Brammo reveals 100mph Empulse electric motorcycle [engadget.com]

[steve.m]

i'm with you on that one, but we can't even get windmills erected because if NIMBY issues, good luck with power plants.  Unless they're put on gubmint land, we're stuck.  call me crazy, but i'm not for gubmint supplied power.

[chornbe]

i'm with you on that one, but we can't even get windmills erected because if NIMBY issues, good luck with power plants.  Unless they're put on gubmint land, we're stuck.  call me crazy, but i'm not for gubmint supplied power.

It would go as smoothly as health care reform and tax refund processing. What could go wrong?

Privatize it. Steve Jobs and that whacky Mark Cuban guy could write checks to build plants out of petty cash, then sell it to the power companies.

Hmm...

[steve.m]

electric motorcycles!!!  w00t!

[kurtw]

This is the outfit that MrSmooth visited a while back. Looks like a cool company and the bikes are sure starting to look attractive from a certain point-of-view (not a point-of-view that would have be buying one yet, but still...)

Smooth's excellent-as-always report from the wayback machine:
http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,41617.0.html
(recognized the scenery in the video before I recognized the bike or brand   )

[lizard]

i'm with you on that one, but we can't even get windmills erected because if NIMBY issues, good luck with power plants.  Unless they're put on gubmint land, we're stuck.  call me crazy, but i'm not for gubmint supplied power.

2 new nukes have started construction in the Carolinas. One near Charlotte (Duke Energy?) & another near Columbia (SCE&G?). Both are owned by utilities & are expansion at existing nuke sites. Duke had the generator shipped to the site recently and the one near Columbia is just getting started with site prep.

[lizard]

I honestly believe in more nuclear power plants.

3 Mile ???  

[antvq]

3 Mile ???  

aberration here in the states.  Most nuke sights have security tighter than a gnats ass and a safety record that most large employers would envy.   I'd love to see more nukes.  I have two within a 50 mile radius of me.    Never an issue at either one of them since they started up many moons ago.  

Other that storing the spent waste (which the govt actually came up with a good plan for before it was shouted down by the greenies) there isn't much NOT to like about them.  They don't pollute the air or water.  Clean electric.

[Mookie]

Other that storing the spent waste (which the govt actually came up with a good plan for before it was shouted down by the greenies)

Uhh, they built their supposedly "permanent" nuclear waste storage facility on a known fault line.

[chornbe]

Uhh, they built their supposedly "permanent" nuclear waste storage facility on a known fault line.

Yeah, that's pretty silly, for sure.

There's plenty of space in which to store this stuff.

Hey, didn't a 300' wide sink hole just open up recently?    

[Giaka]

Yeah, that's pretty silly, for sure.

There's plenty of space in which to store this stuff.

Hey, didn't a 300' wide sink hole just open up recently?    

Package it up and send it to the sun. Build a ship that remains in orbit for a few years, attached waste pods to it then shove it off into space. Hey it would create jobs and advance space exploration.  

[steve.m]

look into the issues presented in launching nuclear material of any sort, let alone highly radioactive crap from power plants.  

subduction zones, bury it in the earth and let it stay there for a few thousand millenia.

[chornbe]

There's always Idaho.

[antvq]

Uhh, they built their supposedly "permanent" nuclear waste storage facility on a known fault line.

From the Oracle ThinkQuest site.....


While Yucca Mountain is near of a fault line, the fault is believed to be inactive. There are several volcanoes in the vicinity, but scientists believe that they have been dormant for almost a million years and think it unlikely that they will erupt in the next 10,000 years. Naturally, the people in Nevada are opposed to the creation of a nuclear waste repository. They express the common reaction, NIMBY (Not In My Backyard!!). This is because that although most evidence indicates that Yucca Mountain is a suitable place for storage, no one can guarantee that waste will not leak. However, quite a bit of research has already conducted around the Yucca site.

Sooooooooooo.....not so much problem with the fault line then right?

[scarecrow]

3 Mile ???  

Go back and revisit the incident. The news media, out their shear ignorance, got the story all wrong.

[hazra]

3 Mile ???  

Didn't that happen like a week or two after "The China Syndrome" came out?  I do believe that was the second incident in the US, and nothing of the type has happened since.  Newer reactors are safer, cleaner and more efficient than older ones, but perception in the US has been spoiled by the event.  The PR disaster was far more devastating than the event itself was.  The biggest issue in the US that I see is disposition of the spent fuel, but again perception is a far larger problem than the actual logistics and safety of storage.

