Last summer, oil sold for over $ 125 a barrel and environmentalists upset at the prospect of the Arctic ice cap melting for the first time in history. Not surprisingly, there was a surge of interest in electric vehicles. Go ahead, roll your eyes, I do not blame them. Because so far, are electric vehicles ... boring.
Like golf carts or wheelchairs that old, heavy chain smokers to use the aisles of Wal-Mart troll. Do you think if the scarcity of fossil fuels, thanks to pollution, or that once limited to two-wheeled versions of these, please, kill me now.
That's what I thought, too. He was then admitted to the Skunk Works of zero electric motorcycles, near Santa Cruz, California. Santa Cruz was one of the foci of the mountain bike revolution in the'80s and is a little more of the coastal hills of Silicon Valley. Adequate, Zero took the two cultures, a combination of ultra-lightweight design and components of the bicycle industry with advanced software engineering and high technology, the battery life. Zero was sure that high-tech company start-up, a bit annoying - all-be-millionaires atmosphere.
Another thing in the air was the smell of cold pizza. That smell, and a large punching bag in the middle of the assembly, he said all you need to know about the long hours and sometimes nerds get really frustrated.
However, the work paid off in the form of an electric motor makes the Zero X '. It may seem a little strange and thin, but it is the first electric car with two or four wheels, with a significant endowment performance threatening rival gas engine.
Whose idea was this? Neal Saiki met, chief technology officer of Zero. After graduating from California Polytechnic University with a Masters in Aeronautical Engineering, Saiki went to work for the National Aeronautics and Space. Although his main job was in high altitude vehicles research, he was exposed to NASA research and development projects in terrestrial applications are very specific projects, zero-emission vehicles. The
During that work, he became acquainted with a kind of small, rare earth magnet electric motor designed to be secret things like torpedoes.
"I always thought," he said, "that if released the technology for civilian applications, it would be a great bike to bike."
An avid mountain biker and motorcyclist, Saiki rescued from NASA and went on to another track, still with zero emissions. He started designing mountain bikes downhill. Frames designed for mountain bikes Haro, Santa Cruz, and is used at the World Cup to win games. These projects are also known by the supply of high quality, ultra-lightweight components designed for the bicycle market, and manufacturers specializing in the region of Silicon Valley.
If the light that the engines were available, he realized, as he said, "was all that needed a battery, an electric motor and I could." It really was not that simple, because the lithium ion batteries that things like the laptop generate much heat. Saiki knew his battery would need about 300 amps of power at peak demand to pay. Remember that Mac laptop batteries were recalled a few years ago? They were "experienced thermal instability, which is what engineers call high-tech fire on charges of two orders of magnitude lower.
Saiki developed and patented a method of packaging cells and verify that they are doing "Zenergy" battery of smaller, lighter and more powerful and therefore more and more fresh.
Twenty horsepower may not seem like much, but not all tell the story. Electric motors the maximum torque at all engine speeds. And do a lot of. Zero says its 20 hp engine produces 50 lb-ft of torque. The Zero X weighs 140 pounds - a hundred pounds less than a four-stroke 250cc motocross. It is aimed at a maximum speed of 55 miles per hour, and it will stick with one of the 250cc endurance race at full speed.
It's electric! Boogie woogie woogie
It is interesting, to say the least, to the unit. It is designed as a twist-and-go scooter, foot rests, but no foot controls. A bar at the rear left and right front brake, as a "gas" in the correct version. No gearbox.
The bike has a kind of master-key. The Dudes Zero called "arm" of the bike. When you have the key, a row of LEDs light up to the amount of time left on the battery indicates turns. The bike makes no sound when armed, which is potentially dangerous. If you blip the throttle of a reflex, which take off from you. That's a problem when a person hands off the bike to another.
I was on the street and around Zero's shop. I drive around like a bike of similar proportions, although I must say that is light weight and quiet operation that would be easy to adjust. The total power / full-speed mode, the engine feels more powerful than 20 horsepower. Throttle response is instantaneous, and to lift the front wheel with very little provocation. The closest we can relate to a 250cc two-stroke dirt bikes can be.
Despite a few hundreds of bicycles sold in 2008, the magazine did not have access to a bicycle to a full review yet. We twisted arms until the company agreed to have someone meet us at the Apex training Supercross this route to Los Angeles. It was hard for me to test because my background is in road racing and because there is nothing to compare. For a second opinion from experts, I spent the better runner of land on my speed dial: Micky Dymond, a former motocross champion.
Micky was a little weirded by zero in the first. The brakes felt soft, and the throttle'-basically "a handle connected to a rheostat, had a little play. After a few tentative couple of laps, came in and said:". It is awkward and strange, no sound is difficult to measure my speed, and no engine braking "
Then it began to grow. "In the beginning, when I opened the throttle a little, just exploded. But it is completely linear. And I thought I needed more brakes, but it is so lightweight that you can stop over in the corners."
The standard fork and shock are adjustable in preload only. "Of course you can, including" Mickey says, "But you can play back a little, this is not so bad."
He also praised the overall balance of the bike. Like any serious rider who tried, in his test drive of an hour, I wanted one of their own so he could practice in areas near their house open to mountain bikes, but off limits for motorcycles.
