I've gotten a couple opportunities to talk with Todd @ Electric Motorsport and take a real close look at the GPR-S. The longer opportunity was at the Solfest a couple weeks ago at the Solar Living Institute. They had a booth at Solfest and I hung out for hours with them talking about everything including a real close look at the GPR-S. They were also at the Stanford EV Rally today but I was so busy I didn't talk with them much.
The GPR-S is really really really nice looking. Very sharp, and appears to be very well put together.
He told me they are working with a factory in Thailand which had formerly built Kawasaki motorcycles. In other words, a professional quality motorcycle factory. They worked on a custom frame design that's specifically geared to hold thundersky cells. They can currently get enough for a 60v pack, and I think they are 60ah cells but not sure. He said something about a possible tweak that could get them to a 72v pack but I suppose that can't be a guarantee of course.
As it says on their web site the motor mount uses a standard bolt pattern and there are several motors you can mount on the bike. The brushless ETEK, SepEx, an AC motor, etc. I think the standard is the brushless ETEK. And they have access to a variety of controllers. I wasn't able to get a clear story whether the bike will be delivered with the standard motor and controller, or whether you specify which motor/controller you want when you order the bike. I'm pondering buying one myself and Todd said they'd build it for me however I want.
The bike looks real small and skinny, and they said the total weight is 285 pounds. Gosh, the battery pack on my Lectra weighs almost that much (200 lbs).
They have optional trunks and saddlebags available.
There's a computerized dashboard tho I think it doesn't have functions equivalent to paktrakr or cycle analyst. If you want a cycle analyst electric motorsport does stock them and I'd think you could talk them into building a CA onto the GPR-S.
They've geared it at 65 miles/hr top speed .. quoted range is 30 miles at 65, or more like 60 miles at some lower speed.
The story with BMS and/or charger. He talked about two options and perhaps both are sold with the bike. One is they have this BMS unit which is a largeish box, made in China, has a large multipin connector you plug into the bike. The other is a "fast charger". What Todd suggested is the fast charger can be carried on the bike, and they'd configure it to give a 90% charge .. that is, so that the fast charger is not going to overcharge the pack. Obviously the fast charger doesn't have BMS capabilities, and if it's configured so it doesn't put the voltage above the high volt threshold then the pack (knock on wood) won't get overcharged cells.
The BMS unit is large enough to make it inappropriate to carry on the bike. The tendency will be to leave the BMS at home. If the fast charger is small it can easily be carried on the bike for opportunity charging around town.
Just some updated info... there are some people (including myself) in the GPR-S forum on ElMoto.net who are all awaiting our new bikes and sharing any updated information we get.
As per their website, they are using Hi-Power batteries, not Thunderskys. Their reps have indicated to some people that they are 50Ah batteries. They were planning to sell a 72V production model, but their initial prototype was top-heavy and had balance issues, so they re-designed and wound up with a 60V system. One of the ElMoto forum members indicated that he had visited EMS for a test ride less than a week ago and it appeared that they found a place to put more batteries in, so the production bike would be a 72V system.
The standard motor offered on the GPR-S is the Etek-RT motor, presumably mated with the Alltrax AXE 7234 controller (EMS offers this set for sale elsewhere on their Web site). They do seem to be willing to accommodate customer requests to use a different motor-controller set-- all the future GPR-S owners on ElMoto have upgraded to the SepEx/Sevcon Powerpak package for some extra money. I imagine that they would be willing to customize to some extent, but it would probably involve extra charges beyond the base price.
By 'Hi-Power Battery' I suppose you may mean Shandong Hipower New Energy Group ... They're what turned up with a big of yahoogling. I had peaked a little under the covers and saw those large block cells and made an assumption they're thundersky. Come to think of it thundersky batteries IIRC come with a button on the case with the thundersky logo, and theirs didn't have that logo.
I'd asked Todd if the bikes could be set up with other systems if the customer wanted. He said yeah, but I didn't press to find out if there's an extra charge. The first set of 100 frames are due to arrive in the country any day now and there was some reason they gave that the first shipment was frames and not complete bikes. However I think the future shipments will be complete bikes so in that case it may be as you say, that it's going to be shipped with a given configuration and changing the configuration means removing the standard motor and controller to install other things.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
Just took a look on ElMoto and there are a couple confused pictures on the most related thread but that's partly because Electric Motor Sport has shown a couple different bikes as the GPR-S. That first picture is their display model from last Spring. I saw it at a different event in April. Then in the middle of the page is the older GPR which they based on a Derbi frame. The current GPR-S is the picture farther down that has a fairing all the way down.
- David Herron, The Long Tail Pipe, davidherron.com, 7gen.com, What is Reiki
You're correct on the battery manufacturer, at least as far as I know. Note that EMS advertises "Hi-Power Lithium batteries" for the GPR-S on their Website.
The first four chassis were air freighted and arrived a while back. They got their first major shipment via boat a little less than two weeks ago and it cleared customs early last week. It has 30 frames in it, and they have been doing inspections and sorting things out. Most of the folks waiting for GPR-S'es on ElMoto have been told that their bike will be one of these 30.
We have been charged extra for the SepEx system since it is a more expensive motor/controller set than the standard Etek-RT motor. The option was $500 extra. Not sure if that may change in the future, especially if the bike will be completely assembled in Thailand as you mention... obviously labor costs would be higher (due to disassembly/reassembly work).
The pictures you mention were posted before EMS posted updated pictures on their Web site, prior to that time they had mainly computer generated pictures and prototype pictures so nobody really knew exactly what the actual bike was going to look like. The EMS website currently has pictures of bikes that should at least be very close to the actual bike-- some of them are prototypes, but I believe that some may be of the first four production bikes. Either way, I believe that EMS will most likely update their Website once they finish off the next 30 bikes so they have pictures of the different color schemes.