_haha_oh_wow_Forget electric bikes, Kawasaki is building an electric horse for actual production
pomegranatefernMy first reaction: LOL. LMAO, even. My second reaction: … Wait, this could actually be really useful if it’s actually functional and affordable though.
I’m not holding my breath, but like, in theory this could actually be really good?
artyomYeah people still use horses in many places where any wheeled or even tracked vehicle can’t go. It’s pretty smart.
Will this be better than a horse though? You don’t have to charge a horse, just feed it and water it (on the other hand, you can’t repair a horse like you can a machine).
I think it depends, but considering pure practicality, horses tend to require a fair amount of pasture and food that an electric “horse” wouldn’t. You can’t just leave a horse in a garage for a few months.
LOL a horse is a living creature. It can be temperamental or ill and needs a barn and you have to clean it’s shit. This will absolutely be better.
You can eat a horse. If it comes to it.
In the early 1900s, horses were the original “mobile emissions” source of pollution, causing great consternation to anyone that happened to be in their wake at the wrong time. Yes, we have troughs that catch horse poo now, but still doesn’t perfectly mitigate the problem specific to horses.
And then there’s the issue of horses on surfaces: on dirt, their weight cause erosion. On pavement, they can injure their hooves, plus the sound of horseshoes at full gallop on asphalt must be deafening.
(I promise this isn’t a subtoot about automobile environmental impacts)
As an aside, in wilderness in America, where there is the most protection for the environment and anything mechanized (like bicycles) are prohibited, it is a bizarre historical exception that horse riding is permitted, in spite of the obvious degradation caused by trampling over everything. Wilderness is meant to be a nature-first place, but somehow it’s actually horseriders-first, then nature.
on dirt, their weight cause erosion. On pavement, they can injure their hooves
These problems would equally apply to the ‘electric horse’, would they not?
In the same way that torque/current-limited ebikes will cause less soil erosion in national parks – case in point, Tahoe National Forest in California now explicitly permits Class 1 ebikes on trails, once they had enough data to support that assertion – I would expect that an electric horse could also be tuned to limit its acceleration on tricky surfaces.
DasusUh, you could technically have this in an apartment building, depending on the type of storage / parking available. There’s gated parking places in some apartments nearby me and if this fit through the door, you could technically keep it in the bikeshed, I guess.
But a horse? Nah, a horse needs shelter from the weather, food, cleaning, medical attention. Also they’re brittle af. If a horse breaks its leg, it’s still more or less the only thing to do to put it down. Perhaps if you’re obscenely wealthy you could try and have all sorts physical therapy devices and just supports designed for them and have them held up each night while sleeping or something but I still don’t know whether it’s even possible.
Oh, yeah, apparently they can survive minor breaks with modern veterinary care, but above the knee or serious, like a compound fracture and the main go-to is still euthanasia.
Anyway yeah horses are expensive af and take a lot of caring. Whatever this thing costs the cost of use should be waaaay cheaper than a horse. And horses aren’t cheap to get either.
In theory, it could actually be surprisingly good at uneven terrain, and Kawasaki isn’t really a company known for fucking around, but on the other hand, they seem ridiculous.
Yeah, exactly.
Kawasaki isn’t really a company known for fucking around
Hybrid electric motorcycle. No one bought them.
Just because you don’t fuck around doesn’t mean success is guaranteed. Was it a terrible bike or just unpopular?
Just unpopular. Some dude bought one near me. I can’t say I get the reasoning.
I suppose the added cost of a hybrid motorcycle might put some off when motorcycles are already really fuel efficient in comparison to a car, maybe that’s why it wasn’t more popular?
WiddershinsI would imagine an electric bike would be too quiet. Don’t some people put loud pipes on a motorcycle to increase road presence in the name of safety?
Yeah, that’s true too. Even cars with electric usually have some sort of simulated sound to replace the motor noise (again for safety reasons).
That’s for other people’s safety, he’s talking about the safety of the driver themselves.
It is in fact about my safety not theirs. I could dent their wallet they can dent all of me.
A lot of people say that they do, but it’s just an old wives tale/excuse to have loud pipes. There’s no good data to back it up.
As a single data source, I’ve been riding electric bikes for 3-4 years now and have noticed no difference. Drivers did seem to get worse during/after COVID-19 and after the boom of texting and driving.
I drive a car that could be called a microcar. I’ve thought about putting a loud muffler on it to make it louder and more present on the road. I’m not really much of a car guy so it’s been a pipe dream for over a decade.
It’s just that the blind spots on most vans and trucks are the size of a garage I could comfortably park my car in. Factor in people being less attentive and the only blind spot I’m comfortable being in is right in front of everyone. I could tape my horn down and call it a day but I feel that would be too aggressive.
I drive an NA Miata, so I understand completely. People see me less in the Miata than on my motorcycle.
The Miata actually has loud pipes (that I didn’t want) and it does not seem to make a difference. People try to merge into me all the freaking time!
And poor police enforcement.
Motorcycles can’t be ridden distracted.
That’s what they tell you, but it’s just to make noise.
Electric bikes like Zero have actually lower collision rates than ICE bikes, and motorcyclist love to whine about cars, but 1/3 of crashes are all alone, 1/3 are their fault. The anti car bullshit is just tribalism.
There is definitely an element of Tribalism. But in my experience you have to maneuver to avoid cars coming into your space more often on a bike or motorcycle than you do in a car. Not that it is constant, but it’s a one or two times a week vs a couple times a month in a car. You’re just less visible since you’re so much smaller. Not that loud exhaust is a good fix, haha.
Motorcycles are not more fuel efficient than an efficient car. It all falls apart when a car can carry 4 people.
Thing is, the car is usually only carrying one or two people. Also, most cars aren’t efficient, especially in countries where most vehicles are ridiculously huge.
Both. Heavy, needlessly complex, trying to solve a problem no one had, expensive. They had an EV bike that also sold poorly.
This is more about compliance for Japanese grants than sales.
30 years from now, people will buy them for YouTube channels but Kawasaki had to clear these below cost.
So they did have a practical reason for doing it, it just wasn’t to make a great bike.
Sometimes life isn’t about efficiency.
Kawasaki is a huge zaibatsu, mostly driven by heavy industry sales. They tend to float some quirkly ideas no one buys, like the hybrid electric motorcycle.
but like, in theory this could actually be really good?
Yeah … in theory, this could be an electric ATV capable of handling extremely rough and difficult terrain that would stop any other vehicle.
When are they gonna make this electric?
The Walking Machine
it runs on hydrogen to generate electricity for propulsion
wat
No way that thing runs oj hydrogen, it would need a huge pair of balls to store the gas.
HanrahanGood that we already have a dealership called Electric Horses in my city :-)
They need to call this a Battle Cat instead of an electric horse.
hallettjI doubt I’d pick one up, but I’d watch videos of people falling off of them.
One electric horse power
Giddy-Up Buttercup?
I want to get two of them and have them haul my pompous ass around in a chariot.
Why not 4? or 6?
In this economy?
Hah, joke’s on them. I’ve got a regular horse. Very green (actually brown), runs on grass (both literally and figuratively).
Are you, by any chance, Professor Elemental?
