The "gone bye-bye" electric motorcycle thread.

[DarthRider]

This thread has been moved. It is now located here:
http://www.motorcyclistcafe.com/forums/showthread.php?9401-England-s-newest-electric-motorcycle-the-Agility-Saietta&p=118341

I spent over an hour finding, reading, researching, writing & illustrating what I believe to be an interesting, informative, literate, original, quality thread.
Only to have it immediately sullied by inappropriate, irrelevant, but predictable political comment & innuendo.

No thanks.

I still like the thread and feel some others may too...so I moved it!

[Deans BMW]

In my opinion, the real key to a viable electric motorcycle or car for that matter will be hi energy density storage devices and the ability to re charge them in a timely manor. The recent brown outs due to the colder than normal winter in the US shows the current limits of our electrical generation. Increased generation capicity along with improved transmission will need to be seriously addressed as energy needs are transfered from conventional oil and gas to cleaner or for some more politically correct forms of energy production.

Energy storage improvements are on a fast track in any case.

Just a thought.

[panthercity]

Oddly enough, Anna and I just drove through wind farm after wind farm between Sweetwater and Santa Rosa (we took the southern route) and less than a 1/4 of them were turning.

Admittedly, I have less than a clue about those systems but I found that strange. I do remember reading something about transmission being the biggest issue with the West Texas wind farms. And, electricity is hard to store on than magnitude.

[DarthRider]

Hey, wind farms are cool, or wind ranches as they call them around here...really!
There was a local newspaper article last week that the wind energy producers had been told by the turbine builders to expect problems with the extreme cold coupled with high winds that accompanied some of the recent single-digit temps. Also, there are always some turbines in a "farm" down for maintenance, or intentionally shut-down when the grid can not take the power. Or when the wind velocity is too high...or too low! But the blade designs are improving to operate in lower & higher winds and make less noise.
As with pipelines, rail cars, tank trucks, barges & tankers for liquid energy source transport, wind energy transmission is also problematic & expensive.
Some down-state energy-genius company recently tried to get permitted - and damn near did - for building giant tower lines across Palo Duro Canyon State Park! We got that scotched, now it's going to detour a hundred-something miles further through wide-open ranch-land. At a cost premium of course. Folks who live near and/or visit PDC think it's worth it! So do the Golden and American Bald Eagles who inhabit that section of our park.
Wind energy is a booming new industry in this region. Not only the obvious things like general employment, but also expansions at community colleges offering Assoc. degrees and entry-level courses & certificates for tower construction, turbine maintenance & repair, etc.
And truck lines specialising in transporting the big blades, tower sections & turbines...the turbine bodies are the size of a city bus!
As well as specialised construction & maintenance companies, and growth in general construction for the roads, turbine sites & power lines.
And an economic boon to ranchers and dry & irrigated land farmers, who lease their lands to the power companies.
A small sub-"industry" is also growing in the academic, naturalist, power producers & regulatory agency communities to jointly find economic, practical, effective solutions to the problems of collateral harm to the environment & native wildlife, particularly endangered & protected species.
I've read of some creative methods of storing the energy, but for more reliable, consistent delivery the consensus says that better transmission infrastructure & improved distribution management of the power grid will be required.
OK, I just went over my head so it's time to stop!

[Sir Limpsalot]

There are a number of wind farms here too, as you'd expect. The latest was built on the Romney Marsh a few mile from here. The narrrow marsh roads with their tight corners were a nightmare for the trucks bringing the components. Several of the hairpins had to be made wider just to get the trucks through. Andy and I took a ride out there and watched for a while, interesting stuff.