24 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDERNEWS
E
lectric motorcycles are hindered by the
size and weight of conventional ba eries,
but the answer could be in lightweight
supercapacitors built into the bodywork.
The Queensland University of
Technology nanotechnology scientists
are working on supercapacitors which
they believe could one day replace
ba eries in electric vehicles. Research
leader, professor Munzio Mo a, says
supercapacitors can deliver more energy
in bursts, which would be great for
acceleration.
Supercapacitors are a thin, light and
strong fi lm made of two all-carbon
electrodes sandwiched around an
electrolyte. They could easily be placed
within the bodywork of a sportsbike. A
drawback is that they don’t store a lot ofcharge so you need a lot of them. Munzio
says that at the moment they would be
more practical in cars with large panels
and surface area.
“But we are making rapid advances
all the time and they are feasible for
use in electric motorcycles,” he says.
“I’ve just received an email of a paper
in which they claim they found a new
way of holding the charge. It’s all a work
in progress.” Another advantage of
supercapacitors over ba eries is that theycharge more quickly.
Perhaps the answer is a combination
of ba ery and supercapacitors to give
electric motorcycles more range and
faster charging. These have been the two
biggest hurdles for the introduction of
electric vehicles.
Postdoctoral research fellow
Dr Jinzhang Liu says they hope
supercapacitors will one day store more
energy than a lithium-ion ba ery while
retaining the ability to release its energy
up to 10 times faster. He says he can
see the day when they provide electric
vehicles with the same range as petrol-
powered vehicles.
The team’s results are published
in the Journal of Power Sources and
Nanotechnology.H
ow would you like to visit the land
of cigars, salsa music, communism
and old vehicles while indulging in the
spirit of the 2004 movie The Motorcycle
Diaries? Now you can with the youngest
son of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.
The movie traced the Latin American
journey on a Norton motorcycle by
Guevara when he was a young medical
student. However, Ernesto Guevara’s La
Poderosa Tour is slightly diff erent. It isn’tin Latin America, but in Cuba, and while
La Poderosa refers to Che’s nickname for
the Norton 500 he rode, customers will
ride new imperialist Harley-Davidson
Street Glides and Wide Glides.
Ernesto says he is honouring the
memory of his Marxist guerrilla father,
although the capitalist in the 49-year-old
lawyer charges $US3000 per person for a
six-day tour and up to $5800 for a nine-
day trip.The historic journey is designed to
give riders an insight into the 1950s
Marxist revolution led by Guevara and
Fidel Castro. Even one of the guides
has a revolutionary connection. Camilo
Sanchez is the son of Cuban guerrilla
Antonio Sanchez Diaz, who was killed
during a 1967 ba le.
The tour includes a visit to Che’s
mausoleum, his base in colonial Havana
and Santa Clara, which was the site of
a key 1958 ba le. However, riders won’t
be roughing it like revolutionaries. They
will be staying in fi ve-star luxury hotels.
Cuba is one of the few remaining
communist countries, perched on the
edge of the world’s greatest capitalist
country, just 150km from the Florida
coast. In the 1950s, the Mafi a in the US
took over de facto control of the then
Batista government, whose corruption
paved the way for the successful
revolution.
Cuba today is a poor country and
does not have a huge motorcycling
population. Most people take public
transport, taxis or own well-preserved
1940s and ‘50s American vehicles. Riders
can expect reasonable roads in the cities,
but massive potholes on country roads.
Also, most roads (even multi-lane
highways) don’t have white lines to
indicate the lanes. However, all motorists
drive and ride slowly, so the system
seems to work.MOTORCYCLE DIARIES CUBA TOURS
“You can explore Cuba with the youngest son of Cuban
revolutionary Che Guevara”ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLES WITH NO BATTERIES?
“We are making rapid
advances all the time and
they are feasible for use in
electric motorcycles”■ A beautiful sunset in Cuba –
picture yourself there!ARR112_010-026_News.indd 24ARR112_010-026_News.indd 24 2/3/2015 9:48:10 AM2/3/2015 9:48:10 AM