Posted on 07/30/2007 1:30:10 PM PDT by GBA
With Barely a Sound, Electric Dragsters Aim for Gas-Powered Records
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Straddling a 619-pound motorcycle, Scotty Pollacheck tucks in his knees and lowers his head as he waits for the green light. When he revs the engine, there's no roar. The bike moves so fast that within seconds all that's visible is a faint red taillight melting in the distance.
Pollacheck crosses the quarter-mile marker doing 156 mph; he's traveled 1,320 feet in 8.22 seconds, faster than any of the gas-powered cars, trucks or motorcycles that have raced in the drag sprints on this weekend at Portland International Raceway.
It's particularly impressive given Pollacheck is riding a vehicle that uses no gasoline and is powered entirely by lithium-ion batteries.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.us.biz.yahoo.com ...
Im sure he meant torque.
They'd be less of a problem than the tires.
True. And the fans will demand those good old nitromethane headaches.
You’ll never get me on or in a hybrid or an electric vehicle.
The engine sound is part of the enjoyment!!
OK, when they start mass producing them, at a cost I can afford, with enough power to go 300 miles, I want one.
Now someone will call you names. LOL
I believe the first electric drag bike was built back in the fifties wasn't it? Could have been early sixties?
Cannot have one with out there other.
No, the same power. Torque is half at twice the RPM.
You assume I was talking about Sudbury?
In squeaky clean and viciously liberal canada?
Assuming your hp conversion figure is correct, and with an average price of 10 cents/kw-hour:
745.7 kw x .10/kw-hr x 1 hour/3600 sec x 8.2 seconds = .1698538 dollars,
or about 17 cents.
anyway... the $30K in batteries is enough to make you think twice...
You'd have to explain that further. Obviously not all batteries are of the same efficiency or weight, especially when you're comparing lead-acid, NiMH, lithium-poly, etc.
Yes the batteries are expensive. But they will get much cheaper as the technology evolves, and with mass production. Gas engine technology is already mature.
I think...I might be mistaken, but I’m going to go on a limb and say that the torque of an electric motor is max at zero RPMs. In gasoline motors max occurs somewhere between 2000 and 4000 for the usual normal everyday automotive engine. For a diesel it is sometimes just under 1000 but usually 1500 to 2000.
I don’t recall the difference in power and torque output curves for normal variable speed electric motors vs freek drives (variable frequency motors), but I think the freek drives have superior low speed power. I know there’s less heat generated. I’m guessing a freek drive could really haul a$$ in a drag race if you had a computer modulating the frequency vs weel spin all the way down the strip.
Yep, from superchargers to turbochargers to you name it, today's cars are running on the innovations that were created on the race track.............
Whatever produces consistant winners will dictate the direction the auto industry will pursue. Thats historic and that's what's great about auto racing.........
I hope it's a strong limb, because I'm out there with you! The same horsepower at all rpm.
That's why the 0-60 speed is so quick, despite the bike's heavy weight -- max power availability all the time. Also easier on the drive train, since it can be designed for a single-figure constant strain, without torque variation and power pulses. The track times can be quicker with a motor that has less overall power compared to the liquid-fuel competitors, provided the bike weights are comparable.
The next closest thing to electric motors would be large displacement-small number of cylinder engines of old fashioned design. For instance, the old “johnny poppers” of john deere tractors from 75 years ago. Or...harley davidson motors. Or...WWII vintage radial aircraft engines. These are all engines designed with the very same advantages you are touting in electric motors.
The only thing I can think of is the strength of the shafts in High RPM situations is much less. Nothing snaps shafts and breaks gears faster than low RPM torque. Heavier drivetrains means slower acceleration...in two ways. The vehicle weighs more, so it accelerates down the strip slower, but also, the rotational inertia is greater, which drags down the motor when trying to “spin up” to speed.
Good one!!!
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