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Chapter One When you buy, convert, or build an electric motorcycle today, all these choices and more are yours to make because there are no standards and few restrictions. The primary restrictions regard safety (you want to be covered in this area anyway) and are taken care of by using an existing internal combustion engine motorcycle chassis that already has been safety qualified. Other safety standards to be used when buying, mounting, using, and servicing your electric motorcycle conversion components are discussed later in this book. On another safety issue, though, while electric motorcycles do not emit noise pollution or any other pollution for that matter, there has been concern about their being unsafe for seeing-impaired pedestrians because the engines don’t make noise. However, electric motorcycle ownership is visible proof of your commitment to help clean up the environment.
Electric Motorcycle Myths: Dispelling the Rumors There have been four widely circulated myths or rumors about electric motorcycles that are not true. Because the reality in each case is the 180-degree opposite of the myth, you should know about them.
Myth 1: Electric Motorcycles Can’t Go Fast Enough Electric motorcycles are anything but slow. Many electric motorcycles on the market today have a top speed of 60 mph or more. The Electra Cruiser easily tops 80 mph. The beauty of building your own electric motorcycle is you determine how fast that you want your vehicle to go.
Myth 2: Electric Motorcycles Have Limited Range Nothing could be further from the truth, but unfortunately this myth has been widely accepted. The reality is that electric motorcycles can go as far as most people need. While lithium-ion batteries will expand your range dramatically, and there are some people who are traveling across the country on electric motorcycles, the technology is not yet ready for a massive road trip. But what is their range? The federal government reports that the average daily commuter distance for all modes of motor travel (i.e., autos, trucks, and buses) is 10 miles, and this figure hasn’t changed appreciably in 20 years of data gathering. An earlier study showed that 98 percent of all trips are under 50 miles per day; most people do all their driving locally and take only a few long trips. One-hundred-mile and longer trips are only 17 percent of total miles driven. As stated in Build Your Own Electric Vehicle, 2nd edition, General Motors’ own surveys in the early 1990s (taken from a sampling of drivers in Boston, Los Angeles, and Houston) indicated that • Most people don’t drive very far. • More than 40 percent of all trips were under 5 miles.