Electric Spyders on the way

[jcthorne]

A battery electric vehicle with a gas engine recharge capability is known as a plug in hybrid.

[asp125]

Taiga Electric Snowmobile. https://electrek.co/2018/03/03/tesla...ic-snowmobile/

It can be done, BRP (aka Bombardier) better be paying attention.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

.... BRP (aka Bombardier) ....

Minor correction. The Bombardier name applies to the airplane and light rail company. Starting in 2004 BRP, Inc. is now the name for what used to be Bombardier Recreational Products. https://www.brp.com/en/about-us/our-story.html. BRP was spun off from Bombardier in 2003 and is a separate company from Bombardier. The name Bombardier no longer applies to the recreational products company.

[UtahPete]

https://www.rideapart.com/articles/3...ic-motorcycle/

[RICZ]

Interestingly, every electric motorcycle has the rider in a "humping a watermelon" riding position. The mfrs. must be blind to the fact that over half of MC sales are feet forward cruisers and they sell to a more mature and solvent clientele. I have fancied having an electric errand runner, but I can not ride what's out there.

[UtahPete]

Interestingly, every electric motorcycle has the rider in a "humping a watermelon" riding position. The mfrs. must be blind to the fact that over half of MC sales are feet forward cruisers and they sell to a more mature and solvent clientele. I have fancied having an electric errand runner, but I can not ride what's out there.

Electric Spyders are going to be available within the next couple of years, I think.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Taiga Electric Snowmobile. https://electrek.co/2018/03/03/tesla...ic-snowmobile/

It can be done, BRP (aka Bombardier) better be paying attention.

I began snowmobiling when I moved to Vermont in 1976 ( 37 years of ownership ) and countless numbers of different machines ….. There is NO WAY that. that Electric snowmobile or any other snowmobile ( of any horsepower ) can go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds. …. It's physically impossible, the snowmobile is a VERY low traction machine …. and if you have NO traction you just spin the track, been there done that 100's of times. I'd be very wary of a company that makes outrageous claims. ………….JMHO ….. Mike

[Bob Denman]

Before you make such a broad pronouncement: Have you ever studded a track, and run on lake ice?
Traction IS the key component to acceleration. Once you've got that sorted out: I have no doubt that today's hyper-sleds can make that mark!

… And I started riding in the mid-sixties, and lake-raced for 15 years... (1993 to 2008)

[Highwayman2013]

Lots of chargers out there:https://www.plugshare.com/

This guy is from Norway, he does real world range tests of EV,s:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WecVkJ2Nf6o

[Raprider]

Just saw this online and thought I'd add it to the mix...
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/28/1...le-specs-price

[RICZ]

WOW!!! $13,000 ++ and you can ride it for all of 70 miles. And you have to carry your groceries in your teeth. When a mfr comes out with an electric cruiser bagger, then and only then will I pay attention.

[jbim]

And me too on a free Beta Test unit. But...that is not going to happen here--even though it should. (Alaska)

Don't forget they started with Ski Doo's! I'm quite sure they would like to leverage the battery technology for both vehicles. Imagine going thru the woods in winter in complete silence just like on x-country skis!

[BryanSD]

Electric Vehicles are inevitable so it would be nice to see Can-Am go this direction (there is nothing on the technology side that would prevent them from making a model). What would excite me most is that a Spyder EV should be a lot less maintenance with TCO likely lower than current Spyders. I bet we're at least two decades away before EV's penetrate 50% of the market here in the USA...but it's beginning and has already advanced further elsewhere in the world.

Over the past year, I've gone from gas to electric for almost all my outdoor power tools (lawn mower, snow blower, weed eater, leaf blower, chain saw, etc). Despite disadvantages (charging time) it's been a game changer as far as maintenance and reliability. I'm just not good with small gas engines...their carburetors and me just don't get along.

[jwulf74]

We started with electric power tools (weed eater, etc) and switched to gas... the batteries just lost too much longevity over time and new batteries were expensive. Plus with a bigger property now, only gas will get the job done. Same thing with vehicles in our area... gas will get the job done...

[Wahrsuul]

I'd love to have an electric bike, but I have to agree, I need some wind protection and carrying capacity.

A plug-in hybrid is not the same as having an engine to charge the battery. Most plug in hybrids use the electric motor along with the gas engine to get the care up to speed. When the batteries run out, you're on the gas engine alone. The Volt is a little different - they use the electric motor exclusively for short trips, with the gas engine taking over when the batteries are drained.

There was a concept years ago of an all-electric car. You could get an add-on gas engine on a small trailer that would power the car over long distances if needed. The idea was that the smaller engine would be tuned to run at a specific speed and load so you can make it as efficient as possible. Kind of like how trains run.

[missouriboy]

...I bet we're at least two decades away before EV's penetrate 50% of the market here in the USA...

