We all hate electric motorcycles not because they don’t have the same feel as the gasoline counterparts but simply because they don’t have much range and the battery life is short, but not anymore. Apparently, an Italian bike manufacturer, Tacita has developed an electric motorcycle called the T-RACE that employs a liquid cooled maintenance free electric motor to run the bike. The company claims that the batteries that power the bike can be charged up to 2000 times and are made to last through the motorcycle’s life cycle! Of course, being an electric motorcycle don’t expect any sort of emissions or noise (except the whining motor).
And the company is very serious with its claims too. To test the reliability of the bike, Tacita has decided to enter the the African Rally Raid held in Morocco. PierPaolo Rigo, co-founder of Tacita explains that “We want to make sure we have a bike that will be reliable and can endure anything for our customers. Merzouga rally was a good opportunity for us to test our T-race. Our objective was to gather as much data as possible rather than results and it is mission accomplished.” The company is proud that the T-Race finished the whole rally successfully that took place from November 3rd to 9th. The T-Race was the first electric motorcycle to traverse the entire Merzouga dunes and finally is the first to have finished and actually won in the NEW ENERGY category.
Talking about the bike, it is powered by a maintenance-free, 3-phase alternate current, brushless-type, asynchronous electric motor that supposedly produces a peak power of 24 KW. Powering the motor is a Li-Po rechargeable lithium-polymer battery. Currently, Li-po batteries are the most advanced technology available today for traction batteries. It has an approx charging time of 9 hours (or 3 hours with the optional 3KW stationary charger). The motor gets 3 torque mappings; Eco: for the least impact on trails; Sport: for maximum driving pleasure and Boost: 60 seconds at full power for dunes or steep climbs. Suspension at the front is telescopic hydraulic forks while at the rear is progressive linkage with fully adjustable settings.
