Seven Generational Ruminations

BREAKING: This week the Lightning Motors team is on the Bonneville Salt Flats for the yearly time trials, and on their first time run, with a speed of 162 miles/hr, they have set the AMA and FIM land speed record for electric motorcycles. They are making this speed attempt fresh from winning the TTXGP North American series two weeks ago at Virginia International Raceway.
Last year in a time trial event organized by the Southern California Timing Association they achieved a 166 miles/hr speed record. This time around it is AMA and FIM accredited.
According to Richard Hatfield, team owner, in...

Yesterday Matthew Dieckmann, 29, of Santa Rosa California died in a motorcycle accident. Matt was an entrepreneur in the electric motorcycle field, being the owner of ElectricRaceBikes.com, a small business selling parts for high performance electric motorcycles, and the owner of the Electric Race Bikes team. The Electric Race Bikes team, consisting of Matt and professional rider Mike Hannas, raced this year in the TTXGP and e-Power electric motorcycle races. History was made and new territory was pioneered due to their efforts.
Dieckmann was riding a newly built electric motorcycle at 10...

Last winter Chip Yates wowed the electric motorcycle scene with his plan for a powerful electric superbike, which would he would race in this years TTXGP season, declaring that "2010 is really the pioneering year for electric superbike racing." While the 2010 TTXGP and e-Power season has been amazing, Chip Yates team was not there citing the need for more R&D to achieve their vision. According to a press release sent on Friday their bike is to be officially unveiled in early October at the Battery Show conference in San Jose. They have been releasing teasers and tidbits on his...

The TTXGP 2010 race season has been in a constant state of flux the whole year, so we should not be surprised at the latest news. Last week a couple blog posts surfaced claiming that the often rescheduled TTXGP Italy races were being canceled. Over the following days the TTXGP Twitter account was sending updates like "New track and dates set. Sadly can't share till tomorrow" and "Waiting for clearances for press release". Today they released an announcement that indeed the TTXGP Italy races have been canceled, and in its place they've put together a "TTXGP...

Balqon, the maker of electric big trucks and drive systems, has received a purchase order for drive systems from a new dealer in China.  The dealer, DynaProTech, plans to integrate the drive systems into electric buses, heavy duty trucks and commercial vehicles for use in China.
The deal is part of what Balqon CEO Balwinder Samra says is their strategy to expand into international markets.  The strategy is not just to sell internationally, but for local dealers to "localize" Balqon's drive trains into vehicles suitable for local conditions.  This deal in China...

Yesterday MotoCzysz announced a partnership with their motor supplier, Remy International, to deliver an electric drive system to the market under the D1G1tal Dr1ve brand name. MotoCzysz is one of the handful of motorcycle race teams racing with electric motorcycles. They have raced twice on the Isle of Man, winning the 2010 TT Zero race, and more recently they raced at Laguna Seca, winning against the TTXGP champion Lightning Motors in a very close race. Through race testing they have developed a drive system that until now has been offered as a kit for building a motorcycle. With the Remy...

The Arcimoto is an electric three-wheeled motorcycle sporting an enclosed cabin reminding some of a spaceship. After a few years' development the Arcimoto team is refining the design and preparing to enter production. Arcimoto attended the recent CleanTech and PlugIn 2010 conferences in San Jose, showing their 3rd prototype, where this writer was able to talk with them. Last weekend the TV celebrity Nathan Fillion test-drove the improved 4th prototype, declaring, "I found it! I found my spaceship! It's real and I'm getting it!" and "The Arcimoto Pulse is a space...

There's an old adage that "sex sells" and we have an opportunity to witness this put to the test. Both Coda Automotive and Fisker are running advertising campaigns for their respective cars right now, but they are taking very different approaches. 
Fisker's commercial (posted on Aug. 20) for their Karma PHEV is an outright sex story line. A beautiful young woman, sultry singing in the background, charging cords being suggestively plugged into charging ports, and a sleek curvy car pulling donuts in a wet parking lot. Tag line: "Designed to get you hot, not the...

In an exciting finish to the TTXGP North America season, Michael Barnes wraps up the TTXGP North America championship. The race got off to a clean start and for the first few laps, unlike previous races, most of the pack was close together. Barnes, on the Lightning Motorcycles bike led from the start to the finish, as happened in the previous TTXGP races. Further down the pack real competition happened with the 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 5th place finishers trading places several times. It was an exciting race, with all the teams performed excellently.
Michael Barnes on the Lightning Motors...

Logo courtesy Bright Automotive Related Articles GM and Bright Automotive announce partnership plans Yesterday an enigmatic tweet from the Bright Automotive twitter account saying "Another Bright announcement coming tomorrow...&quo...