Eric Eikrem’s Blog

This blog’s primary focus is on entrepreneurship in general and innovation in the ICT sector in particular. However, in this article I’ll deviate a bit. Something just came up that combine 3 of my favorites themes: innovation, clean-tech and motorcycles. In a recent article [no-1] in the Norwegian Polytechnic Weekly (Teknisk Ukeblad), a really cool electrical motorcycle design was presented, made by students at the renowned Universität für angewandte Kunst (the University of Applied Art) in Vienna.

Electrical Rider ZEVS. By kind permission of Anders August Kittelsen, Bernhard Ranner and Rudolf Stefanich. Copyright 2010 All rights reserved.

Letting Design Rule

The electrical rider ZEVS is a design developed by the students Anders August Kittelsen, Bernhard Ranner and Rudolf Stefanich. It is a model – in a 1:5 scale – which shows an interesting approach to electric motorcycles; showing off the electric engine instead of trying to hide it. The model has been made without bringing engineers into the team. As far as I understand, it is a study of what might be possible, given that the technology – such as the battery (or batteries) – can be made to fit the design.

Meanwhile, On the Ground

Is design-driven work like the ZEVS useful? While performance is steadily improving, both in terms of speed, acceleration and range, current design approaches to electrical motorcycles can definitively be improved. The fastest production bike is the Mission One [en-2], which have one several design prizes. Notwithstanding the prizes, I think it looks rather bulky, see video below. Both Brammo and Zero, two of the most important producers of electric motorcycles, have taken a similar approach, although without the fairing of the Mission One [en-1, en-3]. It seems to me that design is lagging behind technical improvement.

Electrical Motorcycles for True Fans?

For motorcycle fanatics like myself, design is important. Changing to an electrical motor is a huge step for someone that has ridden nothing but big-bore combustion bikes for several decades. A lot of things get in the way of a change, including speed, range, handling, gears (or rather, the lack of them) and look. Perhaps it is about time that designers got a bigger say in electrical motorcycle development…

Electrical Rider ZEVS. By kind permission of Anders August Kittelsen, Bernhard Ranner and Rudolf Stefanich. Copyright 2010 All rights reserved.

References

In English:

1. Brammo electric motorcycles specification, downloaded on March 7, 2010.
2. Electric Motorcycles and Scooters, Wikipedia, downloaded on March 9, 2010.
3. Zero Motorcycles unveils their 2010 lineup of electric motorcycles, by David Herron, Green Transportation Examiner, March 3, 2010.

På norsk:

1. En elmotor til begjær, av Joachim Seehusen, Teknisk Ukeblad, 11.02.2010.

External links

In English:

The ZEVS, the University of Applied Arts Showroom, downloaded March 14, 2010.

En español:

Motocicleta eléctrica, Wikipedia.

En français:

Scooter électrique, Wikipedia.