When you want to buy an electric motorcycle, one of the first things you will want to consider is its speed. How fast are electric motorcycles? The answer to that question depends on a combination of factors. These same factors also affect the way the motorcycle feels and accelerates once you decide to take a ride. These factors are also used to get the maximum marked speed of the electric motorcycle.
The three main factors that will affect the speed of an electric motorcycle are:
- Torque
- Power
- Load
The above three factors will determine the speed of any electric motorcycle you buy. Varying anyone of them either during operation of the electric motorcycle or during the design and manufacturing process will affect its maximum speed. How fast or slow a motorcycle can go, can be altered using the above factors irrespective of what the manufacturer states.
Torque
The torque or moment of force of an electric motorcycle is the turning power of its motor. The greater the turning power, the lower the speed of the motorcycle. To get the high speeds from an electric motorcycle without sacrificing its speed, its motor will require more power than is essential. What is the advantage of having a large amount of torque if it will negatively affect the speed of the electric motorcycle? Since torque is the turning power, more torque means a greater load carrying capacity. Less torque means a lower load carrying capacity. So if you want to go as fast as the motor can rotate, you have to keep the load at a minimum, if the motor’s power output is constant.
Power
Power is the rate of doing work. The speed of an electric motorcycle is also determined by the power output of its motor. Increasing the power output will allow your electric motorcycle to go fast. More power will however require that the motor draws more energy from the batteries. You will therefore be limited to the amount of distance you will cover, assuming the load remains constant. Since power is the rate of doing work, going faster is equivalent to doing more work at a shorter period of time. With that in mind, if the amount of power is limited or the amount of energy that can be drawn from the batteries per second is limited, the electric motorcycle’s speed will be reduced if you increase the load.
Load
The load is another important factor that will affect how fast an electric motorcycle can go. The power of the electric motorcycle will determine how fast the electric motorcycle will move a person from the starting point to a destination. The greater the load, the slower the bike will go. That’s assuming the power is kept constant. A bigger load will make the wheels take more turning power than when the wheels are carrying a lighter load. When the supply of energy is constant, for a given increase in load, there will be an equivalent reduction in speed, and an increase in torque, for the electric motorcycle to keep moving. Since more power will now be used to increase the torque, there will be a proportional decrease in speed.
When choosing your electric motorcycle. You should consider first and foremost its maximum load carrying capacity. The more the load it can carry, the powerful it is. A bigger motor rating is also a good indicator of its power. It’s also important to remember since electric motorcycles draw their power from batteries, the greater the speed, the shorter the ranger you will cover. Of course, faster electric motorcycles will command a higher price compared to lower categories. You might want to consider waiting until prices go down before purchasing one.
The biggest advantage of electric motorcycles is that they develop their torque instantly. You will therefore be able to ride from 0 to 60 mph, faster than you can do with a petrol powered motorcycle.
