Ok, first of all a quick disclaimer, I made this today on my day off whilst my son was sleeping and it in no way represents anything official from KTM or Kiska. It is just a bike I would like. A day dream.

The idea was for a fun bike which I could ride to work and back (around 20km) and which would cost next to nothing to run. A bike that I could go hit the mountain passes on at lunch (1 hours driving) or run into the city. It would have to be a supermoto since in my opinion that’s the most fun (and safest) bike for the kind of tight twisty roads we have around here in the mountains as well as in town. Aesthetically, the most badass bike KTM have right now, again IMO is the new KTM SX which Dungey just won on last weekend, so I used a modified version of that mixed up with other favorite KTM bikes of mine the SMC-R, freeride (E) and an SMR.

In summary then, and after thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that for my commute and quick blasts around the mountain passes and into town, possibly the perfect bike for me would be an electric KTM supermoto, a quick concept of which I created below.

Why electric you might ask? Well the kids in my street are always ragging these electric remote control cars around. They are so fast that they do multiple backflips when they go full throttle. They also have some petrol cars, but they hardly ever drive them as they say firstly that they always break, secondly they are way too loud, and thirdly they are not as fast. An electric motor can be quick, super cheap to run (as there are so few components involved and you dont need to buy gas or oil), you will get no vibration on the bike and you get 100% torque. After riding the KTM freeride (E) I am a big fan too, so a more kitted out supermoto version would be amazing. Plug (overnight) and play (day). One of my choices of bike for this possibly post peak oil world.

From the wooden box to the concept car:
A unique Making Of about the birth of the lightweight electric vehicle Opel RAK e and the work we did on it at Kiska.

My buddy Craig pointed out that the sketches are done by 2 different people, crazy how close they can get their styles, so that it even looks like one person did both.

From the Tokyo motorshow.
Honda’s new rear-wheel drive electric roadster concept offers a 160-kilometer range, a 0-37 mph (60kph) time of 5.0 seconds and a top speed of 99 mph.

Ridiculous steering concept, but apart from that it’s pretty cool. Electric cars I think have a lot of potential, if first of all we can find a way to provide enough electricity to run them, and 2nd of all we make a solid switch before the people and the world as a whole are completely broke as a result of spiking oil prices/peak oil/declining EROI. Or are we too late already? Oh yea, and third of all if we can somehow overcome the looming shortages of rare earth materials such as cobalt, lithium and platinum to make the transition.

Didn’t post this bike before since the same photos of it were all over the web, but I just came across some other ones today from the recent Tokyo motorshow and the bike looks great. Not much info on it, except that it is electric and that it’s based on a 250 cc racer chassis, most likely the CBR25R and will have 600cc class performance . It also has LED lights at the front and back. And MP might have had something to do with it :0

Not bad at all, but the frame and plastics don’t seem very well integrated with the seat.
Dying to try the KTM freeride electric with some supermoto wheels.

The concept by Dean Bensteadu called the ‘O2 Pursuit’ runs on a frame from the Yamaha WR250F, but instead of the conventional engine capacity of 250 cc, the O2 Pursuit gets a motor that is propelled by air. Check out his site here.

Check out a video here on it.

http://www.grace.de

Some more photos of the electric Kiska designed KTM SM.

Photos from 1000ps.de.

The kiska designed KTM Freeride electric bikes will be shown for the first time this weekend in Tokyo, but they are all over the web already so I thought I would post too. I really love this bike, I got to test the SX prototype which was absolutely amazing and worked on the graphics and video too so am really looking forward to the launch. I have some proper photos of the bike but will wait for after the show.

The Austrian motorcycle (and race-car) manufacturer has yet to reveal specific powertrain details for the two electric bikes – one a supermoto and the other an enduro model.

KTM describes the two bikes as “near-series prototypes which in one year’s time will transfer the “Ready to Race” sporting spirit of the brand into a series model fit for the 21st century.”

All electric drivetrain apparently. Fantastic concept and rendering.

The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept powertrain provides a top speed limited electronically to 155 mph, 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds. Engine output of 163 hp with peak torque of 214 lb-ft. Average fuel consumption in the EU test cycle is 3.76 liters/100 kilometers, equal to 62.6 mpg. BMW plans to get “M” (Motorsport) performance out of the plug-in hybrid system which works together with a 3-cyl turbo-diesel engine able to charge the battery as you drive.

I guess it wont come cheap but it sounds impressive and it looks wicked. Not sure how well the battery will hold up in the cold either if my cellphone when skiing is anything to go by!

More info in the vid below the fold:

Via Zero Hedge.

While the boss was away, the new -273 intern took the opportunity to upgrade the company vehicles.

Due to budget restrictions it was felt wings would not be essential on the new -273 puddle jumper…

So the genie is out of the bottle, KTM has made a public announcement about their development of an Electric enduro bike! I got to ride it a month ago and give some test feedback to the team and was seriously, seriously impressed. It feels as quick as a 125sx but is also lighter so you can really throw it around. I will probably get in trouble if I show the photos I have, so I have just posted the ones off dirt rider. This bike with supermoto tyres would be so perfect to get to work and back on. I want one.

Thanks to the intelligent control technology and the most up-to-date energy management, the 90 kg light prototype zero emission motorcycle has a performance that rivals a light Enduro with a combustion engine. Apart from the very low weight, it is the engine’s significantly spontaneous development of torque that is responsible for the distinct dynamic of the zero emission motorcycle.

Project Better Place founder Shai Agassi has announced that Australia will become the third country, following Denmark and Israel, to implement the group’s vision of electric vehicles powered by renewable energy, and France could also soon follow.

Better Place and Macquarie Capital Group will raise $1 billion to build a network of 250,000 charging stations and battery exchange stations in key locations along the east coast by 2012. The network will be powered by wind turbines owned by AGL Energy.

Agassi has been promoting the plan as a way to reduce our dependence on oil (the starting premise for the project was “how do you run an entire country without oil”) while creating jobs and boosting the local economy (see this interview on the Today Show for his explanation). Operating in Australia will also help the group prove it can work in large countries as well as the much smaller geographical areas covered in the first 2 rollouts. Agassi also noted that the Federal Government’s $500 million Green Car Innovation Fund played a part in encouraging them to set up in Australia.