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Old 11-24-2012, 07:54 PM   #6 (permalink)
sheepdog 44
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The motorcycle would be extended for aerodynamic and stability reasons. Taking the the example of the 200mpg honda innova; I believe a motorcycle can achieve 33.5-50wh/mi in EV mode through a complete aerodynamic fairing and the small frontal area of a bike. This is about 680-1,000mpge, 680mpge being my conservative goal (which is phenomenal compared to cars). For 100 miles of range, that would require a 3.7-5 kwh battery. I've been told "using standard lithium technology would only be 3.7kWh, or about 82 lbs, and would measure about 5 x 18 x 25 inches, thus easily fitting under the seat for example." Such a small pack would be relatively cheap, don't know how much but south of $2,000. To start, i could get away with a really cheap 2.5 kwh battery for 50 miles. To compare, this is plugin car range, not prius hybrid territory.

My theory is that diluting a 100 mile EV range over 300 miles constantly assisting the gas engine is better than driving 100miles in ev mode, then 200miles on gas only. At a 100mpg gas engine for the second example, i would average 150miles for every gallon of fossil fuel consumption. But how high an mpg could i get cruising at 65mph by throttling back the engine from a 15hp cruise to 1/3 (10hp gas 5 hp electric) or 1/2 (7.5hp gas 7.5hp electric)? I know in my car a little less throttle to where the car slowly looses speed will jump the instant mpg gauge a lot high than what i get maintaining speed.

I'd like to try to extrapolate a graph of how a motorcycle's gas engine gains mpg by throttling back the engine in percentages, while still maintaining the same speed. Would it be linear? Is there a sweet spot in the curve where mpg skyrockets?

I think in constant assist mode, the electric motor would also be able to cherry pick ideal conditions to get the best mileage. Take the VW XL1 for example, the sum of its short plug in range and the mpg it gets on diesel will never be able to add up to the 300+mpg it's stated to get. Something else must be happening when they run in combination.
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Last edited by sheepdog 44; 11-24-2012 at 08:05 PM..
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