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Doubtful. There are dozens if not hundreds of guys who have made their own electric motorcycles[0]. Getting it to production is a whole other ballgame, one that

by lj3 10y ago

Doubtful. There are dozens if not hundreds of guys who have made their own electric motorcycles[0]. Getting it to production is a whole other ballgame, one that only two companies out of dozens have managed to pull off (Zero and Brammo). [0]: http://www.evalbum.com/type/MTCY http://www.evalbum.com/type/MTCY

Lordarminius 10y ago
You must be from the West. I repeat, a competitively priced motorcycle would upend the market and make you a very very rich. The vast majority of motorbike users reside in Asia and Africa. Imagine being able to charge your spare batteries using solar panels during the day and no longer paying for gas; an electric engine would be quieter and require less maintenance. In performance and ruggedness it would have to supersede current offerings and I guess that is quite difficult or else Yamaha, Honda, Sukam and the rest would have built one already. If I were rich I would certainly consider funding such a project.
- lj3 10y ago
  > I repeat, a competitively priced motorcycle would upend the market and make you a very very rich. There are dozens of cheap chinese knockoff electric scooters available in Asia. Upend the market? Please. > Imagine being able to charge your spare batteries using solar panels during the day and no longer paying for gas. I don't have to imagine. Been there, done that, along with hundreds if not thousands of others. As I said before, you have no idea what it takes to go from a working prototype to a finished, mass produced shippable product. There's a reason only 2 companies have ever pulled it off and one of them went bankrupt. If you want a fun rabbit hole to dive down, google 'homologation' sometime. I'm not saying somebody with access to billions in capital can't eventually break even and start making a profit, but we're talking a 10-20 year break even period. Longer, if you have to do what Tesla did and create an entire solar infrastructure in Asia and Africa.

by lj3 10y ago

Lordarminius 10y ago

You must be from the West. I repeat, a competitively priced motorcycle would upend the market and make you a very very rich. The vast majority of motorbike users reside in Asia and Africa. Imagine being able to charge your spare batteries using solar panels during the day and no longer paying for gas; an electric engine would be quieter and require less maintenance. In performance and ruggedness it would have to supersede current offerings and I guess that is quite difficult or else Yamaha, Honda, Sukam and the rest would have built one already. If I were rich I would certainly consider funding such a project.

lj3 10y ago
> I repeat, a competitively priced motorcycle would upend the market and make you a very very rich. There are dozens of cheap chinese knockoff electric scooters available in Asia. Upend the market? Please. > Imagine being able to charge your spare batteries using solar panels during the day and no longer paying for gas. I don't have to imagine. Been there, done that, along with hundreds if not thousands of others. As I said before, you have no idea what it takes to go from a working prototype to a finished, mass produced shippable product. There's a reason only 2 companies have ever pulled it off and one of them went bankrupt. If you want a fun rabbit hole to dive down, google 'homologation' sometime. I'm not saying somebody with access to billions in capital can't eventually break even and start making a profit, but we're talking a 10-20 year break even period. Longer, if you have to do what Tesla did and create an entire solar infrastructure in Asia and Africa.