Some hope opposing the electric nightmare?

[Scrappy]

Ducati are not jumping on the electric circus ride just yet...

"Will we produce an electric Ducati soon? No. We think that for the kind of machine we produce now, an electric motorcycle cannot guarantee the pleasure, the range, the weight etc that Ducati riders expect.

"We are also looking carefully at other solutions for zero or minimal emissions, such as synthetic fuel. Other brands in our group such as Porsche are looking at it and it’s something we are looking at in the medium term."

Ducati experimenting with synthetic fuels before getting in bed with electric

Whilst electric power may be the popular direction for manufacturers, Ducati is looking for alternative fuel types to power their motorcycles.

www.visordown.com

 

[Foxy]

Good for them!

 

[MartytheMartian]

I think a lot of folks have an inkling that the 'electric revolution' is a scam and that, once they have milked it for all it's worth they will turn round and say "You're not gonna believe this but it seems that all our engineers got it wrong, the silly sausages, and electric cars were the wrong path to take so, if you scrap them all at a tremendous expense and creating oodles of additional pollution, we will sell you the all new and improved 'green' revolution".

 

[Glyn]

If it burns it will create emissions that the un normal folk won’t like! But they seem to be calling all the shots

 

[Judd Dredd]

I think a lot of folks have an inkling that the 'electric revolution' is a scam and that, once they have milked it for all it's worth they will turn round and say "You're not gonna believe this but it seems that all our engineers got it wrong, the silly sausages, and electric cars were the wrong path to take so, if you scrap them all at a tremendous expense and creating oodles of additional pollution, we will sell you the all new and improved 'green' revolution".

like the diesel revolution?

 

[DD67]

Ducati are not jumping on the electric circus ride just yet...

"Will we produce an electric Ducati soon? No. We think that for the kind of machine we produce now, an electric motorcycle cannot guarantee the pleasure, the range, the weight etc that Ducati riders expect.

"We are also looking carefully at other solutions for zero or minimal emissions, such as synthetic fuel. Other brands in our group such as Porsche are looking at it and it’s something we are looking at in the medium term."

Ducati experimenting with synthetic fuels before getting in bed with electric

Whilst electric power may be the popular direction for manufacturers, Ducati is looking for alternative fuel types to power their motorcycles.

www.visordown.com

It'll be because the chief executives at Ducati are shitting themselves about anything to do with electrics Scrappy

..."Oh my god! We've spent 50yrs trying to make lights & ignition systems that work. The idea of going fully electric can feck right off! All we need to do is put out a press release saying we aren't prepared to compromise the heritage of our brand & the soul of our bikes. Just to please the Eco Warriors. We'll be fine unless that c#nt DD gets wind of it? "...

 

[chas]

It'll be because the chief executives at Ducati are shitting themselves about anything to do with electrics Scrappy

..."Oh my god! We've spent 50yrs trying to make lights & ignition systems that work. The idea of going fully electric can feck right off! All we need to do is put out a press release saying we aren't prepared to compromise the heritage of our brand & the soul of our bikes. Just to please the Eco Warriors. We'll be fine unless that c#nt DD gets wind of it? "...

To be fair Ducati are one of the manufacturers where the engine is key in their marketing and design. Like BMW and the boxers, Triumph and the 'Bonneville' silhouette the bike loses brand identity if you can't see an engine. We all go misty eyed over a Pantah, 900ss or MHR with Ducati. Paso? Not so fucking much.

So if Ducati make an electric, how is it able to distinguish itself from the Chinese/Korean bike that costs half? By a sticker?

 

[Sarky B’stard]

To be fair Ducati are one of the manufacturers where the engine is key in their marketing and design. Like BMW and the boxers, Triumph and the 'Bonneville' silhouette the bike loses brand identity if you can't see an engine. We all go misty eyed over a Pantah, 900ss or MHR with Ducati. Paso? Not so fucking much.

So if Ducati make an electric, how is it able to distinguish itself from the Chinese/Korean bike that costs half? By a sticker?

