I admit, I held off from covering this peculiar electric motorcycle for fear that people might not take me seriously in the wake of April Fools' Day. But this wind/solar motorcycle is as real as it can get, and is even available for purchase!
The only way I can see it being sensible is if it’s easily detachable when you’re actually riding it and the idea is for it to charge the bike with the wind when you’re not riding
I think I’ve worked it out. I think it’s not generating power from wind, it’s additional thrust. It seems pointless since they could have put a bigger motor in?
The article in the OP links this source, but it only has an info sheet. It’s in Chinese but it’s just a list of specs. But there is one small hint.
The top table has (assuming machine-translation is correct):
Wind-Powered Range ≥50km
The bottom table has:
Wind Power Motor 300W/72V (Permanent Magnet Brushless)
So I’m convinced the intention here is that the motor spins the wind turbine to pull the bike forward.
It doesn’t seem to make sense from a thrust point of view, so I have a new theory - this contraption probably has a high centre of gravity and would tip over backwards if you accelerate too fast. They probably worked out a wind turbine on the top spreads the acceleration force and reduces this problem.
A lot of electric motorcycles have limiters on how fast you can turn the throttle to prevent riders who are used to ICE motors from throwing themselves off the bike with a massive wheelie due to the instant torque. I can’t believe none of them thought to counteract the rotational force with an above-centre-of-mass propellor. Ingenious!
The only way I can see it being sensible is if it’s easily detachable when you’re actually riding it and the idea is for it to charge the bike with the wind when you’re not riding
I think I’ve worked it out. I think it’s not generating power from wind, it’s additional thrust. It seems pointless since they could have put a bigger motor in?
The article in the OP links this source, but it only has an info sheet. It’s in Chinese but it’s just a list of specs. But there is one small hint. The top table has (assuming machine-translation is correct):
The bottom table has:
So I’m convinced the intention here is that the motor spins the wind turbine to pull the bike forward.
It doesn’t seem to make sense from a thrust point of view, so I have a new theory - this contraption probably has a high centre of gravity and would tip over backwards if you accelerate too fast. They probably worked out a wind turbine on the top spreads the acceleration force and reduces this problem.
A lot of electric motorcycles have limiters on how fast you can turn the throttle to prevent riders who are used to ICE motors from throwing themselves off the bike with a massive wheelie due to the instant torque. I can’t believe none of them thought to counteract the rotational force with an above-centre-of-mass propellor. Ingenious!