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 partnership the D1g1tal Dr1ve system will be available not for motorcycles, but for vehicles with four wheels.
Ideally motorsports is not just entertainment, but is an arena to test vehicle technologies that later show up in production vehicles sold to the public. If manufacturers do R&D at race tracks, all that time, effort and energy spent to drive around in circles can result a positive benefit to society. Otherwise the only benefit society accrues is more beer sales, right? In this case it’s the electric drive train technology desperately needed for greening the transportation system. It’s nice to hear the technology won’t be trapped at the race track, but will potentially make it to vehicles the rest of us might buy.
Remy is a large manufacturer of starters, alternators, and electric motors for the light-duty and heavy-duty transportation industry. They claim to have the largest hybrid motor production and testing facility in North America, and their hybrid motor systems are used today to build hybrid vehicles. In May Remy received approval for a $60 million Dept of Energy grant program to support their efforts to build the next generation of lower cost, higher performance electric motors. Remy says they’re using the grant money to expand their product portfolio, expand their hybrid testing lab in Anderson IN, and assist their customers with applying Remy’s motors in their vehicles.
In March 2010 MotoCzysz had announced the opportunity to buy D1g1tal Dr1ve systems packaged as motorcycle drive trains. The cost at that time was $42,000 list price but under their “fill the grid” program meant to expand the number of electric motorcycle race teams, the first 15 teams to sign on to the MotoCzysz program would pay only $30,000. Apparently nobody took them up on this offer, and the page describing the program is no longer directly reachable.
The new plan appears to be to deliver the D1g1tal Dr1ve as an axle that drives two wheels. The electric motor will apparently be part of the axle, and be based on Remy’s HVH250 motor. This is a 100 kilowatt (135 hp) motor with cooling system, 250 ft-lbs of torque, and is 93% efficient. The D1g1tal Dr1ve apparently can then be integrated into an electric car simply by installing the axle.
MotoCzysz is working with the Indian scooter manufacturer Bajaj to develop an electric car. In Oct 2009 the two companies announced the “Dream” Project, a clean-sheet automobile design prioritizing safety, efficiency, performance and design. Bajaj is a large company, and is the worlds fourth largest manufacturer of two- and three-wheelers.
It would appear MotoCzysz is making good use of their time at the track.
See also
Lightning almost strikes at Laguna Seca e-Power electric motorcycle race, instead MotoCzysz sizzles
Mark Miller of Motoczysz wins 2010 TTZERO, Rob Barber of Agni Motors in 2nd
References
Remy and MotoCzysz to Start Production of a Revolutionary Electric Drive System- The D1g1tal Dr1ve
MotoCzysz offers the eMoto2 solution: MotoCzysz power, your imagination
Bajaj Auto and MotoCzysz JV on “Dream” project
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