Or maybe just pass the problem to their VW/Audi parents?

 

[GaleForceEight]

Nah.... the next thing on commercial production vehicles will be something akin to the hydrogen fuel cell. In effect it will be back to steam engines!

 

[Sarky B’stard]

Although interestingly I see interchangeable cassette batteries are being mooted. For my money that’s the very thing that inhibits electric cars - recharge time. A quick swap out like a calor gas bottle changes the game.

 

[GaleForceEight]

Although interestingly I see interchangeable cassette batteries are being mooted. For my money that’s the very thing that inhibits electric cars - recharge time. A quick swap out like a calor gas bottle changes the game.

Yep - a hydrogen fuel cell can be recharged by swapping out a gas bottle!
The system at present isn’t too hot on high power delivery BUT is lighter than an equivalent battery, and unlike modern batteries as used in vehicles is not reliant on so much lithium and other rare metals to make it work. Being lighter than a battery would make the system perfect for bikes if the surface area of catalyst and gas flow can be achieved in a small package to achieve the required voltage to match the power demands of a bike!

Realising the hydrogen economy

As investment in hydrogen infrastructure grows and net costs continue to fall, the hydrogen economy could prove to be an indispensable tool in the transition away from hydrocarbons.

www.power-technology.com

 

[Freck]

Although interestingly I see interchangeable cassette batteries are being mooted. For my money that’s the very thing that inhibits electric cars - recharge time. A quick swap out like a calor gas bottle changes the game.

New research into lithium metal batteries may well improve the recharge time issues and make electric vehicles better.
They’re supposedly much faster to charge than lithium ion and have more power density.
Early days in the development though at the moment.
I’d still prefer an ICE on a bike though for the physical and aural experience.

 

[Scrappy]

https://www.visordown.com/news/industry/harvard-scientists-make-‘holy-grail’-battery-breakthrough

 

[Don the Don]

RAF pilots are issued with a fleet of 15mph e-scooters (msn.com)

 

[MartytheMartian]

Maverick's 249mph Ninja?

I can just see the sick lines "Flight Lieutenant Smith can't fly today as he bashed his elbow falling off his scooter and he has bruised his conkers too".

 

[Scrappy]

Maverick's 249mph Ninja?

I think that should have been kph, just over 150 mph.

 

[Don the Don]

Red Arrows practicing on e-scooters, worth a laugh

 

[Mr Moustache]

Yep - a hydrogen fuel cell can be recharged by swapping out a gas bottle!

That scares me somewhat. I used to have a Ford Mundaneo with an LPG conversion, nice car, pain in the arse having to hunt out one of the few filling stations that sold gas, flaky fuel delivery system, twice the servicing cost... After seeing a YouTube clip of an LPG car on fire blowing up like it had an Al Qaeda devotee on board I sold it soon as I could.

I love the idea of hydrogen as a fuel as it has the potential to be as easy to use as petrol/diseasal, but I cannot get past the scary idea bottles of pressurised gas in a car!

 

[Don the Don]

LPG car on fire blowing up like it had an Al Qaeda devotee on board I sold it soon as I could.

They do go with a bang, seen one go up once vowed I would never go down that route

 

[MartytheMartian]

A tank of Hydrogen is actually not nearly as scary as it sounds or as explosive and of course if the demand was as high as it is for ordinary cars then they would be very quick in developing even safer storage technologies. I remember reading accounts of RFC pilots trying to shoot down German Zeppelins and observations balloons. They tried regular machine gun bullets and they didn't have any effect except possibly a bit of loss of gas. They then used tracer and still it was incredibly difficult to set them on fire simply because hydrogen needs to be mixed with a really good amount of oxygen before it will go bang. Eventually they used explosive rounds which worked if done right. I would much rather use hydrogen than batteries. I remember seeing a thing about fire crews being trained to work on electric vehicles and the risk of the vehicle electrocuting anyone who tried to get someone out of it would have put me right off going near them if I wasn't already extremely sceptical of them.