Yardney silver-zinc pack, two A-4 fighter jet starter motors
http://insideevs.com/almost-40-years-ago-quicksilver-set-electric-motorcycle-land-speed-record-at-165-397-mph/ Almost 40 Years Ago, Quicksilver Set Electric Motorcycle Land Speed Record at 165.397 mph [2014/01/04] by Mark Kane The Electric Chronicles [image http://insideevs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/1.jpg Quicksilver, Electric Land Speed Record Motorcycle ] Electric vehicle history is a long story and even now we discovering new chapters and milestones. One of such milestone was set in August 1974 when Mike Corbin (an inventor and founder of Corbin, the top motorcycle seat manufacturer in the world) set the Electric Motorcycle Land Speed Record at Bonneville with “Quicksilver”. Speed of 165.397 mph in 1974 on an electric motorcycle? Yes. It was possible when Corbin swapped the old lead-acid pack for a new one – silver-zinc batteries made by Yardney. The name Quicksilver is derived from silver. Such batteries had storage of about 130 Wh/kg and were the best prior to lithium-ion technology, but sadly were either primary cells without recharging capability or secondary cells with very low cycle numbers (around 200). Yardney for several decades supplied silver-zinc batteries to space missions like the latest for Curiosity on Mars. Quicksilver had a unique drivetrain that combined two starter motors from an A-4 fighter plane. And today, nearly 40-years later, the land speed records for motorcycles already well exceed 200 mph. Hopefully, one more big step in battery technology will finish ICE domination in much less than 40 years. [© 2014 Inside EVs] http://evmc2.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/the-electric-garage-the-corbin-quicksilver/ The Electric Garage: The Corbin “Quicksilver” November 23, 2013 by Ted Dillard [images http://evmc2.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/screen-shot-2013-11-23-at-3-36-17-pm.png http://evmc2.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/screen-shot-2013-11-22-at-5-58-11-am.png http://evmc2.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/screen-shot-2013-11-23-at-3-37-06-pm.png http://evmc2.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/1234980_10202202512203768_293180826_n.jpg ] In 1974 Mike Corbin set the Electric Motorcycle Land Speed Record at Bonneville with “Quicksilver”- a bike that, in 1972 set the previous Land Speed Record running lead/acid batteries. The 1974 record of 165.397MPH stood for over 30 years. There aren’t many photos, but here’s what I’ve got: The bike was running silver-zinc batteries (thus the name). Now, you may have never heard of silver-zinc chemistry, or you may think it’s a long-lost ancestor of the current lithium battery we all run today. Well, you’d be wrong. Silver-zinc is a well known chemistry, it’s still in use, and to find the poster child for sliver-zinc chemistry you’d have to go to outer space. Mars, to be precise. Yeah, we’re talking the batteries in the Mars “Curiosity” Rover, and yes, Yardney is still around. Take a look at their website, here. Yardney is into lithium chemistry too, but look at these numbers for silver-zinc, here, on their datasheet. Here’s what jumps out: Wh/lb ratings of anywhere from 43 to 69. For reference, an average LiFePO4 prismatic cell is around 30-35 Wh/lb. Back in ’74, they represented a 8x “more available power” advantage over lead. Here are the specs I could get: Silver Zinc Batts by Yardney System Voltage: 120 v , 1200 amps Charged with industrial off board charger Motors, starter motors from A-4 fighter plane, bought military surplus. Intermittent duty, Series wound DC , silver conductors LOA: 9’6? Weight: 772lbs (935 lbs with rider) Oh, the controller? How about this: Three stage magnetic contractors , with a spring loaded giant knife switch for shut off. A 250A fuse in parallel bought time for knife to clear without arc. The magnetics could not survive the opening arc ... The bike was the first electric vehicle raced with battery technology beyond simple lead/acid. For a pretty complete picture of what Corbin was doing in the mid-seventies, see my post here. It talks a bit about the batteries there too. I also did a post on the Corbin motorcycles here, after seeing one of the bikes at the Springfield Museums. A pretty complete history of Mike and his work with electric vehicles, starting with an electric minibike can be found here- Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow. You can see the bike, today, in person, at the Small Wonders Microcar Museum, in in Crystal Lake, IL. …and yeah. I’m a bit of a Corbin groupie. [© The Electric Chronicles] ... http://www.yardney.com/Yardney/yardney.html Yardney - Silver Zinc Batteries http://www.yardney.com/Yardney/documents/szncells.pdf ... http://evmc2.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/the-corbin-yardney-electric-motorcycle-and-mt-washington/ Corbin-Yardney motorcycle ... http://evmc2.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/the-corbin-electric-motorcycle/ Corbin e-motorcycles ... http://www.mgmojo.com/corbinmotors/chapter1.html Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow ... http://www.examiner.com/article/mike-corbin-to-call-it-quits-building-saddles Mike Corbin to call it quits building saddles July 16, 2009 Mike Corbin was also involved in creation of the Corbin Sparrow, a three-wheeled single-passenger electric car. That venture ran into financial difficulties and was taken over by Myers Motors ... ... http://www.myersmotors.com/ ... http://brucedp00.150m.com/corbin00/ Corbin Motors Factory Tour 2000 For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVSE: Clever's ABB L3 EVSE for Quick Danish EVgrins + EVLN: 'When asked to do a conversion, I tell people to go buy a Leaf' {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-1974-Mike-Corbin-on-Quicksilver-set-e-motorcycle-record-165-mph-tp4667144.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
