Siemens and Orange County Choppers team up to build a chopper that not only promotes the electric vehicle market, but also adds an electrifying flare.

Demands for energy efficiency and sustainability are creating a shift in the global market from fuel operated vehicles to all-electric. Various concepts have been released for the transportation industry, from commercial cars to sport bikes, as well as different ideas on how to incorporate the electric shift to the current infrastructure of the grid.

Orange Country Choppers (OCC) has partnered with Siemens – a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy, and healthcare sectors – to build an all-electric, battery-operated chopper.

OCC has never built an all-electric chopper before, and they were pretty psyched about the challenge when Siemens came to them requesting a green bike that would showcase the company's mission. According to Duane Decker, tour manager for Smart Chopper, Siemens had the all-electric motorcycle built to make people aware of green technology and a sustainable planet.

Jim Quinn, lead engineer, OCC agrees, "We love the challenge of taking these new technologies and incorporating them into what we do best, and that's custom motorcycles. This challenge also opens the public's eyes to the new technologies that are out there, and demonstrates how these new technologies are viable and doable."

Quinn explains how he has always been personally intrigued by the electric bike, and incorporated two years worth of plans into the Siemens Smart Chopper.

Sporting its classic teal and white, the chopper incorporates components that represent each of Siemens' industries. "OCC's focus on innovation in the area of custom chopper design and Siemens' focus on innovations for industry and energy was a perfect match," says John Meyer, manager of marketing communications, Siemens Industry. "Siemens was interested in developing an all-electric chopper to highlight its focus on the growing green energy market."

A Sustainable Build

During the build, Siemens asked OCC to build the bike out of as much recyclable material as possible and to utilize environmentally-friendly construction methods. "The paint used is water-based rather than traditional oil-based paints," says Jon Cruthers, manager of business development, Siemens Industry, Inc. "Polished stainless steel [was] also used rather than chrome, as the process to chrome parts uses chemicals that damage the environment."

Another interesting challenge for OCC was integrating the many technologies in Siemens' arsenal that they wanted to show off. "They wanted to show off their wind power; their clean-gas turbine power technologies; their machine tool technologies; their electronics, and their medical groups," says Quinn. "They wanted all of that to be visible on the bike in some way so anybody from any branch of Siemens could look at the bike and say, 'Hey, that part represents us.'"

The chopper incorporates battery power generated from an electric motor that eliminates exhaust emissions and noise pollution, demonstrating how easy it is to "apply clean energy solutions in place of traditional ones without the loss of performance," says Meyer.  

The battery power, while efficient, produced a big obstacle for OCC during the build. "Wiring six car batteries, a charger, and a DC-DC converter to the electric motor was probably the biggest challenge," shares Decker.

A Charged Design

OCC had an initial meeting with Siemens to get a general idea of what they wanted the bike to look like. Quinn explains how Siemens had direct input on specific logos for recycling technologies and the theme colors for the bike, but OCC's designer, Jason Pohl, incorporated most of his thoughts and ideas into the final design.

Most of the components on the bike were standard materials that OCC was accustomed to, but the power delivery and drive train was new technology for the company. "The 72 volt battery system; an electric controller that doled out the battery power to the drive motor that spun the rear wheel; the DC electric motor that drove the bike; it was all new to us," says Quinn.

According to Quinn, the suppliers of each outside technology gave great technical support. Each supplier demonstrated to OCC how to integrate and use each outside component so it worked smoothly within the bike's system.

Electric Motor

OCC had two types of motors to choose from: an AC electric motor system and a DC motor system. "Because this was our first electric bike project, we chose the DC system, which is a much simpler schematic, and a much simpler design plan than the AC system," explains Quinn. "We figured that was going to be the best technology for us on this particular project."

Low & Center

To compensate for the added weight of the electric batteries and electric motor, OCC tried to keep all the extra weight centered and low. "The bike weighed between 150 and 200 pounds more than a standard chopper, so the final design of the bike ended up very long and low," says Quinn. "The long, low design allowed us to more evenly distribute the added weight of the batteries."

Quinn also explains how the wide, 300 mm rear tire helps offset the width of the motor, which is about 12 inches wide with a dual spindle. "If we would have taken that motor configuration and put that on a bike with a standard, Harley [Davidson] 130 mm rear wheel, it would have looked very disproportionate. A heavy rear wheel helps to offset the size and width of the drive train (the batteries and electric motor)."

Technical Specifications

The Siemens chopper also includes LED lighting and an on-board charger that can be plugged into any 110-volt outlet, with a recharge time of five hours (one to two hours with a charging station). The range of the bike depends on how fast the motorist is traveling. "The sweet spot for the bike is between 55 to 65 mph, and that is with the motor turning at 3,000 rpm," says Quinn. "The fastest we got it up to was about 85 mph with some controller modifications."

Quinn also points out how the charging range depends on the type of charger being used. With an industrial charger at 220 V, it can be charged in about an hour. With a regular household outlet, charging time would take up to five hours from dead conditions.  

Viable Vehicle Alternatives

This particular project is a clear representation of how "continued development of clean energy solutions can help reduce the size and cost while increasing the range of battery-powered transportation, [while maintaining] speed, torque, and acceleration." says Meyer.

"Every time we incorporate one of these new technologies, it not only opens our eyes, but the public's eyes to the fact that these new technologies are viable vehicle alternatives to traditional gas motors," adds Quinn.