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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: originalspacerob on October 23, 2017, 07:49:10 AM

Title: Thoughts on the life of our electric motorcycles....
Post by: originalspacerob on October 23, 2017, 07:49:10 AM
I was not sure how to put the subject on this question.  But basically what I am asking is what other peoples thoughts are on the life expectancy of our bikes.  Will they pretty much be like iPhones and no sense in repairing them when they get old and just trade the bike in and get a new one? Will the cost for a new battery, controller, and other items be too much that it is cheaper to scrap the bike and buy new again.  Will it be feasible as a used market with bikes that have batteries with only 60-80 percent of there battery capacity left? Do we see that there will be batteries to swap in as the technology gets better without having to get a whole new motorcycle?

Just some thoughts:
    I had read that one of the things that they are trying to get in place for electric vehicles is that when the batteries get to 70-80 percent that they could be traded in for a core on a new battery.  These batteries that are low on capacity would then be added to battery storage systems.  In the article many of the EV manufactures get calls daily with people building these storage grids looking for batteries in that 60-80 percent range.  This would be great for the future if it goes that way.  And being a Zero owner it would be nice to see that happen.  The ability to trade in a battery for a core on a new higher capacity battery and my old battery used in an instance like stated above.  Some of us may not always want the extra features of the newer models and want to keep the older models going just with newer batteries.

What are your thoughts on this subject.  Hopefully it makes sense.  I've had these thoughts over the years on EV's in general and even more so since purchasing a Zero.
Title: Re: Thoughts on the life of our electric motorcycles....
Post by: togo on October 23, 2017, 10:04:34 PM

Guessing how long the batteries will last doesn't seem that productive to me. 

Figuring how to use your old Zero battery to improve your home electrical system, once it's no longer able do the range you need, does! (seem productive to me)

Keith and Doctorbass and others have done some good work in that direction, see other threads.
Title: Re: Thoughts on the life of our electric motorcycles....
Post by: hubert on October 25, 2017, 12:06:12 AM
Using the old batteries in a home-made electrical system will only be the job of a happy few insiders. The "mass market" is getting a new battery, while the old one being used by a power storage company, or a subsidiary of an electric commodity company, especially those involved in renewable energy (wind, solar, tidal, waves) which is so much intermittent (only hydro power is not).

That seems quite logical. Smartphone batteries are "optimised" for energy density, so that their lifetime becomes crappy, somehow inline with the phone itself being programmed for obsolescence not long after the new model being on the market.

Hopefully EVs are more durable, including their batteries!
Title: Re: Thoughts on the life of our electric motorcycles....
Post by: togo on October 29, 2017, 08:29:38 PM
Maybe someone will make a kit.

People are using old leaf cells and Tesla modules already.
Title: Re: Thoughts on the life of our electric motorcycles....
Post by: ESokoloff on October 30, 2017, 05:53:15 AM
In a few years when Soild State battery's come to market, there's going to be a lot of present day EV owners looking to upgrade their batteries.