BMW Motorrad has filed a patent for a sidestand charger that looks like it belongs to an electric motorcycle, lending more weight to an electric future.
These patent applications seem to give a clear indication of BMW’s electrification plans.
However, BMW Motorrad boss Markus Schramm recently told US website Cycle World they would not have an electric motorcycle for at least another five years.
“In the urban environment, it is possible that there will be an electric BMW motorcycle in five years. In the touring, off-road, and sport segments, I am not sure that we will see them,” he is quoted as saying.
The Bavarian company already has an electric scooter, the C-Evolution.
BMW C evolution electric scooter
But these latest patent filings seem to show plans for an electric motorcycle, at least for the urban environment.
The sidestand charger system involves the stand slotting into a “puck” which is plugged into the AC mains.
It’s simply another way of connecting to a charger.
It would probably only be of use in your home as we cannot see this sort of infrastructure being rolled out in public places.
In 2017, BMW Group Australia boss Marc Werner said Australia needed tax incentives, import subsidies and/or charging infrastructure, but we don’t think he had a sidestand charger in mind at the time.
The only advantage we can see of a sidestand charger is that it might save you a couple of seconds where you would normally plug in the bike’s onboard charger.
However, the filing is important as it is another example of BMW getting serious about electric motorcycles.
Electric motorcycles could benefit from Deakin University research which makes lithium-ionbatteries smaller, lighter and less likely to burst into flame.
Research fellows at Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials Research, Dr Fangfang Chen and Dr Xiaoen Wang, say their discovery means lithium-ion batteries would no longer pose a fire risk.
They have achieved this by replacing highly volatile liquid electrolytes with a solid material made from common industrial polymers.
Lithium on fire!
While lithium batteries in Tesla and some laptops and phones have exploded in flame, the only known issues with electric motorcycles have involved overheating chargers.
The Deakin Uni finding has the potential to be applied to all lithium-ion batteries, including those used in electric motorcycles.
Dr Wang says almost all electric vehicles using lithium batteries are based on liquid electrolytes.
“If we use solid-state electrolytes in these applications, we will definitely make these batteries safer, with the potential to affect all applications where batteries are used, including motorcycles,” he tells us.
He says it does not specifically address the Energica and Harley charging issue.
But will it add to the cost, size and weight of batteries?
“We are at a finding stage,” Dr Wang says.
“Currently, there’s no all-solid-state battery available on the market that’s free from flammable components, and there’s still many challenges to make solid-state batteries competitive with current batteries in terms of price point.
“Our focus is developing one of the components for solid state batteries, which is the key to making them safer for everyone and hopefully a game changer in the lithium-ion battery world.
“The batteries will be lighter and smaller on the basis of the same energy. So, the same size battery that is in a phone now, using our findings, could last double the time, or alternatively, the batteries could last the same time as now – but be half the size.”
That’s a boon to electric motorcycles where size and weight is more important than in larger vehicles.
Harley-Davidson LiveWire lithium-ion battery
How it works
The Deakin researchers have “reinvented the way polymer interacts with lithium salt, removing the normally highly flammable properties of traditional lithium batteries”, says Dr Chen.
They say they’ve used existing commercial polymer materials to create the new process, meaning the formulation could be applied commercially with little difficulty.
“All of the products that we’ve used to make this safer battery process already exist in the market,” Dr Wang says.
“Polymers have been used as battery conductors for over 50 years, but we’re the first to use existing commercial polymer in an improved way.
“We’ve done this by weakly bonding the lithium ion with polymer, creating solid polymer electrolytes. We believe this is the first clear and useful example of liquid-free and efficient transportation of lithium-ion in the scientific community.”
So far they’ve proven the process in coin cell batteries, similar to a watch battery size, with the next step being to scale up the batteries to bigger applications – such as for a mobile phone.
It may be some time before they are used in electric motorcycles and other electric vehicles.
BMW Group has announced an electromobility milestone of one million electrified vehicles on the roads by the end of 2021.
However, electric BMW motorcycles are still some way off, according to BMW Motorrad spokesman Tim Diehl-Thiele.
The electromobility milestone was announced by board chairman Oliver Zipse at this week’s Frankfurt Motor Show claims BMW was “at the forefront of electromobility”.
“No manufacturer has delivered more electrified cars to customers in Germany so far this year than the BMW Group. In Norway, three out of every four new BMW Group vehicles sold have an electrified drive train,” Oliver said.
