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DARPA Develops Stealth Motorcycle For US Special Forces
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: "Allen McDuffee reports that DARPA is developing a hybrid-powered motorcycle to soundlessly penetrate remote areas and execute complex, lightning-fast raids. The idea is to develop a hybrid power system that relies on both electric and gas power, allowing special ops to go off-road and zip past enemy forces with the silence of an electric engine, while also being able to handle extended missions and higher speeds with a supplemental gas tank. Logos Technologies plans to fit its quieted, multifuel hybrid-electric power system with an all-electric bike from San Francisco-based manufacturer BRD Motorcycles that uses an existing racing bike, the RedShift MX, a 250-pound all-electric moto that retails for $15,000. The RedShift MX has a two-hour range, but will be extended with a gas tank the size of which will be determined by the military in the research period. The focus on the electric element suggests that DARPA is more concerned with the stealthiness of the motorcycle than it is efficiency."
Elon Musk already has one that goes twice as fast for ten times the distance and it's invisible too. He's just waiting for the right time to announce it so people don't think he's a publicity seeking twat.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
been done.
The focus on the electric element suggests that DARPA is more concerned with the stealthiness of the motorcycle than it is efficiency
Wha? Electric motors are way more efficient than IC engines (90%+ vs. 25%), so having an electric drive makes this more efficient. Stealthiness also follows from efficiency - sound is energy, so a lot of sound is an indication of an unnecessary waste of energy.
Add some mini rockets and machine guns, and you've created the MegaForce
One morning on my road bike, cycling on a suburban road. Tram tracks to my right, parked cars to my left, going about 50km/h. This woman was hanging out on the road ahead of me, Not really paying attention. I got to within about three metres and I swear I heard her inhale as she saw me in her peripheral vision and jumped back out of my path.
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I ride down a hill every day coming home from work. I pull the clutch and coast out of gear. I've passed within 10 feet of pedestrians before they notice me. ~35 mph, no noticable chain noise. The loudest thing to me is the wind noise, but I'm on it, so I don't expect that I'm hearing what a pedestrian would hear.
The tire noise is elevated when cornering (smooth tread when upright, deepening tread when leaned over, close to silent going straight, but I can hear it when I lean into a corner). And yes, the idling engine is still one of the noisiest parts of the bike. The only time I hear the chain is when it's long overdue for an adjustment. A chain, in practice, is as quiet as a shaft or belt. Not like a bicycle.
Based on your comments, I presume you ride a bicycle and are guessing. Well, that and you don't maintain your own bike (because you are incompetent/lazy), and aren't very good at riding it. When I was riding 100+ miles a week, I maintained my own bicycle, and I'd adjust the chain/shifters daily. There was not much noise from the chain. That only happens with cheap chains, worn gears, and poor shifters. And that points to a lazy and ignorant owner.
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But the higher cost of such a vehicle cuts into possible savings due to fuel efficiency. Places where fuel costs are high, say India, capital to buy more expensive motorcycles is scarce. Still I expect this configuration come out of China, India, and other scooter/ motorcycle/ moped dominated markets of South Asia. Not DARPA.
I heard about an innovative financing of solar panels for such capital scarce regions. Instead of trying to sell the panels to the customers, they try to rent it or sell only the electricity to the customers. So people look at it as so many nyra/rupee/dinar per month instead of total cost to buy it out right. It was an NPR report from couple of years ago. Not much news about it since. So it must have died soon after the report.
It is so illogical and insane it is so frustrating. The world capital markets are sloshing around with some 2 or 3 trillion dollars in cash. They don't find opportunities worth investing. At the same time converting free solar energy into usable form of electricity is deemed unviable because the capital costs are high. The only cost for solar and wind energy is the amortization and debt service. There is no more recurring expenses like buying coal or natural gas.
If you believe in free markets, Adam Smith and invisible hand of the markets, at least a few billion dollars will flow from these capital market to projects of solar energy and efficient hybrid motor cycles and pure electric mopeds. But the pundits of Wall Street keep saying the investment is not worth it. Mostly people are comparing the average cost of electricity production by solar with that of natural gas or coal. But Solar energy production peak comes close to peak electricity demand and peak spot price of electricity. Still it is not worth it?
May be if we link the western grid with the eastern grid and couple peak demand of eastern seaboard demand at 4 to 6 pm with peak production in Arizona may be it would become more profitable? Don't know.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
It is so illogical and insane it is so frustrating. The world capital markets are sloshing around with some 2 or 3 trillion dollars in cash. They don't find opportunities worth investing. At the same time converting free solar energy into usable form of electricity is deemed unviable because the capital costs are high. The only cost for solar and wind energy is the amortization and debt service. There is no more recurring expenses like buying coal or natural gas. ...
If you believe in free markets, Adam Smith and invisible hand of the markets, at least a few billion dollars will flow from these capital market to projects of solar energy and efficient hybrid motor cycles and pure electric mopeds. But the pundits of Wall Street keep saying the investment is not worth it.
That huge pool of capital is privately held. They're not just looking for things to spend it on - they're looking to spend it on things that MAKE MONEY.
Sure, the people of India could use solar panels. However, they don't have money to spend, so this huge pool of capital isn't going to do a thing for them. The only reason it would get spent on panels is if they could produce electricity cheaper than what the Indians are already paying, or if the Indians were willing to pay more for the privilege of not having brownouts when it gets hot out.
People used to have $30/month cell phone plans with freebie phones. Now they're willing to spend $100/month on a plan and $200 for the phone as long as it has a touchscreen and internet access. As a result gobs of money get spent on making fancy phones. Sure, the first company to do it took a much bigger risk, but the risk to the follow-ons is from the competition, not the uncertainty of the market. Companies didn't just decide to spend lots of money on smartphones to be charitable - people are spending a lot MORE money than they used to on phones, and the investment is chasing that money.
This sort of issue isn't limited to India. The US has crumbling bridges all over the place, and yet is the home of that huge capital pool you speak of. However, not a dime of that money is going to get spent on fixing bridges, unless people decide that they're willing to pay a toll to cross every little creek in their town just for a bit more assurance that the bridge won't collapse under them.
The only way this pool of money is going to get spent on projects that have no likelihood of return is if somebody taxes it and just spends it (not caring about there being a profit).
The Saltville PD in SW Virginia has just started using a fully electric motorcycle to patrol areas where miscreants are likely to hear traditional vehicles approaching, in order to better apprehend them.
Saltville PD running electric motorcycle
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Back in my day, that thing would've cost $500 per bolt, minimum.
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I'm not saying a hybrid electric motorcycle is bad, but I wonder if they've really done the due diligence necessary to completely write-off the internal combustion engine? A decade ago I had a Honda VTX 1800, which had a 1795cc V-Twin on it, and with the stock pipes it was *unbelievably* quiet. Other bikers - proponents of the "loud pipes save lives" school of thought - would warn me that I should swap out the pipes to make more noise lest I get killed by some inattentive automobile driver. I'm sure an electric bike can be very quiet - but with current muffler and noise cancellation technology, I wonder if they could achieve the same results with lower cost / less complexity / higher reliability than the proposed hybrid electric.