In what universe does class 8 big rig drive train technology get used to power a motorcycle? That universe is the one living within the frame of the electric superbike built by Lightning Motors. That motorcycle has dominated the TTXGP North America race series, winning that championship two weeks ago, and today has gone on to today setting the land speed record for electric motorcycles. Yesterday Balqon issued a press release announcing that buried within this championship winning land speed record setting motorcycle is a controller module developed by Balqon and that the amazing performance of the Lightning Motors bike was due, in part, to Balqon’s controller.
Electric vehicle drive trains consist of three major parts: battery pack, controller, and motor (or motors). The controller takes various inputs such as the throttle setting, and mediates the flow of power from battery pack into motor.
A lot is made of the rescued-from-being-crushed EV1 motor driving the wheels of the Lightning Motors bike. While that’s a darling of a story, the truth is that an electric motor is only as powerful as the battery pack and controller in the system. A given motor may be a powerhouse, but tie it with an anemic battery pack or controller and the vehicle will sputter along.
Balqon’s controller uses what they call “flux vector” technology. No, that’s not something escaped from the movies (Back to the Future), it’s real technological wizardry. Robert Gruenwald, Balqon’s VP of R&D, explained it this way: “In AC Induction motors, some of the current is used to produce magnetic flux in the rotor and other current is used in the stator to produce rotating torque. A flux vector controller individually controls these currents to optimize the performance and efficiency of the motor.”
The controller also features proprietary software which emulates the typical acceleration and compression of gas (or diesel) engines. This is done by tuning the throttle response in the controller so it behaves as a driver would expect, and by using regenerative braking in a fashion similar to engine behavior. The purpose is to make the driving experience natural for truck drivers who may be switching between gasoline, or diesel or electric trucks all day long. Gruenwald explained “The driver may switch back and forth, so keeping the dash controls and propulsion response as similar as possible is important. For example, the amount of engine compression braking goes up with engine speeds. We do the same thing with regenerative braking on the electric system.”
Their work with the Lightning Motors team is part of their research and development efforts. They offer controllers from 20 kilowatts to 300 kilowatts of power, covering applications from light duty to heavy duty trucks. And electric motorcycles, it seems. The Lightning Motors bike pushes Balqons equipment to the limits, tests their controller at peak power levels for long periods of time, to look at vehicle performance in deep discharge situations, and to develop algorithms to improve vehicle efficiency while increasing power. Efficiency is important at the race track because it determines just how fast the bike can go with the on-board power in the battery pack, and it’s important because it determines how far the truck can operate before needing to be recharged.
There is a long history of the race track being a test bed for technology which ends up in vehicles we drive every day. Here we have a brilliant example of a race team demonstrating not only that fast fun motorcycles do not have to burn fuel, but along the way it’s directly benefiting efforts to electrify big trucks.
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