How to Design Electric Motorbikes - Interview with Damon Motorcycles

- MV Agusta MotoGP - part 1: https://youtu.be/BUkaejkHRn8 - MV Agusta MotoGP - part 2: https://youtu.be/fGNdMaVft_w - Motorbike wheelies: https://youtu.be/M2Z_GuLHmHs - AMA superbikes: https://youtu.be/qrH_QBOrqbw - Damon motorcycles - electric motorbikes: https://youtu.be/asYdvFfzHTs For this video, we interviewed Derek Dorresteyn, CTO at Damon Motorcycles (https://www.damon.com). Hyperdrive platform The case of the battery is the main stressed component of the motorcycle, which means they got rid of the traditional motorcycle frame. It has reduced mass, the stiffness can be tuned and it provided more room. Higher top speed, faster acceleration and far less rotating mass compared to an ICE motorcycle. It’s a really simple motor-gear reduction and this reduction in rotating mass significantly reduces the apparent mass, which otherwise adds forces that resist the vehicle leaning over and changing direction. Without the added forces, the bike feels much lighter in corner transitions. Cooling The electric drive train is far more efficient: 85% efficiency for the electric drivetrain versus 30% efficiency for the internal combustion engine. But the threshold temperature of a battery pack is much lower than that of a combustion engine, which again increases the required size of the radiator. Both more or less cancel each other out, meaning you end up with more or less the same radiator size. Range There is a lot of variability in the shape and size of the people that will be on the motorcycle, but also the way they interact with the bike can be different. For the optimization work in terms of drag, they have used a standard rider in terms of height and mass combined with the SAE J2982 drive cycle. Aerodynamics If they made a vehicle with the lowest possible drag coefficient, it likely would not be very commercial. So they have this tension between current design trends, consumer taste and the desire to improve aerodynamic performance. The aerodynamics are extremely important: if they wouldn’t care at all, the range would just be half of the claimed 200 miles. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The AirShaper videos cover the basics of aerodynamics (aerodynamic drag, drag & lift coefficients, boundary layer theory, flow separation, reynolds number...), simulation aspects (computational fluid dynamics, CFD meshing, ...) and aerodynamic testing (wind tunnel testing, flow visualization, ...). We then use those basics to explain the aerodynamics of (race) cars (aerodynamic efficiency of electric vehicles, aerodynamic drag, downforce, aero maps, formula one aerodynamics, ...), drones and airplanes (propellers, airfoils, electric aviation, eVTOLS, ...), motorcycles (wind buffeting, motogp aerodynamics, ...) and more! For more information, visit www.airshaper.com