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Electric motorcycle that can't tip over

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Freedom Kira:
Yeah, I don't think I ever read anything about engines having anything to do with vehicle classification. Traditionally, a two-wheeler requires a class 6. So I'm somewhat doubtful and hopeful at the same time that this thing won't be classified as a motorcycle, since it rides differently.

Saras:
Oh. It's a bit different here. You can basically drive anything up to a 50 cc engine without any license whatsoever as long as you're >14, as they aren't deemed powerful enough to even break the speed limit. And being of age and having any vehicle license basically frees you up to the 125cc range. With only the >125cc range requiring a proper motorcycle license.

kitamesume:
o.o who'd need a 100cc engine on a city motorcycle, unless you're street racing >,>
on mountains though i can see the reason of needing a more powerful engine, since going up a mountain does need more oomph.

also in terms of cost per mileage, it is indeed lower in electric vehicles, but not entirely lower.
note: i'm gonna base this calculations on the tesla roadster since thats a known practical electric car.

the tesla roadster has a range of 245mile per full charge, and it's battery capacity is around 67.2KWatt which is about 3.65miles per KWatt.
electricity cost approx per KWatt is about 0.32USD in my area, which roughly computes to 21.504USD per full charge or 0.088USD per mile!

edit: also, comparing the regular price of a car(25K-USD) to the tesla roadster(100K-USD) you'd need around 1,200,000 miles of mileage to recover the 75K-USD investments(you save like 8.4USD per full charge which is 245miles) although i should be comparing this to a similarly priced sports car.
edit2: tesla model S priced at 49K-USD has a mileage of 160miles at 40KWatt battery capacity, thats roughly 4miles per KWatt, needs about 365,000 miles of mileage to recover the 25K-USD investment.

lapa321:
That's assuming you're still using the same batterypack for the entire 365,000 miles. You'll need to add new batteries to the cost as part of the maintenance.

PS:


--- Quote ---Tesla Motors stated in February 2009 that the current replacement cost of the ESS is slightly under USD$36,000, with an expected life span of 7 years/100,000 mi
--- End quote ---

http://topgear.wikia.com/wiki/Tesla_Roadster

kitamesume:
which points out that going electricity beats the sole purpose of being economically more viable as a cheaper alternative to gasoline, but guess what, the investments you'll do would exceed the savings you'll incur.

edit: although i wonder if they sell teslamotors batteries as 2ndhands(betting around 5,000$ for heavily used), even if they're really used up they're still partially usable, although at a lower capacity =P

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