Then encouraged to try some bigger jumps, Mickey went out and quickly flew away rear shock. Oh, well. In all honesty, nobody Zero says his motocross bike. The bike (s) we tested were standard 2008 versions. The aluminum frame is welded to the geometry (24 degree rake), similar to a decline in mountain biking. The circuit, suspension, wheels and tires search for parts of a bicycle downhill, but in reality they are all designed to the specifications of Zero. The bike can be ordered with a choice of two engines, with an optional output of 23 horsepower.
As proof, the Zero X for use as a trail. Based on my experience and what I saw, I could be more challenging terrain at zero I could manage a good trailie 250cc four-stroke. Would be a great green-Laner or bike workout for each athlete. In California, electric motors are limited to speeds below 30 miles per hour, if the bike is at the flick of a switch-legally treated as bicycles, making it road legal, although light, a speed indicator not found, or horn.
A city bike called Zero S Supermoto style 'will be released soon. It will be lights and a speedometer and a totally legal way in the U.S., this story went to press, the details remain secret, but Neal told me that the road bike will have a battery 50% larger and begeared a maximum speed of 70 miles an hour. This should produce a minimum of 150 miles, potentially much more depending on the average speed.
The reason depends on the speed range is 80% or more of the work of a motorcycle engine is air movement, and the resistance increases with the square of speed. That's why the fuel consumption of the bike to travel these days is plummeting as speed increases.
The rest of the engine work is mostly proportional to the mass being accelerated or eliminated hills. Therefore, Neal Saiki was obsessed with keeping the zero first as light as possible, and why is at least 100 pounds lighter than competitive gas-engine of the motorcycle. Keep the light, so the pressure on the brakes and suspension.
Therein lies the fundamental dilemma: Do you want a larger battery for increased range, a more powerful engine, gearbox, adjustable fork and shock. But for every pound you add in the form of these improvements, pay at least 12 ounces of weak fiscal performance.
Consider the evolution of sports bikes: In the 1960's, a top pilot in a Norton Manx was able to lap the TT course at 100 miles per hour. That was on a bike that just under 50 horsepower made and weighed about 300 pounds. Over the next 40 years, despite improvements and huge leaps in the course of the tires, suspension, brakes and technology improved the course record only 25%. All that, despite the bikes mounted on the TT tripled its first-class power and fuel economy. The culprit? During that period, the weight of the bicycle increased by 25%.
At this time, even Saiki is absolutely the state of the art Li-ion battery has only 10% of the energy density of gasoline. It is fully charged, which contains only 10% of the energy that you can choose from 40 pounds of gasoline.
Because of this, the right design for a new electric motor pulling fuel much of its predecessors. (And that is why the Tesla electric sports car is doomed to failure, despite the huge media hype. Tesla is using a conventional car chassis rolling. It is very heavy. And since the car company has no Saiki access to cold, literally! battery technology, the cold water of the batteries, adding even more weight and drag of the water pump.)
Fortunately Saiki understand keeping things light. In college, he led a team that built the first helicopter human power. It had wings, as long as a Boeing 737 and weighed 97 pounds. Most of the structure of the zero is ultra-thin wall alloy tube of square section. Remove the battery and weighs 50% more of a downhill mountain bike.
Zero continues to develop and X. evolve, a number of improvements for the '09 model, including:
* Chain sprocket bigger and stronger
* Address strong head and triple clamps
* 6-pot caliper and larger, thicker rotors
* A better image
* Large rear tire swing a larger meeting
* Internal revised fork
* Easy to use, gauges and switches
As of this writing, 2008 Zero X sold out. Components for the first race of the '09 models are in transit and will soon be installed. The basic model will sell for $ 7,450. A spare battery is an extra $ 2,950.
At present only 30 workers at Ground Zero. Although almost all the components are designed to the specifications of Saiki, Zero is a motorcycle assembler, not a manufacturer. All components are built elsewhere and transported in a small workshop in Santa Cruz, where the bikes are mounted in a row. This system worked well so far, giving the company a few hundred bikes to sell through the Internet. However, the potential market for a home version is easy to over 10,000 units per year. That's a lot of zeros, with a capital 'Z'.
Looking back on pioneering inventions, there are plenty of companies with large numbers of patents that failed. Persevering patience, attention to detail, discipline and a long attention span necessary to increase mass production, a network of distributors to organize and build a global brand that is brainstorming inventors.
That was in my head to zero produces three bikes for me to test, and were dirty. None of them had fully charged batteries, or new tires. Would you like an electric motocross bike to build a completely stubborn and take a Honda CRF replace the gas tank with a motor and battery exchange. Would you like an electric motorcycle company for construction, however, would be useful to know that in a Honda test bike offers is pristine.
It started Gene Banman Saiki, CEO, Silicon Valley model is not a business to commercialize his invention yet. Instead, it blocks the patent and the evidence of its concept, wait for an established company that you buy. Both men denied that was his strategy. But I can assure you will not be long before Honda and Harley-Davidson's A-Courtin 'and do not bring flowers and chocolates, which are controls very large with a lot of little zeros z'.
In the long term, the writing on the wall for gasoline engines. Of course, we can keep them for decades, until the financial costs and / or ambient gas flaring ultimately unbearable. At that time, as imperfect as that free markets, one that sells an alternative.
But what if the solution is not approved, because the gas was unaffordable or because we have allowed the chaos of the environment? What if it was just a coincidence and clean up? As for the X zero today, I bet you now that we supply by choice, not necessity.
