Electric car sets Pikes Peak record

[BillKidd + 139]

Have you seen this? Pretty impressive, this sucker is fast! Amazing technology. Watch the video a bit! Electric car sets Pikes Peak ascent record, beating ICE record... link

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

3 hours ago, BillKidd said:

Have you seen this? Pretty impressive, this sucker is fast! Amazing technology. Watch the video a bit! Electric car sets Pikes Peak ascent record, beating ICE record... link

There is also an annual motorcycle race held on Pikes Peak.  Apparently every year it is won by a rider on an electric motorcycle.  Those are built by ZERO motorcycles, a manufacturer I believe in the Los ANgeles area.  ZERO's customers are mainly urban and suburban police departments, and some colleges, due to the ability to be quiet and run on the campus pathways, something an ICE police car cannot do. Although the ZERO motorcycles are pricey, the police departments buy them due to the performance: top speeds are something around 100 mph. 

The big advantage of the motorcycle is its extreme torque at low rotational speed, implying that the electric is always the fastest in a standing start.  There is one home-builder who put together a "hog"-type electric motorcycle with a zero-sixty mph time of 0.9 seconds.  Yup, from a standing start it hits 60 mph in less than one secord!   Kids, don't try that at home!

Getting back to those electric cars running on Pikes, remember that the electric has no transmission and thus no hiccup in power band to the wheels.  The limiting factor is the ability of the driver to maintain control.  In theory you could come close to duplicating that with a hydromechanical transmission, but the weight penalty of that drivetrain would still favor the electric. You see those hydromechanical transmissions on diesel self-propelled railcars, called "DMUs," or "Diesel Multiple Units," where the extra weight is not a meaningful factor.  Cheers. 

P.S.  Check this lunatic out:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVv0NVLFPig     0-60 in 0.87 sec

Edited July 7, 2018 by Jan van Eck
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