electric cars expensive to run. Of course charging at home is half that cost but then it’s offset by the higher lease cost. They’ve been sold on being cheaper but that’s just bot the reality. However being in the EV world I can’t complain but there’s still a lot of myths

[Mr. Dazzle]

I don't think they are necessarily being sold as cheaper - at least the ones which are pitched at me in banner ads aren't!

I think that's a moot point with a 175bhp bike anyway

[Potter]

Too heavy, for me anyway.
My RE feels ridiculously heavy just wheeling it down the drive and those people that say you don't feel it when you are riding just mean that they don't know what riding a light bike feels like.

[Dodgy69]

Like you say, the riding bit don't matter so much.

[Supermofo]

I'd prefer 100bhp and 250 mile range

120 miles, and I'm guessing that might not always be achievable, would be fine for most of my riding. But longer days out would be a bit poop. My last Southwold trip was 250 odd miles. With only 120 miles to play with and having to find a charging points plus maybe getting less than 120 miles, would probably mean 3 charging stops. I also typically find that sometimes when using the twisty B-road route you can be 10-15 miles from the nearest petrol station let alone a correct spec charging point.

But at least that looks good and is a step in the right direct in that it looks like a normal bike.

[Mr. Dazzle]

With BEVs (battery electric vehciles) you generally get power 'for free' with range. To get more range you basically have to fit a bigger battery, but bigger batteries also give you more power almost by default. And since you've got that power, you might as well use it....

That's part of the reason you see all these absurdly powerful 1000bhp or even 2000hp electric cars. They fit a big battery to give you a decent range and you get monstrous power almost as a side effect.

The other thing to consider is that electric motors are far less hampered by running at less than maximum power. We all know that if you have a 1000bhp car but only drive it at 50mph it still burns alot more petrol than a Nissan Mirca doing the same 50mph. Piston engines are pretty inefficient when running at only fractional power, electric motors far less so. A 1000bhp electric motor can tootle along producing only 20bhp with far less drop in efficiency. So again, you may as well fit the big one.

[weeksy]

With BEVs (battery electric vehciles) you generally get power 'for free' with range. To get more range you basically have to fit a bigger battery, but bigger batteries also give you more power almost by default. And since you've got that power, you might as well use it....

That's part of the reason you see all these absurdly powerful 1000bhp or even 2000hp electric cars. They fit a big battery to give you a decent range and you get monstrous power almost as a side effect.

The other thing to consider is that electric motors are far less hampered by running at less than maximum power. We all know that if you have a 1000bhp car but only drive it at 50mph it still burns alot more petrol than a Nissan Mirca doing the same 50mph. Piston engines are pretty inefficient when running at only fractional power, electric motors far less so. A 1000bhp electric motor can tootle along producing only 20bhp with far less drop in efficiency. So again, you may as well fit the big one.

Is it not possible to keep the power lower to increase the range then ?

Surely it could be done by software ?

100bhp equivalent but with 250 miles...

I think on here we're fairly representitive of bikers, whilst there are 1-2 on here who want 200bhp, i think there's a LOT more who'd rather have 100 and a better range.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah you could....but why would you basically?

Horsepower sells!

So yeah, you could fit only a 100bhp motor to a vehicle with a battery that can supply 250bhp. There would be a small cost saving on having a lower spec motor. But as above....why would you? Thats not how vehicles are generally sold is it?

Fitting a less powerful motor isn't going to give you dramatically better range. You're down in the single digit percents. If you're doing 70mph on a 100hp electric bike you're only very slightly more efficient than doing 70mph on a 200bhp electric bike.

[tricol]

I think it looks fantastic, and the charging time is a real step forward. I'd love to try an electric bike. It's great that Triumph are pushing forward with this.

[Supermofo]

Yeah you could....but why would you basically?

Horsepower sells!

So yeah, you could fit only a 100bhp motor to a vehicle with a battery that can supply 250bhp. There would be a small cost saving on having a lower spec motor. But as above....why would you? Thats not how vehicles are generally sold is it?

Fitting a less powerful motor isn't going to give you dramatically better range. You're down in the single digit percents. If you're doing 70mph on a 100hp electric bike you're only very slightly more efficient than doing 70mph on a 200bhp electric bike.

Could I have a 400bhp Triumpet then with a 250 mile range and I'll only just quarter throttle

[Mr. Dazzle]

Could I have a 400bhp Triumpet then with a 250 mile range and I'll only just quarter throttle

Yeah that's pretty much it!

Adding the 400bhp motor doesn't significantly knock your range / only having a 100bhp motor doesn't significantly improve it. SO you might as well have the 400bhp motor and only open the throttle a bit (or perhaps more sensibly, just have different rider modes).

[Mr. Dazzle]

A video with a bit more detail popped up on my LinkedIn today...

This is from Integral Powertrain, the guys doing the motor/controller development with Triumph. Integral Powertrain were started by four Cosworth refugees abotu 20 years ago - one of the guys, and my old boss, is Keith Duckworth's son. So you've got four proper petrol heads now making electric motors....

[Horse]

IIRC Keith Duckworth was the previous owner of FJSrider / Thermo etc's Voyager FF bike.

[Mr. Dazzle]

For the first few weeks I worked there I wondered why so many people said things like "Roger's dad would have liked that" or "Roger's dad wouldn't have done it that way". I was left wondering who TF Roger's dad was, before I made the connection with the surname