E-Dragsters Go for Gas-Powered Records

Associated Press ^ | Sunday July 29, 2:10 pm ET | Aaron Clark

[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.

[Constantine XIII]

Most reasonable thing I’ve heard all day. :)

[org.whodat]

Today’s pro-stock cars shifts gears around 9500 to 10,000 rpm. And a top fuel hemi runs around 5,800 to 6,500 Rpm, direct drive forward reverse transmission.

Drag bike turns about 12000 rpm.

[mamelukesabre]

That low for a hemi?

Ok, why are you posting this to me now?

[DungeonMaster]

lemme see here... 1000 hp = 745.699871582 Kw for 8.2 seconds, that’s a hell of a lot more tan “nine cents”

You're right. 745kw for 8.2 seconds = 1.7kwhr = all of 17 cents.

[xcamel]

Certainly doesn’t stop it from having an extreme “Cool Factor”

[DungeonMaster]

So do you still think there will be 87 tons of CO2 from a coal fired power plant involved?

[DungeonMaster]

Speaking of cool factor I got to test drive a 2006 Harley Nighttrain last night. It was very interesting but I like my Sportster better in a lot of ways.

[Ramcat]

The only problem I see with electrics and racing is that they'll have to use synthetic sound.
Fast, quiet bikes or dragsters won't do it for the attention deficit crowd.
This could make for some unbearable "disco" type experimentation / fusion.

[xcamel]

I really didn't think I needed the /sarc tag for that one...

[xcamel]

Been there, done the “harley thing”
I’ll keep my K1200 LT, thanks.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

“The battery industry is behind this. It’s time that government went after big batteries and their windfall profits.”

---

It’s a conspiracy all right.

Big Battery + Bonneville Assault Flats = Speed and that rhymes with Tweed and that means Trouble.

---

(I want one!)

[Jonx6]

"Cannot have one with out there other."

Are you saying you cannot have a motor turn a wheel if there is not a tire on it? Because, that is silly.

Or are you trying to refute that his post is about energy transfer from the motor to the wheel (as I read it) and is really about energy transfer from the motor to the ground, as you seem to think it is?

[org.whodat]

is really about energy transfer from the motor to the ground, as you seem to think it is?

Has to be energy transfer to ground, other wise why would there be any appreciable work force. Sure would never worry about breaking something due to force if the thing is setting on a jack stand.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The KillaCycle runs on 990 lithium-ion battery cells that feed two direct current motors, generating 350 horsepower.

At about $20 a pop for the common variety, this is almost $20,000 worth of batteries. Hope they don't have to replace them very often.

Manufacturing this many batteries requires significant power and pollutes quite a bit of land as well.

Not a green solution.

[OrioleFan]

But how many miles will it go on a single charge?

A little over a quarter mile?

[Jonx6]

"Has to be energy transfer to ground, other wise why would there be any appreciable work force. Sure would never worry about breaking something due to force if the thing is setting on a jack stand."

While that is true, it is not the focus of the post you were trying to belittle.
The focus of his post was the energy transfer from the motor to the wheel.