But the Bavarian company has not been inactive in two-wheeled electrics:
“Electromobility will be very important in the future of motorcycling,” Tim says.
“As a next step, BMW Motorrad’s electric products to come will focus on e-mobility especially in urban environment.”
By e-mobility we expect he means electric bicycles and scooters like the Lime scooters we see around many cities these days, not full-sized scooters like the c Evolution.
“When developing these products, the fact that BMW Motorrad can call on the great expertise of the BMW Group in the area of electromobility creates a unique advantage in competition. And that from a technological as well as from a business point of view,” Tim says.
BMW electric Mini CitySurfer
Electric BMW bikes
“If we look further ahead, electromobility will clearly play an important role in the motorcycle sector as well.
“A prerequisite for this especially in the leisure and often on long trips far away from the city using motorcycles is an evolving battery cell technology and a future growing density of charging stations.
“On the basis of this expected progress in ranges and charging infrastructure, other segments will also be electrified at BMW Motorrad.”
The Harley LiveWire is the first full-size electric road motorcycle from a traditional motorcycle manufacturer.
The now-axed Victory Motorcycles slapped their brand name on an electric Brammo in 2015, but it wasn’t their product.
Like BMW, Honda has produced electric scooters, while Yamaha and KTM have a couple of small electric trail bikes.
Focus on electric cars
BMW board chairman Oliver Zipse at this week’s Frankfurt Motor Show
BMW expects electromobility to develop at different rates around the world – due to the differences in infrastructure, customer driving profiles and political frameworks.
They expect customer demand for electric vehicles of more than 50% of new vehicle registrations in China’s premium segment by 2030.
Europe ands the US are expected to be about half that number.
Oliver told the motor show audience that BMWwould not only have conventional engines, but also battery-electric drive trains, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles suitable for long distances.
BMW will launch a test fleet of fuel-cell vehicles in 2022 and present the BMW i Hydrogen NEXT development vehicle later this year.
A promised 25 electrified models previously announced for 2025 will now be available two years earlier with more than half fully electric.
“We aim to reduce emissions significantly,” Oliver says.
“To realise this, we must concentrate on areas where we can achieve the greatest impact. We are therefore focusing on the question: Which drive trains, technologies and services will our customers want in the future? And how can we achieve the best outcome for climate protection? One thing is clear: We are committed to the Paris Climate Agreement.”
In a major advance for electric vehicles, in particular motorcycles, a Texas company has produced the Hunstable Electric Turbine (HET) motor that is quieter, cooler, cheaper, smaller yet has double the torque output.
HET claims
Linear Labs’ HET motor is named after founders CEO Brad Hunstable and his father and CTO Fred.
The Hunstables claim their compact motor would suit motorcycles and scooters as well as cars, trucks, forklifts, golf carts, UTVs and even drones.
They have attracted US$4.5 million in seed funding to develop and commercialise the motor.
Their HET motor features a unique arrangement of magnetic forces acting on the rotor in the direction of motion.
They claim it it is capable of producing nearly 100% more torque at lower revs than similar-sized motors.
One of the HET attributes is that it uses direct drive rather than a reduction gearbox which makes it more compact and cheaper.
“We believe the drive system of the future is a direct drive system, no gearbox, no expensive high RPM mechanical designs with simple, less expensive power electronics,” Brad says.
So far, most electric motorcycles have a single motor with a final drive by belt, chain or shaft.
However, there are some that use a direct-drive system such as this Finnish RMK E2.
RMK E2
Of course, they could also have two electric motors directly driving both wheels such as the Ethec electric cruiser designed and built by Swiss university students.
Ethec
When it comes to electric motorcycles, the rule book is being thrown out.
Israel company StoreDot has produced a lithium-ion battery that charges an electric scooter in five minutes.
It is one of the latest developments, along with battery swap technology, that could accelerate the acceptance of electric motorcycles and scooters in coming years.
The StoreDot batteries do not contain graphite, a form of carbon. Instead, they use tin, germanium and silicon in combination wth organic compounds.
StoreDot has demonstrated their battery with a Spanish Torrot scooter, providing full charge in five minutes, enough to travel 70km.
Charged in minutes
It’s not big storage or range at the moment, but it’s a significant leap forward for electric two-wheeled transport.
