Entry level electric motorcycle? Sondors Metacycle | GTAMotorcycle.com

Entry level electric motorcycle? Sondors Metacycle

TwistedKestrel

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This company is launching an electric bike with a targeted MSRP of $5000 USD and a range of 80 miles. I find the idea interesting but I see some odd design choices. I don't think the pictured prototype would even be road legal (no rear fender, inadequate separation of turn signals, bicycle style brake controls). The "fancy" brakes and suspension threw me a bit but they are e-bike grade parts, so they aren't costing much but durability may be an issue. They claim that casting the frame as one piece saves a lot but I wonder about that. The core concept though I like - a grown-up roadworthy e-bike as an economical commuting tool. Submitted for your discussion.
 


This company is launching an electric bike with a targeted MSRP of $5000 USD and a range of 80 miles. I find the idea interesting but I see some odd design choices. I don't think the pictured prototype would even be road legal (no rear fender, inadequate separation of turn signals, bicycle style brake controls). The "fancy" brakes and suspension threw me a bit but they are e-bike grade parts, so they aren't costing much but durability may be an issue. They claim that casting the frame as one piece saves a lot but I wonder about that. The core concept though I like - a grown-up roadworthy e-bike as an economical commuting tool. Submitted for your discussion.
Insurance in onterrible makes it a tough sale. Why would you buy that instead of a gas bike? For $8000 you can get something pretty nice or for half that (or less) you can get something adequate. I just don't see a compelling reason to buy it. If there was some special insurance deal ($500 a year?), maybe but why should such a deal exist? It should fit the same risk profile as a 125 and be insured as such.
 
I ran across that on Youtube a couple days ago (thanks, lockdown). Looks interesting, but there are a few things that trip the "too good to be true" alarm - aside from the obvious FMVSS/CMVSS/UNECE compliance matters, such as turn signal size and separation, reflectors, license plate mounting, rear fender/mudguard, etc ... Concept vehicles often skip those, I get that.

As per standard practice with electric vehicles (actually, all vehicles, but EVs the issue gets brought to the forefront) - That range, and that speed, will not coexist in the same space and time, barring constant prevailing hurricane-force tailwind.

They claim power output 8 kW continuous, 14.5 kW intermittent. OK, fair enough.

My cbr125 also has around 8 kW. There is nothing magic about this electric bike's aerodynamics that would suggest it is any more aerodynamic than the cbr is (most of the drag is accounted for by the rider). 8 kW gives about 120 km/h top speed, being somewhat optimistic about it. So the "85 mph" (i.e. 140 km/h) is only happening using the "intermittent" power. OK, so be it.

Now ... It has a 4 kWh battery pack. So, if you use that 8 kW to go 120 km/h (flat-out at the "continuous" power rating), the battery is done in half an hour, 60 km down the road. (If it will let you use the "intermittent" rating to do 140 km/h, it's done in 40 km.)

The nature of aerodynamics (which is the biggest part of the drag) is that the power required goes up with the cube of the road speed. It so happens that the numbers here work out easily. If we go half speed (60 km/h) then it'll use one-eighth the power (1 kW) and now you can go 4 hours ... 240 km. Now, clearly, that's way optimistic, because in reality some of the drag is going to be eaten up by things that don't follow the speed-cubed relationship (e.g. tires), and if there is any hilly terrain at all, or starting and stopping, regenerative braking isn't going to be 100% efficient. So maybe the range (80 mi = 130 km) is possible if you go 60 km/h ... maybe 80 km/h if you are lucky.

Don't get me wrong, I really like the idea ... but it needs around double the battery capacity to get anywhere useful.

Li-ion batteries are easily around 200 Wh/kg now (the best ones are better than that), a 1 kWh battery would be 5 kg, a 4 kWh battery would be 20 kg, 8 kWh would be 40 kg ... still not excessive.
 
I found a point of comparison. Those Emmo "e-bikes" that look like motorcycles or scooters have a "big" optional battery that they list as 72 V and 50 A.h ... doing that math gives 3.6 kWh. So the battery in this one is slightly more than Emmo's biggest optional battery. Their "small" battery is 30 A.h i.e. 2.1 kWh, and they claim 70 km of range from that one.
 
