Test ride : Honda CB1000R. 2021 model.

[KungFooBob]

There's only a 25bhp power difference and the Panigale has launch control, anti-wheelie, traction, etc...

They might have mentioned that in the video, but I've not watched it with sound.

[Potter]

Quite right - maximum motor RPM is one of the big limits. That's why a Tesla with 700bhp still tops out at 130mph. Most EVs have a single speed gearbox and hence hit the redline long before they run out of power. Some of them now have twin speeds though so they can go really fast (I think Tesla have topped 200mph now).

A big big part of my job now is figuring out how to make the motors spin faster so that you can have high speed and still only have a single speed box thus saving weight. Faster electric motors also tend to be more efficient.

EV motors are getting pretty exotic now, full of carbon fibre and fancy processes. They're not as glamorous as a Ferrari V12 or a MotoGP V4, but it's where all the big money and tech is going for obvious reasons.

Years ago (like about 15) I did some work with Emerson on getting motors to work well with VSDs and there seemed to be two main issues, too many stop/starts (even soft starts, VSD starts, etc) would cause fatigue and you'd get stuff like rotor bar failure and insulation failure, and the other one was if it was spinning too fast it would quite quickly start to fail because of the forces involved (speed/mass/etc) - well I'm saying quickly, it would take a year or so to fail, but they were doing at an alarming and predictable rate.

I have nothing to do with proper engineering development now, but I would imagine that's still fundamentally an issue and the other thing is longevity and fatigue/wear when the motor is driving something big and heavy and has to accelerate and decelerate constantly.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Indeed. You'll not be surprised to know that we've got rooms full of Dynos and spinny rigs to look into this stuff. All of which is also potentially needed at high/low temperature and humidity while also subject to vibration etc.

Consumer automotive is probably the hardest industry to do this stuff in. It's fairly unique in that there's a very high level of technical sophistication coupled with very badly controlled maintenance (compared to anything else of equal complexity) and a very hard to define usage pattern. Anything else which comes close on performance terms (e.g. motorsport, aircraft, medical kit) has much much tighter controls on how it's used and maintained.

In terms of failing quickly - we blow our motors up Just keep going faster and faster until they burst. It makes the whole building shake when they go!

[Potter]

In terms of failing quickly - we blow our motors up Just keep going faster and faster until they burst. It makes the whole building shake when they go!

E=MC2 innit.

If you spin them fast enough time will stop and they'll last forever - forever won't actually mean anything if time isn't a variable, but I'd give it a wide berth at that speed because when it goes bang it'll start a new universe

[lostboy]

There's only a 25bhp power difference and the Panigale has launch control, anti-wheelie, traction, etc...

They might have mentioned that in the video, but I've not watched it with sound.

Aerodynamics.

[lostboy]

There's only a 25bhp power difference and the Panigale has launch control, anti-wheelie, traction, etc...

They might have mentioned that in the video, but I've not watched it with sound.

Aerodynamics.