Chris Till

Category: Miscellaneous

  • Why I lost my passion for motorcycles

    I used to wax lyrical about how motorcycles were better than cars, more fun, more practical, easier to afford and so on. But the insistence of the motorcycle industry to focus on its traditional audience who love aftermarket exhausts and deafening noise, rather than innovate with electric bikes has lead me more towards 4 wheels, and those above statements are no longer as clear cut as they once were.

    The car industry has always been ahead, but in recent times, the difference is astounding. Even in the traditional area of motor racing, manufacturers are flocking to Formula-e in their droves while in bike racing, electric is virtually nowhere to be found. This year, the only electric bike in competition from a manufacturer (Honda) was the Mugen TT Zero machine, except this time, they had no competition whatsoever. Dorna have announced an electric class in MotoGP from 2019 but it will be most likely hidden away, ranked below even Moto3, and maybe not fully televised. It’s an incredibly weak proposal when you consider what could be possible. For some odd reason, even Pike’s Peak lacked electric competitors this year despite the obvious advantage of running an electric powertrain at high altitude.

    That’s the motorsport situation. The production situation is arguably only slightly better, but not by much. Only one of the major makes (BMW) are making electric motorcycles, and that is a maxi scooter. None of the recognisable brands, including all of the Japanese manufacturers, are making electric motorcycles in 2017. That is incredibly sad to me.

    I’m sure there is some element of money involved here. The motorcycle industry is tiny compared to the car industry. The R&D costs are going to be hard to justify for businesses that really need to focus on short to medium term revenue. It’s harder for them to look too far into the future like the car industry can.

    However, I don’t think money is the only reason. Motorcycling in general is far more closely associated with motorsport and noise in particular than the car industry is. Combine that with the fact that the male baby boomer generation have been the ones primarily supporting the industry in the last decade or so, and you have a cocktail that doesn’t create an environment for electric bikes to thrive. There are older male riders who are into tech and love riding their Zero bikes, but they are few and far between.

    Yamaha and Honda are tentatively taking baby steps into production EVs with this scooter sharing service in Japan that they’re collaborating on. I’m sure they also have some exciting tech ready to go in the background, but for now, they don’t feel confident enough to release anything for fear of alienating their customer base that they rely on tremendously. We’ve seen the concepts from both manufacturers at motor shows, but nothing has made its way into production.

    Will 2017 be the year they announce a production electric bike? Surely it has to be, but I’ve been predicting that and being let down each year for the last few years, so I can’t be sure. Vespa were the only bright spot in the motorcycle show season last year when they announced an electric model, but we’ve heard little of it since then, if anything.

    Yamaha, Honda and the rest need to stop being afraid to change. At some point they’re going to have to present electric sports bikes to petrolhead fanboys at a press conference. But we’re reaching a point now where even die-hard litre bike fans and harley riders are starting to understand the extent to which the industry is changing. People are realizing that electric isn’t a threat, it’s awesome fun and that initial negative opinion, fueled by fear, is now turning more and more towards excitement. There is some risk in acting too soon, but there may be even more risk long term in waiting too long. The young people that they’re so desperate to go after probably won’t come unless they embrace EVs. And companies like Zero are positioned to take advantage if they aren’t challenged in the next couple of years.

    If the big manufacturers can change the conversation with some great production machines, they can reignite my passion in bikes, and capture a potentially huge market worldwide that is untapped at present.

  • Is a Sub 2 Second 0-60 Tesla Roadster Suitable For Road Use?

    With the recent revelation that Tesla are giving discounts on their yet to be unveiled new Roadster to Tesla owners with more than 10 referrals, the subject turned to evolving electric performance. More specifically, how much acceleration is too much.

    If you’ve seen videos of people scaring the shit out of their family members and friends by doing hard launches in Tesla cars, then you’ll know how violent they are. Even the lowest spec Model S cars have far more acceleration than is necessary, but when you get into the sub 3 second 0-60 times, it starts to become dangerous in my opinion.

    With the new Roadster, we’re probably looking at sub 2 seconds for 0-60, which in my view should only be accessible when the car knows it is at a race track / drag strip or in the relative safety of private property.

    Unsurprisingly, this view is unpopular with many speed freak Tesla owners and fans other than myself who immediately rifle off a list of reasons as to why I’m entirely wrong. But let’s be honest, the P85D with insane mode was already extremely fast. But now they’ve gone so much further with the P100D Ludicrous. That car is capable of around 2.3 seconds to 60 in ideal conditions. That is crazy enough, but the Roadster as a sports car will be even crazier.

    Tesla are trying to be all things to all people with the same car. They want to be the fastest, the safest, the most fun to drive and have the best self driving features. That in itself is a great thing, and as a driver I appreciate that sometimes I want to drive, and sometimes I would love to be driven around by the car. But when it comes to performance and safety, the only way you can truly have both is to limit the performance when being driven on public roads. Tesla cars know where they are and can adjust suspension settings depending on their location. It would be easy to make insane and ludicrous modes location aware.

