We’re right around 180 Wh/kg, which is about 20-30% higher than the current Tesla Model S. The result is what we believe to be the highest energy-density pack that’s currently in production in a vehicle. We designed all the BMS, safety and packaging. Similar to Tesla, we started with the small form factor cells that grew out of the consumer electronics industry, and then did everything ourselves to integrate them into a larger pack. The cells we use are an 18650 form factor from a top supplier. The energy density is important not only for getting to a competitive weight in a race vehicle, but also to get the center of mass where we wanted it to meet packaging design and handling goals, making it a very nice motorcycle overall. That included the robustness requirements of an off-road motorcycle. The main driver was to really optimize for this application. My personal focus when I joined was to lead the battery pack design and build it up from scratch. We focus on all of the new EV-specific aspects of the vehicle in order to have control over their integration and optimization. We make careful efforts not to reinvent the 70 years of motorcycle chassis and suspension evolution. We really wanted to respect the traditions of motorcycling and not change things like chassis geometry and suspension, so in those areas our designs are intended to match the performance of any other gas-powered products. I joined Alta to lead the battery design, but also had a hand in the powertrain and chassis design. Rob Sweney, Alta Motors’ Director of Advanced Powertrain: Yes, early on we took a strategy of doing as much in-house as we could. To learn more, we chatted with the engineering teams at Alta Motors and Scheugenpflug.Ĭharged: Does Alta Motors design its drivetrains in-house? Scheugenpflug helps many companies around the world set up adhesive bonding dispensing equipment in production lines for battery systems (and many other applications), so they know innovation when they see it. One of Alta’s production equipment suppliers, a company called Scheugenpflug, introduced Charged to the motorcycle builder’s innovative designs. What really caught our eye at Charged was the company’s claim that its battery design had one of the highest energy densities at the pack level of any production vehicle. With a water-cooled 14,000 RPM motor and a 5.8 kWh battery pack, the company describes it as the electric equivalent of a modern 250 that’s as capable on trails as any MX2/Lites class motocrosser. Fast-forward a couple of years, and Alta Motors is manufacturing electric motorcycles at its California facility at a rate of up to 10 bikes per day.Īlta calls its first production model the Redshift MX. Seven years ago, a group of motorcycle and off-road dirt bike enthusiasts starting thinking about the advantages of an electric off-road two-wheeler: constant power output, tunability, great control and responsiveness. With help from Scheugenpflug’s custom production equipment and Wevo-Chemie materials, the motorcycle builder says its thermal design was the key to achieving that. Posted Jby Christian Ruoff & filed under Features, Fleets and Infrastructure Features, Tech Features.Īlta Motors claims that its dirt bikes have a battery pack with energy density that’s among the highest of any production vehicle. Alta Motors says its electric dirt bike has world-class energy density
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