Insurance in onterrible makes it a tough sale. Why would you buy that instead of a gas bike? For $8000 you can get something pretty nice or for half that (or less) you can get something adequate. I just don't see a compelling reason to buy it. If there was some special insurance deal ($500 a year?), maybe but why should such a deal exist? It should fit the same risk profile as a 125 and be insured as such.
Well sure ... I mean for me personally "Why would you buy that instead of a gas bike?" doesn't have a good answer for any bike on the market. Even the Damon Hypersport (should it ever actually exist) which I think would be pretty neat, still would get passed over for some pretty nice conventional bikes for the same money.

Viewed entirely within the market of electric bikes, it just in theory would provide a cheaper entry point than a... Zero? And it would probably do well enough for some commuting, even with the present limitations Brian pointed out. It has kind of a striking appearance, which I imagine was the primary design goal
 
I think what's eventually going to happen is that the regulators gonna regulate, just as is happening in the foreseeable future with cars. If it gets to a situation where combustion-engine vehicles aren't allowed within many city limits, or have to pay prohibitive tolls, electric will have to do. The other possibility - particularly in Europe - is that if emission standards become so stringent that there is no practical way for a combustion-engine vehicle to achieve compliance, they'll effectively be outlawed. Euro 5 was the death knell for a bunch of formerly-popular models. Euro 6, whenever that happens, may be game over. My understanding is that Euro 5 is right on the very edge of what we know how to do, in terms of engine and emission control technology, without serious compromises in terms of size, weight, performance, cost, etc.

Much of the reason the auto (and motorcycle and truck) industry is heading towards all-electric is that it gets the government emission regulators off their backs, once and for all. They can't complain about emissions that are not there. Sure, it transfers the problem to the generating station ... but that's somebody else's problem ... and in many cases, it makes it the government's own problem.
 
It will be interesting to see the real street version. The pic is an obvious prototype. The advertised range is 80 miles? You'll only find the truth once several people have bought them and they post the real range. At $5000 and 80mi I might just splurge.
 
It will be interesting to see the real street version. The pic is an obvious prototype. The advertised range is 80 miles? You'll only find the truth once several people have bought them and they post the real range. At $5000 and 80mi I might just splurge.
5000 usd. Probably 8000 cdn.
 
The headlight looks like the same one I installed on my old Honda.
Even the DOT markings (which were fake) are upside down in the same spot as my old one. i wonder if they outsourced that component to China
 
When do you get released from purgatory?
Tomorrow at midnight ..- partner picks me up in the morning and I get a HAIRCUT!!!!!! Long hair sucks.
Going to explore Surfers Paradise and hinterlands for a couple days. No masks, everything open and normal.
Not exactly hard time - 27 and sunny most days. Gold Coast Hotel & Accommodation | Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise
View from the balcony
Screen Shot 2021-01-26 at Jan, 26    2021    2.44.08 PM.jpg

Quarantine breaker lorikeets,
Screen Shot 2021-01-17 at Jan, 17    2021    7.59.24 AM.jpg
 
Tomorrow at midnight ..- partner picks me up in the morning and I get a HAIRCUT!!!!!! Long hair sucks.
Going to explore Surfers Paradise and hinterlands for a couple days. No masks, everything open and normal.
Not exactly hard time - 27 and sunny most days. Gold Coast Hotel & Accommodation | Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise
View from the balcony
View attachment 46728

Quarantine breaker lorikeets,
View attachment 46727
Remember feeding those little guys when I was a kid. Started with a pair on our balcony at 10am, then 3 pairs at 9:30am then 10 pairs at 8:30... eventually had about 100 birds on our balcony waking us up at 5:30 in the morning, parents were ****** LOL.

How did the quarantine hotel go? Im hearing stories of people booking flights and then getting cancelled because the hotels were full or ending up in a hotel on the other side of the country to where they want to be.

Natural arch is an amazing ride if you have a bike.
 

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