Electric Chair

Electric chair

UP FRONT

David Edwards

A CERTAIN SMUGNESS IS UNAVOIDABLE. While other, unenlightened motorists peel

off, forced to replenish their fuel tanks with a highly flammable, petroleum-derived liquid-hydrocarbon mixture, you roll on aboard your ZEV (zero emissions vehicle), secure in the knowledge that the polar ice caps will melt not one extra iota because of your passage. You, Al Gore and Ed Begley Jr., saving the planet.

That’s the mindset that Vectrix, makers of the first freeway-legal all-electric scooter, are counting on. Company slogan is, “Cool People Ride Electric.” Decidedly underqualified on the first count, I’ve nonetheless just spent a week commuting on a Vectrix. After 10 years of R&D costing multimillions, the Rhode Island-based com pany (www.vectrixusa.com) has released what other bike-makers have so far only been talking about, a viable alternate-fuel two-wheeler not restricted to inner-city dawdling. Outwardly no different in size and shape from current internal-combustion maxi-scooters, the Vectrix is powered by a compact DC electric motor designed and manufactured by Parker Hannifin’s SBC Division in Milan, Italy. Fully contained in the swingarm’s rear loop, it’s a brushless, 3-phase, 12-pole, 16-slot, radial, air-gap type, to be precise (though what all that means I know not), rated at 20 peak kilowatts and 48 footpounds peak torque. Max rpm is 6000 revs.

Juice is provided by a 30-amp/125-volt nickel-metal-hydride battery pack, a la Toyota Prius, that slots into a tunnel formed by the aluminum main frame, running under the rider’s seat forward to the leg shield. It has a rated capacity of 3.7 kilowatt-hours, good for a claimed 40-60 miles between recharges. The 1.5-kW onboard charger plugs

WÊ/F into any standard 1 10/220-volt outlet and provides an 80 percent charge in just over 2 hours, says Vectrix. Names familiar to motorcyclists provide much of the running gear: Brembo brakes, Marzocchi fork, Sachs shocks, Pirelli tires. Vectrix didn’t chintz out here.

Okay, let’s go for a spin on this chargebarge, save some rain forest, flip off the evil oil cartels. Starting the Vectrix is pretty much a non-event. Turn the key, watch as the speedo needle sweeps from 0 to 120 kph and back, pull in both brake levers and a big GO symbol lights up in the instrument pod. You’re ready to roll, no clicking, no whirring, no noise at all.

What looks like a conventional twistgrip greets the rider’s right palm. In fact, it’s quite a clever device. Fly-by-wire, of course, as befits a vehicle with this kind of advanced electronics, but there’s more. It’s bidirectional. At a stop, roll the throttle forward, which switches the motor’s polarity, and the Vectrix goes into reverse, a boon when backing its 500 pounds (185 of that the “amply endowed” bat pack) out of a downhill parking space. At speed, that same throttle action activates the regenerative braking system, which slows the bike and recharges the battery. Vectrix claims regen can increase range by as much as 10 percent. In my riding, admittedly not a lot of stoplight-to-stoplight, I didn’t see that, but regen braking is so effective that in most situations the front and rear discs simply aren’t needed. Stop-n-go, all with your right wristand yes, worrywarts, the brakelight comes on when you're into regen.

Initial take-off is a little sluggish, not what you want after you’ve just lane-split to the front of a traffic queue and want to jet ahead when the light changes. By the other side of the intersection, though, the Vectrix hits its stride and accelerates briskly, if not neck-breakingly (0 to 50 mph in 6.8 seconds is the claim). Top speed is an indicated 102 kph, or 63 mph. Freewaylegal, yes, but in California at least, pretty much bumper-fodder. Venture into the HOV lane at that velocity and you’ll be steamrolled if not outright shot.

One of my routes to and from work is a limited-access tollway, much less hectic than the 405 freeway. But, Rhode Island, we have a problem, namely a substantial 4-mile grade. Maintaining top speed wasn’t a problem. Overheating was. Halfway up the hill, the instrument panel glowed red with HOT BAT warnings. On top of worrying about NiMH shrapnel (couldn’t happen), I was draining electricity at an alarming rate-going by the dash’s estimated-range gauge, that 4-mile climb ate up 15 miles of juice.

I stuck to flatter, slower Pacific Coast Highway from then on but still used half the battery’s range on my 16-mile commute, forcing two recharges a day-one at work, one at home. At an estimated 50 cents per recharge, that’s a dollar a day to go 32 miles, or 3.1 cents per mile. Not bad. The Kawasaki KLR650 I was previously riding back and forth averaged almost 50 mpg at (for argument’s sake) $3.10 a gallon, or 6.2 cents per mile, exactly double.

Not the whole story, though. The Vectrix’s suggested retail is a steep $10,999 (hey, NiMH is pricey), while the KLR goes for $5349. Even at a savings of 3.1 cents per mile, the scooter’s break-even point would take a whopping 182,000 miles! Now, before the pinecone-forbreakfast bunch takes up pen, no I didn’t factor in the Kawi’s regular oil changes and tune-ups. Neither did I add a new battery-currently an estimated $4000into the Vectrix’s operational costs. Company literature conservatively pegs battery life at 10 years or 50,000 miles.

Turns out-duh /-there ’s no such thing as a free ride. But despite the shortcomings, Vectrix is on to something here and should be commended for taking this first big step. Green isn’t going away. Who’s next?