4 ms·

Tesla ex Employee Startup: Electrifying Motorcycles

11 points by raphar 18y ago

gravitycop 18y ago
The meat, FTA: Called Mission One and designed by hotshot Yves Behar and his firm, fuseproject, the bike is both beautiful and fast. At a top speed of 150 miles per hour, it would be the fastest production electric vehicle of any type. [...] North says that because motorcycles are far more simple than automobiles, Mission Motors won't get bogged down like Tesla has. Its staff will stay small and nimble: It has a staff of about 12 right now. [...] The bike will be powered by lithium ion batteries that will take eight hours to fully charge, and it will have a range of 150 miles. [...] The price of the first edition, limited to just 50 and to be delivered early next year, will be $69,000. The company then will aim to sell another 250, at a price not yet set, before it tries to introduce a new, cheaper, more down-market model. Long before then, the company will surely have some tight turns to navigate. Turn one is funding. The company raised $1.5 million from angel investors and venture capital firms. That's enough only to get through the next six months.
gojomo 18y ago
HN regular DaniFong is working on compressed-air powered vehicles, starting with motor scooters. I hope she can comment on Mission Motors' plans.
- DaniFong 18y ago
  I can't comment on their technical plan, but they're definitely on thin ice as a business. Six months is not a lot of runway, and the enthusiasm for funding luxury vehicles is not high right now: Tesla ran into this problem. Additionally, they'll have a hard time making a case that they can scale to downmarket, and so the marketing of the company depends not on whether it can save people money, but whether it can build a brand powerfully enough. Tesla did this very well, but it's still unlikely to save them. There is another electric motorcycle company. They make a far more stripped down bike. I think they're in better shape. http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/ http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/ Incidentally, due to the difficulties with getting to market in vehicles, the first market for us is not likely to be vehicles, but energy storage (our website is embarrassingly out of date.)
  - raphar 18y ago
    Love to read about Lightsail on your site. Very good concepts and vision. I wish you the best of lucks.
  - gojomo 18y ago
    Thanks for the perspective and update. The focus on storage first makes intuitive sense, as it is the unique step/subsystem that needs to work well before larger systems. The information about heat/cold from the compress/decompress cycle was fascinating. Is efficiency anywhere in the ballpark for having applications for home heating/cooling? As in: run a compressor nights or winters to give off heat and store air, then release the air days or summers for a cold blast to replace traditional air conditioning?
    - DaniFong 18y ago
      Yeah, actually; that cycle give a pretty nice boost. That would save a lot of energy for a home system. It also works in energy storage -- you usually store energy in the dead of night, when it's cooler, and expand mid-day. It's even possible to recover waste heat for more of a boost.
sachinag 18y ago
As a biker, I'll raise the same objection I did on Twitter: Electric bikes will be silent. Drivers don't see motorcycles. Riding one of these is even more dangerous than usual, because car drivers just won't see or hear riders. That said, I still want one. But I'd armor up, which I never did on my Harley.
- vaksel 18y ago
  They could add a noise generator to it. Brabus has one for the Tesla Roadster. So you can still have your umpteen mpg motorcycle that sounds like a rocket.
  - gravitycop 18y ago
    They could add a noise generator to it. FTA: While Harley riders like to say "loud pipes save lives," the evidence for this is thin. If riders still want a rumble, North says he can always add it. (See "Teaching Cars To Sing.") http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/21/singing-prius-lotus-tech-science-cz_cf_0821prius.html http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/21/singing-prius-lotus-tech-sc...
    - LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
      I ride. I enjoy riding. I enjoy the loud grumble of a cruiser, and the exhilarating whine of a sport bike. When driving a car I still can't hear a bike overtaking me until it's already passed. I think "loud pipes" is just a rationalization for bikers to justify their beloved exhaust notes.
- gravitycop 18y ago
  Electric bikes will be silent. [...] Riding one of these is even more dangerous than usual, because car drivers [...] won't [...] hear riders. Source? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=453184 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=453184 Only 35 of the 4,727 motorcycle drivers killed in 2007 were driving sport-touring [i.e. the quietest type] motorcycles.
- pkaler 18y ago

