Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

A 2014 update on Now REALLY moving! With three years of development behind them and a successful launch on mainstream racing circuits last year, battery-powered electric superbikes are attracting even more attention – on and off the racetrack! by Andy Marsh and Ross Tester W hen SILICON CHIP visited the Sydney Motorsport Park at Eastern Creek last year, we came away mightily impressed with the electric superbikes not just on display but competitively racing (see “The Very Fast Sounds of Silence, SILICON CHIP, December 2013). The technology behind what amounts to the very early days of this sport was simply staggering: we were amazed at just how far they’d come in such a relatively short period. We put this down to the dedication and enthusiasm of the pioneers involved in the sport, just as much as the spectacular advances in technology which allowed so much electric power to be stored on what amounts to a pretty small frame – and then turn that power into performance. As our December report showed, there were just three brands racing at Eastern Creek in 2013: Ripperton, Varley and Catavolt. A new season The biggest difference between the 2013 and 2014 seasons will be the number of competitors – potentially there will be seven electric superbikes 14  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au www.formula-xtreme.com.au reliable of all machines – despite its lower performance (on paper) over, say, the Varley Electric bike. Ripperton acknowledges that he’s too heavy to allow his bike to be any more competitive. He believes they were the first race team to have the mechanic riding the bike but for 2014 they have finally levelled the playing field by getting a professional rider. “With at least 40kg removed from the rider/bike package”, he said, “the equivalent of 16 house bricks, the Ripperton machine promises to be a tough contender in 2014.” Varley taking the starting grid at each of the four rounds. Ripperton, Varley and Catavolt will all be back but there looks like being brand new offerings from a new Sydney-based team and also from Solar Power Australia, along with a re-entry to the field from Voltron. The 2014 season of Australian Electric Superbike racing kicks off on 27-29 June at Queensland Raceway (Willowbank, near Ipswich), followed by round 2, 1-3 August at Winton Raceway, Victoria. Round 3 is on 12-14 September at Wakefield Park Raceway (near Goulburn, NSW) and culminating at the final round back at Sydney Motorsport Park, 21-23 November. If you can get along to any of the tracks mentioned above, it’s well worth it just to see the state-of-the-art in electric superbikes. They’re faster and more durable than last year’s models as the eight months or so has seen an enormous amount of development in both batteries and motors, resulting in faster bikes, able to circulate for even longer. If you’re at all interested in the field, it’s probably worth a look at that December 2013 article to see what was then the current state-of-play in electric bikes. As we mentioned, the three main players were Danny Ripperton, the 2013 electric bike champion (Ripperton was not only the mover and shaker behind Ripperton eBike development, he was also the main rider); Varley, with their modified CBR600RR machine with Jason Morris aboard and someone we didn’t see at Eastern Creek, Catavolt. siliconchip.com.au New bikes, new motors, new batteries 2013 has been a year of intense research, development and proving. It hasn’t been without its problems, as you might expect – all teams suffered at least minor difficulties and one team experienced season-ending failures. But all this has been “grist for the mill”, so to speak, with the knowledge gained put to very good use as the teams face the new season of racing. Ripperton Ripperton electric, with their successful R1 eBike, will be undergoing something of a generational change in 2014, with the highly successful Danny Ripperton stepping off the bike and concentrating on the engineering side. Ripperton currently holds the record at both the Queensland Raceway (the “paper clip” at Ipswich) and the Wakefield Park track in NSW. The 90kW, liquid-cooled Ripperton Quad-Stack motor has been ultra-reliable and coupled with 7kW of hot-swap lithium batteries proved to be the most Varley electric motorcycles have the benefit of being part of a major player with 125 years experience in automotive, marine, aerospace . . . and elecric vehicles. Based in Newcastle, NSW, Varley have products and expertise ranging from high power Ultramotive motors to Tritium power electronics and chargers – and they are determined to stay at the forefront of development of electric superbikes. Their familiar modified CBR600RR will be joined by a new Ducati-based bike. Both are built around the 80kW Ultramotive Carbon electric motor and Tritium WS200 controller package. These run on a 448V DC supply but use different chemistries: the older bike uses lithium polymer, while the new machine will be based on A123 LiFePO4s. Danny Ripperton with electric motor windings and stators June 2014  15 Television Series You can now watch all of the electric racing on TVS. Series one of Australian Electric Superbikes will be broadcast on TVS on Saturday 31 May at 3:30pm and Sunday 1 June at 11:00am Episode One • The ultimate electric racer • Lithium engineers • The race is on • Battery technology Episode Three • Pioneers • Structural integrity • Third time lucky • Electric motors Episode Two • Lithium power • Riders’ view • The second round • Assault on the salt As seen on Episode Four • An old master • And the winner is… • Looking on • Back from the future www.facebook.com/australianelectricsuperbikes evmotorcycle.org Danny, Jason and Victor Ripperton R1 Electric Superbike Jaron Ware from Batrium Technologies Rider Jason Morris, who managed to secure two wins in the final round of the 2013 electric superbike series at Eastern Creek, will be back with Varley for the 2014 series. His 1:48.254 record for the 4.5km track is certainly under threat this year but Varley are hoping to keep it in the family! Voltron Voltron will be back