Torture tests say battery power's hardly nerdy
Bill Dubé gets giddy when he talks about batteries and speed.
After all, his 500-horsepower Killacycle electric motorcycle goes from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under a second. He claims it is the fastest electric vehicle on the planet. In October, the Killacycle traveled a quarter mile in 7.89 seconds, topping out at 174 mph, a record.
Dubé, 56, an engineer and Rhode Island native whose day job is designing air chemistry instruments at the University of Colorado, is the bike's designer, owner, and builder. He is out to prove that electric vehicles do not have to be "nerd-mobiles."
"My main motivation is to prove to the public and manufacturers that electric vehicles can be something you enjoy driving. You have to make them marketable," he said.
Indeed, he does it purely to prove the broad appeal of electric vehicles, and certainly not for money. "The best way to make a small fortune in racing is to begin with a large fortune," he says, quoting NASCAR legend Junior Johnson.
At the heart of electric vehicles like the Killacycle are the batteries. A123 Systems Inc., based in Watertown, sponsors the Killacycle and provides its battery, but a spokesman said the company is in a "quiet period" prior to its planned initial public stock offering and could not comment.
Dubé read about A123's lithium-ion battery technology in 2003 and decided to approach company officials. He thought drag racing was a great way to torture-test the company's innovative battery cells. "I told them I'll take the battery cells out to the drag strip and set a world record," he said.
Electric-vehicle racing hit the start line about 15 years ago, when pioneers like Dubé began building the machines.
"Bill is quite amazing and does pretty good promoting electric-vehicle racing in general," said Mike Willmon, president of the National Electric Drag Racing Association, based in Santa Rosa, Calif. The mission of the group, whose membership stands at 100, is to increase public awareness about the performance side of electric vehicles.
Fueled by the greenest of intentions, Dubé is among the growing ranks of electric-vehicle racers who fund their weekend hobby out of their own pockets. He estimates he puts $20,000 a year into the Killacycle, a mere fraction of the million dollars typical motorcycle drag racers shell out each year.
"Those racers will go through an engine every weekend of racing," he said. "The reason we do it on the cheap is the technology is so much better" now - thanks to improved batteries.
"Imagine if you woke up in the middle of the night and aliens had given you this magic power source," Dubé said.
A123 gave him 880 battery cells that he cobbled together into a 200-pound battery pack for the Killacycle. The pack powers two electric motors that each produce 400 foot-pounds of torque, hurling the Killacycle's operator forward at an incredible 2.89 Gs, almost three times the speed of free fall.
To explain A123's technology, he uses a Slurpee analogy.
"The energy is the juice in the cup," he said. "Power is how quickly you can get it out of there through the straw. A123 has this huge straw to get the power out and back in again quickly. And you don't have to suck hard on the straw, meaning you don't lose energy in the transfer."
A123 needs believers like Dubé. In January, the company lost a bid to provide battery cells for the Chevrolet Volt, the widely publicized hybrid vehicle due late next year from General Motors Corp. The contract was awarded to a Korean company, LG Chem Ltd.
What's next for Dubé and the Killacycle? First, he wants to get the Killacycle to move at more than 200 miles per hour. And with two partners, he's working on an enclosed motorcycle that promises to set a land speed record of more than 300 miles per hour. 