World's fastest Lithium-ion battery bike crashes

[bystander]

Originally Posted by GadgetmanKen

I thought I heard him say he was the designer, not the rider, or something to that effect in the beginning of the video.

Bill Dube is the owner, designer, and crew chief of the Killacycle. He has experience with electric dragstrip vehicles since 1997, but he is not the rider when the bike is demoed full speed at drag strips.

This website seems to indicate that someone named "Bill" may do warm-up runs, however:

http://www.nedra.com/

See entry for "Friday evening, July 13"

Also, this article is good for more information and photos about the latest incarnation of the killacycle:

http://autospeed.com.au/cms/A_108827/article.html

It's interesting that they heat the batteries just before a run for optimal discharge characteristics. Then they cool the pack before the next run. The heat endured by the Lithium-ion Phosphate batteries (75-100ºC) would cause conventional Lithium-ion metal oxide batteries to burn and explode, according to the article.

[bystander]

Originally Posted by hellphish

What would adding a fly wheel do for the bike, other than making it more difficult to turn?

Originally Posted by quade

Flywheel on an electric motorcycle would be a pointless waste of energy.

Well, we're talking about a single purpose drag bike here, not a regular motorcycle.

I think the point was that a flywheel, spun up by the electric motors before the start of the race, then combined with the electric drive during the race would allow more power applied to the road during the race. As it is now, the killacycle only discharges a fraction (about 1/6 or 1/7) of it's capacity for each run. By getting more power out of the batteries and into the drive train in the few seconds the bike is running, the faster it will go.

They're already shifting from series to parallel drive about 1/3 down the track for more power extraction.

Personally, I think adding a flywheel would make things overly complicated, but racers are always looking for an edge...

[KSagal]

I suspect that this is going to get a varied assortment of responses, but I have yet to meet a person who was in a car accident... Most of the people I know who have bumped into, or been bumped into, items or cars with their cars, did it themselves...

The amount of times that a car's front tires do not turn when you turn the steering wheel, or the car's tires do not slow down when you depress the brake pedal are really infinatessimal compared to the amount of times those devices work...

If you further remove the times that are related to the brakes that have been fading, and "I meant to get them fixed" before this event, or the times that "I know it was getting harder to steer, but I did not have time to bring it to the shop" and the, "I know I had that wierd clanging, but did not do anything about it..." then you fairly well have removed all the traffic accidents that I have ever heard of...

That is not to say that the tires can grip the snow/wet/dry/sandy/whatever road, at the speed you chose to drive, or that the wheels slowing down because of the brakes can stop the car in time to avoid a collision, or swerve in time to avoid the tree, or what ever...

There have been studies that have shown a connection between the controls on the radio, and the accident rates. That is one reason that many cars have the radio controls on the steering wheel, because it causes less driver distractions...

ALL ACCIDENTS IN CARS are the direct fault of the driver. If the driver was not there, the car would not be in the accident.

This accident with this electronic bike could not have happened without that driver, doing something that he should not have... I agree with those who say it was his fault...

All I offered was that that motorcycle itself would also not exist if is were not for that particular person as well. I was saying that we should not overlook the existance of the bike, and the accomplishment borne from years of hard work and inspiration, and perspiration from that driver, just because we choose not to look past that accident.

[bystander]

EV enthusiasts may be interested in the news that occured this past weekend:

http://www.killacycle.com/2007/11/11...10th/#comments

November 11th, 2007
7.824 @168 MPH !!!!!! at Pomona AHDRA Nov 10th
The KillaCycle made drag racing history at Pomona this weekend when we became the FIRST electric-powered vehicle to make a SEVEN-SECOND PASS in the 1/4 mile.

The bike is all patched up and has a slightly larger battery pack, and a new set of tires. The previous pack was developing 350 hp, the new one is estimated at 500 hp.

[SegwayDan]

Here's the YouTube link:



Zero-60 in LESS then a second! Wowee zowee!!

It looks like the drag bar is plastic (probably for weight savings). You can hear it scrape on the pavement as he torques up. Couldn't hear that with a gas bike!

This guy is obviously undaunted by any of those minor mishaps which some have quibbled over earlier in this thread. In fact, it's those mishaps from which he learns the most so that the next time, and the next time, and the next time are all better and faster.

I think he said in the crash video while lying on his back, waiting for the "bus" to arrive, something like, "It actually stuck on. . .". Those are the flat objective statements of an engineer. You learn by doing, and you go back for more.

He's one brave, smart guy who's excited about doing something new and important--a REAL pioneer and right up there with Dean!

With a apologies to "bystander" for the irony of his username, any of us could be more than just bystanders with our own ideas, drive, and spirit of adventure!