Technical Concept Study of an Electric Motorcycle Model

Abstract

Larger cities are beginning to phase out vehicles with combustion engines[14] and the sales of electric motorcycles is simultaneously increasing[5]. Electric motorcycles can be a more competitive alternative in urban areas since it often is cheaper than other electrical vehicles. RGNT Motorcycles is a company making electric motorcycles and are starting to investigating a new motorcycle model. This project aims towards giving RGNT a good technical concept study to base the development of this new model on. The aim is to produce the best conceivable concepts of different sub-systems where there are significant performance gains to be had. The focus will lie on developing concepts where effort has been put into having reasonable materials and processes to be able to reduce the cost of the end product. The concepts will be developed with a data driven product development process following the methods described by G.Gustafsson [11]. Once concepts for the different subsystems like frame, batteries and tyres have been developed, a prototype will be designed and manufactured in order to test the performance of these subsystems. The project has produced results in some major investigation areas and they are as follows. An evaluation of the current state of the latest model from RGNT which helped in developing the problem definition. A frame and suspension geometry together with a set of tyres to begin the practical testing with. It also resulted in a battery pack enclosure design which would help keeping the cost of the swappable battery packs low. A model for estimating the required energy storage capacity was developed in order to make informed decisions about how to design a battery pack in theory and for the prototype. It could be concluded that the requirement specification set together with RGNT in the beginning of the project might need to be adjusted slightly to be closer to the wanted end result of this concept. The current requirement of a 100 km range together with 100 km/h top speed makes the battery system unnecessarily large and compromises the wanted packaging. Lowering the range and top speed requirement slightly would decrease this effect. It was also concluded that a pressed steel frame could lead to great cost saving but that there are plenty of work left before this concept can be implemented.