in 2014 after a hiatius of a couple of years. Their bike is different again, with the Voltron EVO running with a DC bus of 620V DC. For the uninitiated, that’s a higher voltage than Melbourne trams run on! It all comes down to matching the capabilities of the motor and inverter. The motor’s base speed of 4000 RPM is achieved with a DC bus of 600V. The last 1000 rpm must be achieved by engaging “field weakening”. By defeating some of the motor back EMF, the rotor is capable of spinning faster, albeit at the expense of torque. It is only by supplying at least 400V RMS to the motor, that it can reach the rated peaks greater than 150kW. This calls for an inverter capable of supplying some serious grunt and the Rinehart Motion Systems PM150DZ inverter is up to the task. The VoltronEVO Electric Superbike uses a modular, multi-chemistry battery monitoring system (BMS) from Western Australia’s EV-Power. Its four BMS modules can monitor 12 cells each. It has inbuilt safeguards which will warn the rider if something goes wrong in the power department and rather than (dangerously) shutting off power completely, will go into a ‘limp home’ mode, enabling the rider to nurse the bike back to the pits. One difficulty of running a 600V battery is that, hot off the charger, the pack can exceed 700V – contrary to eFXC rules. So they can be sailing pretty close to the wind, hoping that when measured, the scrutineer will record the battery voltage starting with a “6”. Another (minor!) difficulty of such a large battery pack is that at 85kg, it can’t be lifted out by hand. A hoist is needed. But further development by Voltron in both batteries and motors is aimed at both a smaller, lighter battery running a lower-voltage motor. Catavolt Electric racers on the grid 16  Silicon Chip Catavolt are back too. The company which holds a landspeed record and a notable appearance at the Daytona International Raceway is determined to once again become a force in Australian Electric Superbike racing. They suffered several technical mishaps in 2013 but the new R6 Catavolt ebike for 2014 is rather different to what we have seen in the past. For a start, their new Catavolt has swapped the enerTrack hub motor for an onboard power plant – this return to a more familiar drivetrain will provide a significant power increase. The impressive 100kW motor is coupled with a 12kWh lithium-ion battery pack. siliconchip.com.au Anatomy of an electric superbike Electric superbikes may look similar to their internal combustion counterparts but the technology is taking motorcycle racing to the next level. MOTORCYCLE FRAME AND CHASSIS Modified internal combustion engine hardware is quickly being replaced with custom electric motorcycle frames. Bespoke chassis are designed using 3D development software and rapid prototyping. This process allows the engineers to package the electric drivetrain and components into a frame designed specifically for the task. Many of the successful designs are now forming the basis for mass production electric motorcycles. HIGH VOLTAGE RELAY For safety all electric superbikes must provide a high voltage cutoff relay. This device provides a method of disarming the high voltage supply. A large red button is positioned in a prominent position on the bike, which can be activated in case of emergency by either the rider or circuit marshalls/rescue crew. AC CONTROLLER Acts in the same way as a conventional throttle to vary the power delivered to the motor but also converts DC from the battery to the 3-phase AC required by the motor. A typical controller will handle 600A amps at 200V. Many of these electric superbikes have multiple controllers. DC PRISMATIC LITHIUM CELLS It’s no coincidence that these electric superbikes have emerged in the wake of lithium polymer cell development. When combined in a battery pack, these prismatic lithium cells produce enough current to propel an Electric Superbike to over 200km/h. A typical racing pack is configured to 7kWh. It’s a compromise between keeping the bikes light enough to be competitive while providing enough power for the electric motor. Building the pack so that it can be removed easily from the bike provides a distinct advantage for both charging and troubleshooting. This gives the R6 more than 900nm of torque – to put this into perspective, that’s more than four times the torque of the popular Suzuki Hayabusa and in fact, is more than a Mclaren F1 supercar! No rider has yet been named for the Catavolt but there’s a queue of hopefuls stretching all the way down the main straight! Two new teams 2014 is set to be an exciting year for electric superbike racing in Australia. Steady increases in performance levels have been experienced to the point where eBikes were consistently competing at over 200km/h. But with new electronic and electric hardware coming on line, racing speeds approaching – and even exceeding – the siliconchip.com.au AC BRUSHLESS MOTOR Ultra efficient electric motors generate massive amounts of torque from a small package. These integrated powerhouses can be used in double or even quad stack configuration. Super powerful permanent magnets are required to offset the electromagnetic force that is produced by the windings. Liquid cooling allows for higher continuous currents to be used by the electric superbikes. 250km/h barrier are expected this year. The existing teams believe they have sorted out most, if not all, of the technical issues which they’ve variously suffered in previous seasons (only time will tell if they’re right!) but, more importantly, the new season will see another two teams competing in the electric superbike series, bringing the total number of bikes on the starting grid to seven. Australian Solar Power are likely to enter a production Brammo machine, while an as-yet unnamed Sydney team plans to race a Yamaha 100kW R6 bike. It’s a great time to watch, and be a part of, Electric Superbike racing. It’s still in its infancy in terms of the overall bike racing scene but already, we’ve seen the technology developing and maturing much faster than anyone could have believed would occur when it started three years ago. SC June 2014  17