Lightning Motorcycles prepares production run of 240 hp, 218 mph electric bike

[protomech]

The couple hundred thousand people at last month's Laguna Seca Moto GP might also recognize it as placing 1st at the combined FIM ePower / NA TTXGP electric race.

http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/2012-lightning-motorcycles-exclusive-first-ride-video-91402.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nztLjEs_2Kw

12 kWh pack, Lightning claims ~100 miles @ 70 mph. 38 miles if you're racing at the IOM. ~2 hour charge at a 30A J1772 charger, or about 50 freeway miles per hour. 22 kWh pack available, nearly doubling range.. though probably at a hefty weight penalty.

$38k for a small production run, 240 hp street-legal bike with a warranty. All the nice race bits you would expect. Really expensive ($38k for a street bike?!) or really cheap ($38k for a dominant turnkey racebike), depending on your perspective.

[X1Glider]

38 miles isn't even a full MotoGP race.

[Dan K]

Watch the video imbedded in the article.  Wow.  And they are doubling the battery pack? That's really impressive.

 -Dan

[protomech]

38 miles isn't even a full MotoGP race.

No, but it's not far off. MotoGP at Laguna Seca was 32 laps or 71 miles. During MotoGP weekend TTXGP ran as well, though it was limited to 9 laps and 1 lap each warmup, cooldown (24.6 miles). Lightning uses a power chemistry for short races, which has less total energy but can extract it more quickly.

Anyone who is interested in a $38k bike to use on the track - which is probably a pretty small market - will probably upgrade to an offboard charger. Manzanita Micro sells an 18kW PFC-75 charger which can bring the bike from empty to full in around 40 minutes. 30 minutes of riding, 40 minutes of charging and performance analysis, then back on the bike..

The Lightning bike isn't ready for endurance track races or Iron Butt touring, but for everyday riding and shorter highway trips it should do just fine. 12 kWh should be good for about 100 freeway miles, 22 kWh should be good for ~180 freeway miles. Mixed riding at lower speeds should be around to 150 and 250 miles respectively.

Certainly the bike is not everything to everyone .. but it represents a highwater mark in production (if low-production) electric range and performance.