It also beats the usual four-hour charge, says StoreDot CEP Doron Myersdorf.
“This is showing the world that we can break the barrier of fast charging, and what was considered impossible is actually possible,” he says.
“Ultra-fast charging can help solve range anxiety, one of the hurdles to electric-vehicle adaption, the equivalent of worrying that your mobile phone might go dead.”
The company plans to put its scooter batteries on the market in 2021.
From the above photo, it looks like the battery is about the same size as the swappable batteries used by Yamaha and Kymco in their electric scooters.
Yamaha Gogoro battery
Kymco battery vending machines
These battery solutions are not without their problems, requiring a lot of vending machine infrastructure.
The StoreDot battery would require similar infrastructure as it would be difficult and cumbersome to carry around the battery for when you run out of charge!
StoreDot charges ahead
StoreDot also hopes to be able to charge an electric Mercedes in five minutes for a 480km drive by 2021.
The car battery will need 10 times as many power cells as the scooter battery and a more efficient way of cooling while in use, says Myersdorf.
StoreDot will begin selling five-minute chargers for mobile phones in the second half of 2020.
BP and Samsung are the company’s top investors.
BP technology director Jon Salkeld says ultra-fast charging is “at the heart of BP’s electrification strategy”.
India looks set to move most of its motorcycle and scooter production and sales to electric with government incentives over the next six to eight years.
The proposal was chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has been re-elected with more than 63% of the vote.
Election promises
Similarly, the recent Australian election campaign heard that the Coalition believes electric vehicles will make up 25-50% of new passenger vehicles by 2030, while Labor wanted a target of 50% and the Greens called for 100%.
Those targets are largely out of our hands as we no longer have a car industry.
Australian vehicle imports will be determined by foreign manufacturers who will probably reach those targets anyway. For example, Sweden will not be making any internal combustion vehicles by 2030.
But the electrification of India’s vehicle manufacturing industry is a far more significant move for the world.
India is one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing 4.6 millions cars last year.
It is also the biggest motorcycle and scooter market in the world with more than 21m sales a year.
Over the past two years sales of electric scooters in India more than doubled from 54,800 to 126,000, but it’s still only a small fraction of total sales.
Indian motorcycle companies Hero Electric, Ather Energy, Emflux, Twenty Two Motors and Okinawa produce electric scooters and motorcycles.
Emflux ONE electric motorcycle
Electric incentives
Prime Minister Modi had previously said all new cars and utility vehicles manufactured in the country would be electric by 2030, but he backed down after an industry backlash.
However, with his resounding victory at the polls he is expected to wind up his electric plan, particularly for powered two- and three-wheelers.
His draft plan recommends $1.4 billion in incentives for the manufacture and sale of electric motorbikes and scooters while penalising petrol-powered bikes.
LiveWire
It will be interesting to see if Harley-Davidson, who make their Street models in India, will also receive government incentives to produce and/or sell their upcoming LiveWire in India.
A San Francisco police officer riding an electric Zero Motorcycle recently pulled over a driver in an electric Tesla Model 3 in what must have been the quietest police pursuit of all time.
Zero posted an image of the historic moment on their Facebook page, but it may not be the last time this happens.
The Californian-based Zero has developed a DS Police motorcycle specifically for police and security agencies.
Fresno State University Police on Zero Motorcycles
They claim it is specifically useful to police because of its reliability, low maintenance, battery range and capacity, manoeuvrability, light weight chassis, economic feasibility and low environmental impact.
Zero Motorcycles global sales Vice President John Lloyd says they designed and engineered the police line-up “based on feedback directly from patrol officers regarding their needs and responsibilities”.
Stealth pursuit
But the biggest advantage for the cops is the quiet running of an electric vehicle that allows police to sneak up on criminals!
Some police departments have also found they can use them inside large shopping malls because there are no emissions.
So if they get into a Blues Brothers-style chase through a mall, bike cops can follow the criminals.
Zero in Australia
But don’t expect to be pulled up by a silent cop in Australia any time soon.
Zero DS Police Motorcycle come with pursuit emergency lighting and sirens, safety components and specially designed luggage compartments to carry gear, patrol items and emergency medical equipment.
The civilian model DS can be fitted with some of the police accessories, such as Givi top box, panniers and screen. Other accessories include heated seat and grips and a power socket, although all those limit the range of the bike.
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