[Rincewind]

Finally! - nearly two years after this thread started - Brammo has announced they will debut this bike in LA on May 8th.  

We are proud to announce that we will be revealing the production version of the much anticipated Brammo Empulse on May 8th, 2012. The launch event will take place in Los Angeles and will be webcast live to all pre-order customers. Since the Empulse concept was first revealed, a vast amount of development and testing has taken place and we are confident that you will be delighted with the ground-breaking electric motorcycle we are about to reveal. On April 18th we will announce full specifications of this exciting milestone in the evolution of motorcycling, giving you every opportunity to become familiar with the Empulse before seeing it for the first time on May 8th.”

I still want one!  But I'm glad I haven't been chaffing on the waiting list for nearly two years!  

[chilipeppernorm]

to anyone who touts themself as a hippy tree hugger...food for thought.

the oil we burn is has a massive amount of energy density, it's the most efficient form of transportable energy we have.

batteries require mining lithium, a process that requires huge amounts of energy that exceeds the energy consuption of drilling rigs.  this mining (at the moment) is primarily taking place in central and south america, where it is strip mined from underneath what used to be rain forest.

batteries have hazardous chemicals that the earth can not convert to something else.  carbon can be absorbed by the planet naturally.  it's been here all along, it'll stay here, we're not creating anything new.

the energy consumption required to deliver a finished battery is greater than that used to produce gasoline (read larger carbon footprint)

so logically being a "tree hugger" is not that at all, as we're cutting them down to obtain the material to make batteries.  that justification simply isn't a viable reason for driving electric vehicles unless the technology improves the point that we no longer rely on relatively scarce minerals buried beneath rain forrests to to power our transportation.

just hoping to shed a bit of light on the problem we're facing.  we're not going cleaner or better, we're just trading one ecological disaster for another.  The solution isn't how to obtain energy from other sources, it's reducing the energy we already consume.

Thank you Steve! In addition to your points we also have to consider that the generation of the electricity to charge the battery still comes from a fossil fuel power plant most likely. Additional points:

1) Electric cars or bikes barely have the legs to get you out of town, much less to the next county, or across the state or country.

2) Should you have a month or so to take a modest road trip, who's going to let you plug your bike or car in to charge the battery at their expense. My GSA gets 350 miles on a single tank with a heavy throttle hand. You'd have to stop and recharge 4 or more times for that range.

3) Electric vehicles have NO SOUL. Who doesn't thrill to the sound of the lumpy idle of a big block Chevy, Ford, or Mopar engine, or the song of a Ducati, Aprilia V4, or Triumph Triple at full throttle?

4) Imagine going to an AMA Superbike or MotoGP race with electric racers. You look up from reading your Golf Digest which you brought to add some excitement, and here they twaddle by. The bikes and riders leathers are all adorned with new sponsorship decals and patches; Amy's Silken Tofu Burgers, Birkenstock Racing Sandals, Ridex Dreadlock Delousing Treatment, while the riders proudly tuck in with their Man Purses trailing in the modest breeze. You wander down to the pits and paddock with the smell of ozone and patchouli oil in the air. The umbrella and booth girls are dressed to kill in sleeveless knee length billowing tie-die moo moo's sporting enough hair in each armpit to look like they have Don King in a headlock on both sides, and calves like a Sasquatch. Mechanics in the pits are wielding battery chargers on carts and repairing broken Man Purse straps. Welcome to the Save the Earth, Sustainable, Eco Friendly 18 Mile at Infineon Raceway.

[GTS_Rider]

Finally! - nearly two years after this thread started - Brammo has announced they will debut this bike in LA on May 8th...

WTF? Need more info!  Where in LA???

Not really interested in an electric bike yet, but the Brammo Girls @ the LA progressive moto-show were even hotter and more skimpily clad than these Brammo Girls @ Laguna....    

[Papa Lazarou]

Thank you Steve! In addition to your points we also have to consider that the generation of the electricity to charge the battery still comes from a fossil fuel power plant most likely. Additional points:

1) Electric cars or bikes barely have the legs to get you out of town, much less to the next county, or across the state or country.

2) Should you have a month or so to take a modest road trip, who's going to let you plug your bike or car in to charge the battery at their expense. My GSA gets 350 miles on a single tank with a heavy throttle hand. You'd have to stop and recharge 4 or more times for that range.

Personally, I think they should just have a very long mains lead, which could be plugged into any electric socket at home.

[coho]

Personally, I think they should just have a very long mains lead bigass extension cord, which could be plugged into any electric socket at home.

Translated to 'murrican.