Well, I dunno: have you heard about the new battery technology being developed by Fisker Automotive that will offer 500+ miles on a one-minute charge? It may make the current lithium-ion batteries obsolete by 2023.

A quote:
The new battery technology, Fisker says, could lead to drop in electric car prices as well.

“Well, the battery technology is about a third of the price and the reason is we don’t use as much cobalt which is very expensive. So, that means actually that electric cars ultimately will be slightly cheaper than comparable gasoline cars.”

Link: https://www.foxbusiness.com/features...minutes-charge

I think a small, long-range battery like this in a motorcycle might sell like hotcakes.

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Link: https://www.foxbusiness.com/features...minutes-charge
I think a small, long-range battery like this in a motorcycle might sell like hotcakes.

Hotcakes are great for breakfast on April Fool's Day!!!

[Deanna777]

I would miss the roar of the gasoline motor.
Kenn

So would I.

Deanna

[Cobwebs]

Batteries tend to get all the attention in the EV discussion.These guys are pushing their axial flux motor as the superior tech in that area.https://newatlas.com/magnax-axial-fl...c-motor/54821/
Whatever is released one thing we know is electronics have a steep development curve and what is acceptable today is inferior next year.Internal combustion is tapped out by comparison but if everyone starts replacing their EV as fast as their phone I don't see resale values being a strong point.
Remember beta 8 track tape players,those that took them up are still the brunt of jokes, who wants to be that guy.

[missouriboy]

Hotcakes are great for breakfast on April Fool's Day!!!

The link I gave was for a news item a year and a half old, but it was not a joke. Here's the current description from Wikipedia:

Solid-state battery

On November 13, 2017, Fisker Inc. announced that it had filed patents on flexible solid-state battery designs, expecting the batteries to be produced on a mass scale around 2023.[32] On Fisker's development team is Dr. Fabio Albano, one of the founders of Sakti3, the solid-state battery startup sold to Dyson in 2015.[13][33] Solid-state batteries have greater energy density and faster charging times than lithium-ion batteries.[32] Fisker states the batteries they are developing will have an energy density 2.5 times that of current batteries, at a smaller size and lower cost than conventional lithium-ion batteries, and will be capable of providing a 800-km (500-mile) driving range with a one-minute charge time.[13][32][34]

In 2018, Fisker announced to use solid-state batteries from 2020.[35]

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I still say hogwash!

Look at this page. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...JxDjMfaX-kw2Xz

It shows EV energy use from about 2 to 4 Kwh per mile. Let's use 3 Kwh per mile energy consumption. For 500 miles that about 170 Kwh, or 170,000 watt-hours, or 10,200,000 watt-min. To charge the battery in one minute for 500 miles of use you have to inject 10,200,000 watts of energy into the battery within that minute. I don't know what voltages are used for EV batteries, but let's go with 100 volts. Watts = volts x amps. Divide 10,200,000 by 100 you have 102,000 amps. The charging cable would be as big as the car, assuming you can even find a charging station that will put out 100,000+ amps.

There is something really fishy about that whole story! A one minute charge might get you to the grocery store and back!

[missouriboy]

You have inadvertently stated your miles/kwh backward. It's 3 miles per kwh, not the other way around. But your subsequent calculations corrected this.

Obviously, Henrik Fisker and his high-$ engineers are unaware of this, and we should advise them to stop wasting those $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on vaporware?

[Commander]

As far as I am concerned the Electric version is not for me. When my wife and I go out sometimes we just like to ride with no specific destination and just hit the home button on the GPS when it is time to go home. I cannot imagine taking a ride and finding out that your battery source is running low and there is no power source to plug in your Spyder to charge it. According the Green New Deal we only have 12 years left so lets use our gas guzzlers while we can...…..

[sledmaster]

One of the issues with the EV powered sleds and bikes is that of being even more stealth to the wildlife. Like, the deer do not hear you until the very last moment, and smacking one of them at speed is usually not a good scenario. I've done it (hit deer) five times in over 300,000 miles on sleds and Spyders, last one was ugly. And yes, I've been on the old green hybrid Spyder. I'll find a photo here somewhere.....

[BryanSD]

As far as I am concerned the Electric version is not for me. When my wife and I go out sometimes we just like to ride with no specific destination and just hit the home button on the GPS when it is time to go home. I cannot imagine taking a ride and finding out that your battery source is running low and there is no power source to plug in your Spyder to charge it. According the Green New Deal we only have 12 years left so lets use our gas guzzlers while we can...…..

Yes, I think I'd need to make sure I have the capacity to go some miles before I'd relax enough due to range anxiety. Although, one would think the Spyder due to it's size would have a much better range than the current two-wheeler electrics being produced by Zero, HD, and Lightning.