11 points by raphar 18y ago

The meat, FTA: Called Mission One and designed by hotshot Yves Behar and his firm, fuseproject, the bike is both beautiful and fast. At a top speed of 150 miles per hour, it would be the fastest production electric vehicle of any type. [...] North says that because motorcycles are far more simple than automobiles, Mission Motors won't get bogged down like Tesla has. Its staff will stay small and nimble: It has a staff of about 12 right now. [...] The bike will be powered by lithium ion batteries that will take eight hours to fully charge, and it will have a range of 150 miles. [...] The price of the first edition, limited to just 50 and to be delivered early next year, will be $69,000. The company then will aim to sell another 250, at a price not yet set, before it tries to introduce a new, cheaper, more down-market model. Long before then, the company will surely have some tight turns to navigate. Turn one is funding. The company raised $1.5 million from angel investors and venture capital firms. That's enough only to get through the next six months.

gojomo 18y ago

HN regular DaniFong is working on compressed-air powered vehicles, starting with motor scooters. I hope she can comment on Mission Motors' plans.

DaniFong 18y ago
I can't comment on their technical plan, but they're definitely on thin ice as a business. Six months is not a lot of runway, and the enthusiasm for funding luxury vehicles is not high right now: Tesla ran into this problem. Additionally, they'll have a hard time making a case that they can scale to downmarket, and so the marketing of the company depends not on whether it can save people money, but whether it can build a brand powerfully enough. Tesla did this very well, but it's still unlikely to save them. There is another electric motorcycle company. They make a far more stripped down bike. I think they're in better shape. http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/ http://www.zeromotorcycles.com/ Incidentally, due to the difficulties with getting to market in vehicles, the first market for us is not likely to be vehicles, but energy storage (our website is embarrassingly out of date.)
- raphar 18y ago
  Love to read about Lightsail on your site. Very good concepts and vision. I wish you the best of lucks.
- gojomo 18y ago
  Thanks for the perspective and update. The focus on storage first makes intuitive sense, as it is the unique step/subsystem that needs to work well before larger systems. The information about heat/cold from the compress/decompress cycle was fascinating. Is efficiency anywhere in the ballpark for having applications for home heating/cooling? As in: run a compressor nights or winters to give off heat and store air, then release the air days or summers for a cold blast to replace traditional air conditioning?
  - DaniFong 18y ago
    Yeah, actually; that cycle give a pretty nice boost. That would save a lot of energy for a home system. It also works in energy storage -- you usually store energy in the dead of night, when it's cooler, and expand mid-day. It's even possible to recover waste heat for more of a boost.

sachinag 18y ago

As a biker, I'll raise the same objection I did on Twitter: Electric bikes will be silent. Drivers don't see motorcycles. Riding one of these is even more dangerous than usual, because car drivers just won't see or hear riders. That said, I still want one. But I'd armor up, which I never did on my Harley.

vaksel 18y ago
They could add a noise generator to it. Brabus has one for the Tesla Roadster. So you can still have your umpteen mpg motorcycle that sounds like a rocket.
- gravitycop 18y ago
  They could add a noise generator to it. FTA: While Harley riders like to say "loud pipes save lives," the evidence for this is thin. If riders still want a rumble, North says he can always add it. (See "Teaching Cars To Sing.") http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/21/singing-prius-lotus-tech-science-cz_cf_0821prius.html http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/21/singing-prius-lotus-tech-sc...
  - LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
    I ride. I enjoy riding. I enjoy the loud grumble of a cruiser, and the exhilarating whine of a sport bike. When driving a car I still can't hear a bike overtaking me until it's already passed. I think "loud pipes" is just a rationalization for bikers to justify their beloved exhaust notes.
gravitycop 18y ago
Electric bikes will be silent. [...] Riding one of these is even more dangerous than usual, because car drivers [...] won't [...] hear riders. Source? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=453184 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=453184 Only 35 of the 4,727 motorcycle drivers killed in 2007 were driving sport-touring [i.e. the quietest type] motorcycles.
pkaler 18y ago