Couldn’t resist a little Charge preview today…

Source: You Tube

By Harry Mallin

The sport of motorcycle racing has a rich history that winds its way through 20th century United Kingdom like the narrow roads on the Isle of Man. Recently, this history has included a new avenue of opportunity: electric motorcycle racing. But controversy, no stranger to motorsports, has already touched this new sport, and recent events indicate that a shockwave of change may be in store for the sanctioning bodies that currently organize the upcoming racing series.

According to an email recently published on, of all places, the personal blog of Ivar Kvadsheim, a Norwegian journalist who writes primarily on the subject of electric motorcycle racing, a UK government agency is likely to bring charges of anti-competitive behavior and monopoly practices against the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (International Motorcycling Federation, or the FIM). The FIM is “the world governing body for motorcycle sport and is an independent association formed by 101 National Federations throughout the world. It is recognised as the sole competent authority in motorcycle sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Among its 49 FIM World Championships the main events are MotoGP, Superbike, Endurance, Motocross, Supercross, Trial, Enduro and Speedway.” Source: www.fim-live.com. To understand the context of the email about the anti-competitive behavior, a review of the story behind the relationship between FIM and TTXGP is necessary.

Originally from: eMotoRules

by Bridgette Meinhold

The Governator Offers $1,500 Rebate for Electric Motorcycles in California
by Bridgette Meinhold, 03/29/10Californians will now be eligible to receive a $1,500 rebate when they purchase qualifying electric motorcycles. Last week the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, helped to promote Zero Motorcycles, which are the first electric bikes to qualify for this rebate. This means that the Zero DS dual Sport Motorcycle and the Zero S Supermoto, will be available for $7,495 (plus tax) after the $1,500 rebate, PLUS, you get a 10% federal tax credit, making these bikes cost less than 1 cent per mile to run!

Originally from: Inhabitat

by Visordown News

TTXGP – the brains behind zero emission motorcycle racing – have unveiled plans to make the logistics of ebike racing easier for both riders and teams.

TTXGP ‘TecHotel’ is a new package that can handle, transport and store your bike between races allowing you to focus on what’s important: racing. For 2010, TecHotel is available for TTXGP UK and TTXGP Italy.

From TTXGP:

TecHotel is uniquely suited to TTXGP. Unlike regular motorsport, duties such as engine rebuilds or engine tuning is not required. Teams can keep a development bike at base and race bike with TecHotel. Tuning and refining of the bikes done at base with settings saved to USB and uploaded to the race bike at the trackside. The race bike then becomes a clone of the development bike.
Hardware changes such as controllers/ motors or circuit boards can be carried in commercial airlines as luggage or in a normal car to the track.

Source: Visordown

by Dan Blacharski

Whoever said that electrical engineers were a bunch of pocket protector wearing, Star Wars watching, RPG playing Dilberts? Kenyon Kluge, Director of Electrical Engineering at Zero Motorcycles, has raced motorcycles professionally, spends time surfing in Santa Cruz, and has never worn a pocket protector.

Kenyon jumped from a large IT company to a startup to combine his love of technology with his love of motorcycles, and now is the Director of Electrical Engineering at Zero Motorcycles, a Scotts Valley, California manufacturer of gas-free electric motorcycles.

Originally from: ITworld