Long way up going Electric?!

DonTom

DonTom

Well-known member
Heywood said:
Holy crap is this true? Looks like it is, yeah it'll be a long way having to recharge all the time.
https://lonerider-motorcycle.com/bl...s-long-way-up-will-be-on-electric-motorcycles
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I ride mostly my electrics. Since I have owned them, I put more miles on my three electrics than my other seven ICE bikes combined.

Electric bikes can go as far as ICE bikes, but not to as many places. At least not for now until there are more charge stations out in the middle of nowhere. For an example, I could take an electric from Fallon, NV to San Diego, CA with no problem. But trying to get to Salt Lake City would be a major problem. But even then, can be possible by a lot of planning and slow charging at RV parks and such, but for such a trip an Electric would not be my choice.

Stopping to charge my Energica for 15 minutes (at 25 KW) every hour is just a nice break, IMO. Electric bikes are not for those who are in a big rush, however, many have received the Iron Butt Award on an electric motorcycle.

The electrics are my favorite bikes, but for now they do have their limitations. But the limit is more the charge stations than the range. A battery twice the size means twice the wait half as often, so range makes little difference where there are charge enough stations. I-80 has many. I often ride between here and my other house in Auburn, CA and I have seven different places where I can charge even in that short 99 mile run. That bike only has about a 65 mile freeway range, but I enjoy the one stop I need to make. Even when I take an ice bike, I like to stop for about the same amount of time around half way, just for the break.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
HadesOmega

HadesOmega

Well-known member
Electric touring is possible. There is this dude Benswingrich that rode his Zero SR around the united states doing a "4 corners" ride.

Also check this out this is happening soon. Morgan Vetter and Brian Nozaki Miller are going to attempt an electric iron butt rally on Energicas.

https://electrek.co/2019/08/01/riding-1000-miles-electric-motorcycle-iron-butt/

https://www.rideapart.com/articles/362803/energica-esse-esse-9-iron-butt/

So touring on a Live Wire is possible. It has DC fastcharge capability. You'd just have to plan your stops carefully.

Also don't forget you can charge from 220volts and Level 2 charging stations. RV parks have 14-50 outlets also.

It's been a dream to own an electric street bike and a dirt bike. The next goal is to go electric adventure bike riding. I don't think electric bikes are good enough to get 200 miles on a charge yet though especially with me flogging it through the dirt.

If I ever get a second battery for my Light Bee I'm going to attempt a small adventure ride and carry the other pack in a backpack.
 
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R3DS!X

R3DS!X

Whatever that means
RightCoastBias said:
How long did it take?

Did you ride from charger to charger/charge and go?
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Depending on the stretch I would charge and go but other spots I would faff around for a bit or get some food/beverage. Was about 12 hours to get to LA.

Gonna do a full write up on the trip. coming soon to an internet near you. Overall I really enjoyed the experience.
 
DonTom

DonTom

Well-known member
HadesOmega said:
Electric touring is possible. There is this dude Benswingrich that rode his Zero SR around the united states doing a "4 corners" ride.

Also check this out this is happening soon. Morgan Vetter and Brian Nozaki Miller are going to attempt an electric iron butt rally on Energicas.

https://electrek.co/2019/08/01/riding-1000-miles-electric-motorcycle-iron-butt/

https://www.rideapart.com/articles/362803/energica-esse-esse-9-iron-butt/

So touring on a Live Wire is possible. It has DC fastcharge capability. You'd just have to plan your stops carefully.

Also don't forget you can charge from 220volts and Level 2 charging stations. RV parks have 14-50 outlets also.

It's been a dream to own an electric street bike and a dirt bike. The next goal is to go electric adventure bike riding. I don't think electric bikes are good enough to get 200 miles on a charge yet though especially with me flogging it through the dirt.

If I ever get a second battery for my Light Bee I'm going to attempt a small adventure ride and carry the other pack in a backpack.
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The 2019 Zero SR (no "/F") with power tank has a 224 mile range on a charge as long as you're not at freeway speeds.

The HD LiveWire has no real Level Two Charging and the same goes for all the Zeros. They charge at the same rate using 240 VAC as they do on 120 VAC. The current goes down on these as the AC voltage goes up, keeping the charging wattage the same. Also, the Livewire only charges on DC at 12 KW.

OTOH, the Energica has true level two charging at 3 KW. Has CCS charging at 25 KW.

I have charged my Energica on the HD CCS charger here in Reno. I was the very first person to use it. It is only capable of a 15 KWH output. But my Energica can use the entire 15 KW (25 KW elsewhere) unlike the LW. IOW, my Energica charges a little faster on the LW charger than does the LW. And twice as fast when I charge elsewhere with CCS charging.

AFAIK, The Energicas beat every spec of the HD LW and costs around 5K$ less.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
HadesOmega

HadesOmega

Well-known member
I wouldn't even call the Energica true level 2 charging when Level 2 chargers can charge at 6kw. That's the same for the Empulse.

Harley Davidson was probably thinking when you're out on the road you'll want to charge as fast as possible from the fast charger. Then when you are at home and want to charge the bike overnight a level 1 charge will be good enough.
 
DonTom

DonTom

Well-known member
HadesOmega said:
I wouldn't even call the Energica true level 2 charging when Level 2 chargers can charge at 6kw. That's the same for the Empulse.
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The Harley charges at less than 1.5 KW on 240VAC just as it does on 120 VAC. So perhaps I should have worded it this way instead:

The LiveWire has NO Level Two charging. The Energica has Level two charging at 3KW.

If you use a J1772 on a Livewire, it's less than 1.5 KW just as if on 120 VAC.

The Energica can also charge with 120 VAC at 1.5KW.

On either Level 3 DC CCS fast charging OR 240 VAC Level Two charging, the Energica charges more than twice as fast as the Livewire.

A Zero SR/F Premium can have as much as 12KW charging on a J1772 (With the 6KW charge tank added). This setup does little good in the USA where most of our J1772 charge stations can only handle around 7KW.

But the Zeros have NO level Three charging. The LW has it at 12KW. The Energicas at 25KW.

No matter how you look at it, the CCS charging on the Energicas has all of them beat, at least for now.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
H

Heywood

Well-known member
sckego said:
Both Long Way Round and Down averaged about 175 mi/day. Seems totally doable. I'm pretty excited for this, hope it lives up to the original.
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Yeah but there were sections in Long Way Around out in Mongolia where I doubt there was a charging station (electricity) for days and there was probably no way that they would get a hundred and seventy-five miles slogging through those bogs. I imagine that would drain the battery pretty quickly. Long way down wasn't as good as the first and the dynamics between Charlie and Ewan change dramatically once his wife arrived. While I respect Charlie's riding skills I don't care for his personality and he was a crybaby when KTM backed out with all the "I told you so's".
Are they planning on running the Darien Gap I'm not sure there's any electricity out there for charging either?
 
DonTom

DonTom

Well-known member
Izzy_C said:
Ugh that meme is cringey, you know it was made by some old guys who think their Harleys are hot shit.

Motorcycles aren't gonna get you a gal, that's not how that works... yikes
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No problem-- Those guys who live in San Francisco don't like gals :laughing . .

-Don- Reno, NV
 
HadesOmega

HadesOmega

Well-known member
It looks like they will be using the Rivians as chase vehicles also. Maybe they can charge the livewires off of the Rivian if they needed to. Then again they're bringing sprinter vans, they're probably going to load those suckers up with batteries or something.

RIVIAN0_large.jpg
 
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