BKE 400 PARALLEL HYBRID (Extended Electric Vehicle)  

It is simple an electric two-wheeled vehicle, powered through an hybrid parallel system, there isn’t any mechanical part, transmission, gears or whatever, it is just equipped with an engine-generator and a battery pack, either feed alternately the two electric motors positioned one in the front wheel and in the other in the rear one ensuring the full traction of the vehicle on both wheels.

POWER SYSTEM: A PARALLEL HYBRID TYPE

The charging of the batteries can take place both while the vehicle is running, through the motor generator, when batteries have exhausted the available energy, or normally through a home connector allowing the vehicle to have an extended autonomy beyond the battery-pack endurance.

The motor-generator 400 cc turbo-powered by alcohol or bio-fuel will start automatically once the batteries are exhausted providing the electric power for both, traction as well charging the battery-pack. This allows an optimal use of the energy produced by the engine which has a reduced displacement since normally a conventional mechanical transmission absorb about 30 percent of the energy produced by the motor. Parallel hybrid instead are transmission-less, and both the weight and also the space of this useless organ is here to the advantage of the battery-pack, making the vehicle less complex and pretty much convenient in term of efficiency.
Thermal energy produced by the motor-generator can be transformed in electric power simultaneously to recharge the batteries of the car, allowing considerable energy recovery properly stored in the battery-pack as well allowing pilot to extend its range of action without endurance limits.
 
Driving/Vehicle's Attitude

It 'easy to drive! Its architecture remind of a two-seat military aircraft, since both the aerodynamic shape as well its behavior on the road are very close to that of a stunt plane. That's why I preferred to use an aircraft driving-wheel type that reminds one of those aboard an aircraft, circular instrumentation rather than a classic rectangular display give the whole machine a vintage-like style.
During the conduct in fact the BKE leans considerably in turns just like an aircraft, it is also capable of considerable accelerations thanks to both wheel drive electric motors and all that allows a very exiting driving experience.
The instrumentation includes a speedometer, an indicator of state of the battery-pack charge, an indicator that measures the absorbed power in real time, and finally some basic information about the motor-generator. Furthermore, the vehicle is equipped with an inclinometer which besides indicate the bank angle, a safety system reduce the speed of the vehicle if it is tilting near the limit of side inclination.
The bike is equipped with a proportional gyroscopic stabilization system, arranged below the center of gravity of the machine, slightly backward. The rotors of the device revolve at different speeds according with the speed of the motorcycle. In other words the action of gyroscopes is inversely proportional to the speed on the road of the machine, they in fact reach the maximum speed of rotation when the vehicle is stopped keeping it straigh-up, decreasing proportionally once the speed increase. At medium-high speed gyroscope’s rotors are turned off because they no longer have an active role in balancing the vehicle, this also allow a reduced power consumption required to drive both electric motors.
 
Design 

The idea of style that accompanies this vehicle meets two planets very distant from each other, something that oscillates constantly between the classical and the modern way a bike should be.
The great-fifties exploded with beautiful bikes like the Indian, the Harley etc, that inspired my imagination combined with the beautiful exiting aerodynamics shape of a military plane; all that mixed in a single design concept
The whole project was basically looking at the future and thus the shape of the 'fuselage' is extremely wind-stream, but as well match with the line of the wheel guards, which wrap the tire recalling precisely those of an Indian or a Harley. A unique door allows access to the passenger vane, the environment is comfortable and is provided of two pneumatic seats making then lighten than conventional ones.
The machine is built on a frame that supports the engine-generator; the battery-pack and a lightweight plastic body that is directly bolted to the main frame, therefore the Bike-car is quite light and easy even for a complex maintenance, finally the control systems and actuators are both servo-electric.
CONCLUSIONS

The hybrid-serial formula is the temporary solution to which I’m working to, for years through many projects even more important mainly dedicated to aircraft, however a considerable number of my design production having this style have been also conceived in the past years also for cars and two wheels vehicle as this case for the BKE 400.
Since 2005, most of my the projects move between the parallel hybrid and full-electric technology, one of the last addressed to a special type of aircraft as well with my last fuel-cell car: The MagDue.

Future is already around the corner but for some unreasonable “reasons” is somewhere restricted by both commercial as well internationsl oil markets interests. I believe that the jumping piston engine is quite long obsolete and outdated, after all is like to drive a car having a steam engine in the cowling.
The electric motor is the best way to move, it’s clean and quiet, simple in its architecture and has a very high efficiency. However accumulators and batteries available at the moment are not yet capable to ensure a very extended autonomy comparable to that of traditional combustion systems. So until the final changeover to full-electric traction the best way to go through it, should be at moment addressing my attention also to a sort of technological compromise, that keeps together the two formulas in the best possible way.
The parallel hybrid system allows this opportunity, because the electric traction is the main drive of the machine, while the combustion engine acts as a generator for to power the electric motors as well to recharge the batteries on board. Such a machine does not require a transmission or any addictional mechanical parts, all that is replaced by electric wires and digital control systems, rather that gear boxes, shafts and levers, which makes the combination much more efficient and affordable, whatever it is a Car or an Aircraft, opening both technological and economic interesting perspectives, electric propulsion will be the main force of future trasportation system.