Fully Charged

Above is a trailer for the new Mark Neale documentary Charge. The movie is narrated by actor and motorcycle fan Ewan McGregor and documents the world’s first electric motorcycle race, the TTXGP, at the 2009 Isle of Man TT.

The movie does a great job of describing the excitement and technical challenges of producing an entirely new breed of racing motorcycles. 2010 looks like it is going to be a watershed year in terms of motorcycle technology. It now seems inevitable that electric technology will displace internal combustion engines in the coming years. Remember photographic cameras that carried rolls of film? What about cathode ray tube computer monitors and TV screens? In a decade or so I expect that exploding petrol as a means of propulsion will seem rather quaint and young kids will scratch their heads and wonder how it was ever possible.

Mavizen Factory Training and Support



Mavizen, winners of the inaugural 2009 TTXGP (electric MotoGP) race are now offering a 4-day technical training course on electric propulsion systems throughout 2010. The course compliments the TTX02 race bikes they produce that are now on sale. Course topics include: Batteries, Motors, Controllers, Chargers, Battery Management Systems, Safety Systems, Construction & Wiring Considerations. The course is currently advertized at £900 for all four days. Visit their web site for more details.

eCRP Race Bike Unveiled

Pictured left to right: Azhar Hussain (TTXGP), Lord Drayson (UK Minister for Science), Livia Cevolini (CRP), Franco Cevolini, (CRP) and Giampiero Testoni, (CRP)

CRP Racing have released details of the TTXGP electric race bike they have built based on the Mavizen TTX02 electric propulsion system...

Source TTXGP Press Release:

On January 14th Lord Drayson, UK Minister for Science and Innovation, unveiled the super sports electric motorcycle built by CRP Racing. CRP Racing is very pleased to unveil its ground-breaking motorcyle in terms of innovative technology. This has been demonstrated with the project of the bike eCRP 1.0, where the UK-based company, TTXGP, has collaborated with the Italian company CRP Racing.

eCRP 1.0 represents the Italian style and design with a strong "racing" look, easy to handle for its dimensions and shape, whose colours remind the Italian flag with the aim to promote that values leading the made-in-Italy a unique and distinctive factor.

Left: eCRP 1.0 technical specs.
click image for a larger view

For more information visit the CRP Racing web site.

The Future Electric?

At first, the thought of an electric motorcycle might conjure up the image of some kind of toy motorcycle. It's time to think again...

Mavizen is the company that won this year's inaugural TTXGP race for electric motorcycles at the Isle of Mann. They have just announced the availability of kits for their new electric race bike. These kits are intended for anyone who is interested in competing in the new TTXGP world series beginning in 2010.

Frame, running gear and body panels are sourced from the KTM RC8, nice choice. There are various configurations of bike and battery pack for different racing conditions: sprint, endurance etc. Without batteries, the bike weighs 110kg so the sprint race package is probably very light.  I don't have any figures for horsepower but electric engines produce maximum torque across the entire RPM range which means it will have really good acceleration from rest.

In addition to having no exhaust pipe, there is also no clutch or gearbox. That seems kind of strange, almost weird, but I can see a day when people will stare in wonder at those funny old classic motorcycles belching fumes and propelling themselves about via a series of explosions.

No mention of price but I have a nagging feeling that this will be expensive (update: motoblog.it has reported that the basic price, track ready, is £25,000). However racing a conventional motorcycle is also expensive so perhaps, comparitively, it won't be too bad. I know electric bikes have nothing to do with the VUN, but I just think this is too cool.