Ducati Says 'battery Technology Not Ready' For E-bike

It seems global opinion is cooling on EV’s. Greta will be pissed? Great! But not as pissed as her army of handlers. Even greater!!

 

Dunno about Canada, but in the U.K. our illustrious leaders are trying to coerce us all into heat pump boilers. They are cripplingly expensive and not too powerful. I for one will be hanging back another 5 years to see how much cheaper and better they are then..

 

“Inefficient” is the polite word you were looking for. Utter would be more honest. Andy

 

For a great many journeys in the UK an electric car makes sense as its short and sweet. But by the same vein the lazy bastards could walk.

I dont think EV will truly take over racing in any form as you need the bang for buck without a weight penalty. Hybrids make sense here.

Heat pumps are fine if you have a modern home built to modern standards. If, like Fairy, you live in a medieval castle surrounded by a moat it is probably best to retain your dungeons filled with serfs on a treadmill.

 

Yeah the bubble appears to be bursting, the battery technology and charging infrastructure just isnt there still.

Until we have some kind of battery bank with Batteries that can be swapped in seconds for guaranteed range output ETC then it wont work for everyone.

Saw an article from the head guy at Vauxhall saying for the majority electric cars have too high initial outlay vs petrol cars and the cost of charging using public infrastructure doesnt add up to savings.

I mean I can have me a nice little Nissan leaf for 30k, or a base Nissan Juke for 20k - neither my choice but much more car for much less money is no brainer if I was looking for a new car right now


But, back to the OP thread on the bike thing/Ducati - While electric bikes coming a long way, slowly (Ducati doing moto-e can only help on that front) but for some of us, the noise of the combustion is part of the riding experience, it and taking that away will always be a massive change most of us dont want!

 

I'm yet to be convinced that EV's are that much greener. At the tailpipe, yes, but I believe they are more polluting to build than an equivalent ICE vehicle, and depending on the source of the electricity may not save much if anything in the way of emissions. Add the current higher prices & the range issues and I can see why there's a reluctance to switch.

 

I am on heat pump number two. They last about ten years, cost £10k and are not cheap to run. Water is never "gas boiled" hot.
As for EVs, they look questionable at best as energy density is so poor, a tenth of petrol and always weigh the same whether charged or empty.
Net zero is a daft idea that will bankrupt us all.

 

Not quite a draughty castle. But my house isn’t ideal for heat pumpery. Ideally you need one of those slot together scandiwegen pine houses. That become positively pressurised if you so much as fart.

 

Ev cars are OK for small town cars bit that's it .

 

I think for some car ownership will become unnecessary, you will rent a small electric car for the journey you want to make. At the moment it’s bicycles and electric scooters but I can see this moving on to cars?

In all honesty real change won’t come until there’s virtually no fossil fuel left. It’s not in the interest of those who produce it.

Electric motorbikes will become popular but in the same way as cars will, for the majority a small city bike with a range of 50 realistic miles?

But for us the numbers just don’t stack up, we have a perfectly good reliable petrol car that’s 9yrs old now, done 30k miles, we do maybe 3k miles a year in it and it’s easily good for another 10yrs. How is it environmentally friendly to scrap that car for a new electric one? What is the environmental impact of that new car against the continued running of the one we’ve already got for another 10yrs?

As for anyone considering getting an air sourced heat pump to heat their home, I recommend first going out and buying a heat pump tumble dryer, it’ll give you an idea of the performance you can expect

 

Great tip. A good pilot.

But I get the impression that should we go for heat pump tumble dryer action, we’ll be heading down the pub in damp jeans? Just like back in the 80’s

 

I’m somewhat conflicted by this statement from Ducati.
I will mourn the passing of the ICE and I genuinely hope that there is a way to keep them going in both cars and bikes for a lot longer yet. EVs are not yet the answer in my opinion & I guess that’s what they’re saying but the structure and the access is getting better and when the majority of the source fuel is clean energy, that argument will be lost. For Ducati to say that they’re not even going to bother with it, is troubling as there is a very real risk that the brand will be completely lost.
As with most things in life you affect change from the inside, not from the outside stating merely that you may be joining when things get a bit better.
I dunno, just makes me feel a bit uneasy that’s all

 

I see your point of view but for Ducati I can also see that they probably see the EV market, certainly from a business sense being the small capacity city commuter and scooter sector which they don’t even compete in with current ICE technology?

What they’ll probably do is let some small company, like Zero, develop and build the bikes, see how they fair and then if the numbers stack up just buy the company.

 

Well that is a possible solution but Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A is hardly General Motors & if Zero gets it right, there will be plenty of would be suitors.

 

No but VW/Audi group is

 

The appetite is there - you just need the right hook. Tesla changed the perception of EV's and now look at the market.

I have a Hyundai Kona and VW Transporter - both EV's and both suit my needs, especially being near London and avoiding the ULEZ charge. We've done plenty of long trips for holiday's with the Kona with the dogs, roof boxes and bike carriers.

Just needs careful planning. It actually makes for a more relaxing journey when you're "forced" to stop for 30-40 minutes to re-charge. In reality by the time you've gone to the loo, got food, a coffee and walked the dogs there's not much in it compared to an ICE.

The same will happen with bikes - again demand is there judging by the orders for the Damon. I've got a Hypersport on order if it comes to fruition:

https://damon.com

 

The long journey/charge time is the real problem imo. It’s all very well when you’re talking about a nice leisurely holiday with the family-yeah of course you can stop for a leisurely break then, but as a long-distance workhorse or a day trip out somewhere, a 40 minute enforced break each way is a nightmare

 

Synthetic fuel…..