Chip Yates Will Unveil The SWIGZ.com Electric Superbike At The Battery Show

After some tough breaks in 2010, the SWIGZ.com Pro Racing team will unveil their Electric Superbike at The Battery Show in San Jose in October. Chip Yates and team will have prime real estate at the show with a centrally located 400 square foot booth. On display will be their state of the art battery torture rack known as the SWIGZ.com Pro Racing Electric Superbike. Chip will also be speaking at the conference along with many big names in the EV world including Gene Banman of Zero Motorcycles, J.B. Staubel of Tesla Motors and Paul Beach of Quallion just to name a few.

Many electric motorcycle race fans may think the unveiling of the SWIGZ.com bike is not a big deal. After all, the bike was at the first TTXGP race at Infineon this year. The thing is, at that point the SWIGZ bike had a stock GSXR front end which was not KERS equipped. As many, including myself speculated, the KERS must be collected by the front wheel as most braking on a motorcycle happens on the front end. No one outside Chip’s team and the patent attorney know what this energy collecting front wheel looks like and how it works. Everyone will find out at The Battery Show.

The KERS system is major part of why battery makers want the SWIGZ.com bike at their show. Batteries are currently the weak link in electric drive platforms and KERS (aka “regenerative braking”) can maximize an EV battery pack’s usable range by recharging it with energy created while braking. The problem is, many batteries are capable of high discharge rates but very few can charge at more than 3C. Rapidly discharging and then charging at high currents is even more difficult to achieve. Chip’s bike can generate 10 C of regen.

The other attraction to battery suiters is the data acquisition system in place to collect the high volume of data generated by all parts electronic components of the bike. As the SWIGZ bike drains energy out of the batteries and then slams it back in at cell torching rates the data acquisition system will keep track of what is happening for analysis. These things allow Chip to claim ownership of the “The World’s Most Technically Advanced Electric Superbike”

SWIGZ.com Pro Racing’s high profile spot at The Battery Show and all the media blasts that will come with it, will not only bring visibility to Yate’s team but will also bring more industry attention to electric motorcycle racing. Chip refused to compromise his performance goals and as a result will not make the TTXGP or e-Power grid this year. However, aiming high equipped his team with what might be the industry’s best real world test of battery performance in an EV application. His bike will put any battery technology on the “ragged edge” (as Chip calls it) of real-world battery use. If any battery company is looking to develop and test a battery that can handle EV applications SWIGZ.com appears to haves the ideal machine to put it through the wringer.

If you at the show stop by booth 2600 to see the bike and get your free SWIGZ water bottle.