67-Pound Carbon Fiber Electric Motorcycle Revealed In Norway

While electric cars are stumbling, electric motorcycles are finding more and more fans in the marketplace thanks to improved performance and generous subsidies. Brands like Brammo and Zero Motorcycles here in America are making a name for electric motorcycles. Over in Norway however, a group of 5 college students have revealed a carbon-fiber electric motorcycle that they plan to build and sell. And on paper, this 67 pound, 94 horsepower motorcycle sounds like some serious competition.

Ambitious, Clever, And Cool Looking

Called the Roskva, the idea evolved from pen and paper to CAD drawings to the real deal, and the 5 Norwegian engineering students behind the project have big ambitions. Constructed of tough-but-light carbon fiber, the weight of the Roskva is pegged between 50 and 70 pounds. That?s almost unbelievably light, especially when bikes like Brammo?s Empulse tip the scales at around 440 pounds.

Of course carbon fiber isn?t cheap, so to keep costs down the Roskva?s designers utilize lithion-iron phosphate batteries. These less-expensive batteries have less energy density as well, though they also have a longer lifespan. Still, range will be limited to just 60 miles, though an all-electric highway in Norway will offer recharge times of just ten minutes or so. The top speed of 113 mph is also pretty appealing, though I imagine you?d drain the battery pretty fast if you cruised at that speed for very long.

The students hope the Roskva will be the Tesla of electric motorcycles, though no word on how much the bike will cost. As I said, carbon fiber isn?t cheap, and neither are those batteries. On the same token, I expect to see carbon fiber used with increasing regularity in the coming years, albeit in a more selective fashion.

Source: Engadget

Source: http://gas2.org/2012/07/16/67-pound-carbon-fiber-electric-motorcycle-revealed-in-norway/

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