What is the Truth About an Electric Motorcycle?

200417_wakayama_04-1.jpg Columns

▲Matteo Ferrari (Gresini Racing)

The internal combustion engine motorcycles are a fundamentally different kind of vehicle.

MotoE has been co-sponsored at MotoGP since last year. With its exciting riding scene, it's clear that the electric motorcycle is a machine that can do sport riding. 7 years ago, I had a test ride on an Energica Ego prototype for MotoE, and there is no doubt that it is a sports machine.

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▲Energica Ego Proto 2013

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▲Energica Ego Proto 2013

In addition, many test ride articles on electric motorcycles have been published recently, highlighting its power performance of the masterpiece (the motor produces the maximum torque from the extremely low rev) and the natural controllability.

That's certainly true, but let me just say here that I'm pretty clear that internal combustion motorcycles are an alien ride. In my opinion, what has been pursued in the 120-year history of motorcycles was to give the rider a wealth of information to build confidence in the ride with anxiety against keep on falling over. For me, who has spent 45 years as a test rider seeking that ideal figure, an internal combustion engine motorcycles are a thing that cannot forbid its discomfort.

The difference is obvious from a technical point of view.

I will consider the factors. There are 4 noteworthy things about this.

No crankshaft to generate a gyroscopic effect.

You can know that the gyroscopic effect tries to keep it in place if you rotate the wheel and hold the shaft. This action also occurs in the crankshaft upon riding, which gives a sense of resistance and response when changing the motion of the machine, and gives a sense of security when manipulating the machine's presence. But there is no gyroscopic effect for electric motorcycles.

No torque fluctuation

The traction of a motorcycle depends on the explosion interval of the engine. In addition, it is considered that the instantaneous embrittlement due to minus torque in the compression process will increase the chamfering at the front. However, you can't expect that from a motor. Therefore, the front and rear tires do not have a good contact sense with the road surface, and it tends to crawl cornering like a water strider.

Excessive inertia moment when leaning.

Electric motorcycle tends to have their masses distributed up and down due to large and heavy batteries. In other words, it has large inertia with respect to the low leaning motion, and the response of leaning is delayed, making it difficult to make the steering angle in the early stage. The contact in the front tire can sense in some aspects by entering the rudder angle, so this makes the poor contact sense. In order to compensate this for many electric motorcycles, in case of an internal combustion engine, the front wheel distribution load is extremely large.

Non-ideal frame rigidity balance

In the current sports motorcycle, the method of using a rigid mounted engine as a rigid member is being generalized. This optimizes the rigidity balance and the central axis of torsional deformation. Also, by bolting on an engine that emits a gyroscopic effect on the crankshaft, I believe that information on the changes in the machine's motion can be obtained more directly. However, electric motorcycles have not yet taken advantage of this know-how.

Tech trends in the electric motorcycle to watch

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▲Energica Ego Corsa (Gresini Racing)

It is an undeniable fact that motorcycle cannot avoid electrification either. For instance, it should evolve in order to overcome even though carrying a fatal issue. I think that there is a possibility of development in a different direction from the internal combustion engine motorcycle, including improvements to the motor (some that already equipped with flywheel has also appeared), body dimensions, and tire specifications. Also, I may have to evolve my senses as well in order to enjoy electric motorcycles.

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