Mission Accomplished: Electric Motorcycle Hits 150 mph
Mission Motors has always said its electric superbike would do 150 mph and it appears to have fulfilled that promise with a record-setting run at the Bonneville salt flats.
Company product manager and test rider Jeremy Cleland set an unofficial record for electric motorcycles when he averaged 150.059 mph during back-to-back runs of one mile each at Bonneville Speedway west of Salt Lake City. The runs, which followed an earlier dash at a claimed 161 mph, came during the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials sponsored by the American Motorcyclist Association. The AMA hasn’t ratified Cleland’s speed yet, but Mission says it’s legit.
“We set this record on our first visit to the Bonneville salt flats on poor salt conditions and in high crosswinds,” said Edward West, a founder and president of the San Francisco startup. “And to set it with our production prototype vehicle, not a custom Bonneville bike, is truly amazing. It’s a watershed moment for electric vehicles and further proof that the era of the electric superbike has begun.”
Cleland’s success on the salt followed Mission’s third-place fourth-place finish at the TTxGP motorcycle green grand prix on the Isle of Man. In both cases Mission ran a prototype of the $69,000 electric superbike it will begin selling late next year before producing, by 2012, something the rest of us can afford.
“It’s the same production prototype we...
Full story at:
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/09/mission-one-bonneville/
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