The Isle of Man TT Zero Electric Motorcycle Race
In 2011, myself along with a team of four other MIT students took on an independent project to transform a BMW Superbike into an electric race motorcycle
BMW donated the motorcycle for the project and we also designed a custom battery pack which was donated to us by A123
I helped choose the electric motors for the race bike and designed and programmed the rider interface that communicated with and controlled the various onboard systems. This custom interface gave the rider the complete status of the bike and allowed them to change settings even during the race.
We spent nearly one year designing the bike, building and integrating the systems, and testing every detail to make sure that our rider would be safe during the race
We used carbon brushed DC motors made my Agni motors which had the best power density available
Our electric motorcycle was able to travel over 100 mph. We finished in 4th place and had the best time of any first-time competitor in the history of the electric race.
See the story here