    I don’t think it would be right to do this on current models because owners bought the cars under the impression that they would always have insane and ludicrous modes available anywhere. But on newly built cars that have 0-60 times lower than 3 to 3.5 seconds, I think they should strongly consider making those modes track only. On current cars, they should take a more serious approach by strongly promoting these modes as designed for track use, rather than goading drivers into potential dangerous driving by asking if they want their mummies. It’s funny, but probably not the best idea.

    It isn’t entirely unprecedented for Tesla to make changes in this vein. They updated the software to limit the number of ludicrous launches people could do lifetime before the power would be permanently lessened. They also did a similar thing with supercharger speeds for drivers who are very heavy users of rapid charging in order to protect the battery packs.

    Something will inevitably have to give at some point. If Tesla don’t act first, then some kind of law will likely be brought in for fast cars in road use. It seems unlikely that authorities will turn a blind eye to extremely fast cars once the focus squarely turns to making autonomous cars and the road network in general as safe as it can possibly be for everyone.

    I’m not a killjoy telling Tesla to stop making fast cars. Make them super fast, but be fast on track and keep them sensible on the roads.

  • Does Trump Matter?

    At first, I was so angry every time he undid a climate or energy regulation. But as time has gone on, it’s become clear to me that it really doesn’t matter what he and his cabinet of fools does. Not to mention, it’s practically a never-ending process which is still relentlessly continuing until every law is repealed. This week’s energy week (aka fossil fuel week) is a prime example.

    Coal is on the way out, gas and oil are soon to follow, with renewable energy in the ascendancy. He can only slow down the transitional process, but really, when the rest of the world are so united, and he is showing himself more and more to be living in the past, he will just look increasingly delusional, even to the people who voted for him.

    A huge number of cities in the US and around the world have pledged to stick to the terms of the Paris Agreement, and even step up efforts further. That is great news of course. But even beyond this, there has to be a point in the near future where the rest of the country say enough is enough and force the hand of Trump to do what’s right and keep the US competitive economically. Tesla will of course help to keep them competitive in the green economy regardless. But whether or not they can do it by themselves really depends on how quickly they can scale up both their car and solar / storage businesses.

    At this point, it seems inevitable that we’re on the cusp of a huge swing towards the left in politics in major economies around the world. I could be wrong, but the tide definitely seems to finally be turning away from the right and far right. People are seeing what Trump and Brexit meant, and they fought back. They pushed back in France, The Netherlands and the UK in the general election where Theresa May didn’t lose and lost big at the same time.

    Don’t get too angry about Trump like I and many others have been. Still bring attention to his moronic, trolling policies, but don’t get too stressed about it. Focus on the positives and do what you personally can to make an impact. All he can do is slow things down, and to be honest, the way things are going, I don’t think he can even do that very successfully. I take everything personally as an insult to me. But if I just remember that it’s not my fault and Trump and his team of idiots are the ones who are going to be a laughing stock in years to come (not that they aren’t already, but you know what I mean), it makes me feel a lot better.

  • The Lack of New 2017 EVs

    Is this the 2017 Nissan Leaf?

    In the U.K. especially, it seems as though 2017 could be a baron year for brand new EV models coming onto the market. We know the Opel Ampera-e won’t be coming here as a right hand drive version (The less said about that, the better). We also know that the Tesla Model 3 will probably be released in the US by the end of the year (hopefully), but even if it is on time, a right hand drive version is probably going to come later. Only recently has the Model X become available here, and even that is in limited quantities.

    It’s possible that some EVs could be announced at Geneva and released at the end of the year, like the Hyundai Ioniq was in 2016. I don’t have a lot of hope for that, but let’s wait and see.

    Assuming nothing else gets announced, the only hope we have for a 2017 brand new EV seems to be the next Nissan Leaf. Carlos Ghosn has said to expect the announcement soon, but whether that means Geneva or somewhere else, we don’t know. One reason we should expect a new Leaf this year is due to them being at risk of losing their leadership status in the EV market. The current Leaf doesn’t match up well at all against the Bolt or Model 3, or even the smaller Renault Zoe in terms of range, tech or exterior style. As EV sales increase worldwide, they could lose their hard earned number 1 spot very quickly as the Bolt establishes itself in the market and word gets out about how accomplished of a car it is.

    If the new Leaf looks like the IDS concept we’ve seen before, then it will be a major style improvement over the current model. I do like the current Leaf, but it grows on you over time. In order to sell EVs to an ever widening market, they have to have instant appeal. The period of time where EV buyers are techy people who know exactly what they want and have done the research is coming to an end. EVs have to compete with all other cars in order to attract buyers who aren’t necessarily just looking for an EV when they are considering a new car.

    I really hope we see tons of new EVs announced and launched this year, but if not, I at least hope we see Carlos Ghosn unveil the most crucial one. Otherwise, it’ll be another year of putting bigger batteries in the same exact cars. I want more than that, and I want the manufacturers to put as much effort into making EVs as they do in developing autonomous cars. Because as far as I’m concerned, electrification is the first priority.

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