A journey of 500 miles on a motorcycle is impressive and record breaking. The current record for distance traveled on a motorcycle on a single tank of gas is around 320 miles.
Richard Hatfield is going to challenge two records at the same time, and he has a good chance at succeeding.
He got his hands on an EV back in 1995 when he helped build an electric Porsche race car. In those early days Richard knew that electric vehicles were the future, and he needed to be a part of it.
Today Mr. Hatfield is the head of Lightning Motorcycles in Silicon Valley. With this position he is right in the middle of what could be a revolutionary ride.
The ride between San Francisco and Los Angles is right around 500 miles, and Lightening Motorcycles is going to try to do that haul on a single battery charge.
Not only will it be the longest electric motorcycle ride ever, it will also smash out Tesla’s current record.
Right now a Tesla can go 315 miles on a charge, and this ride will beat that by more than a few miles.
Mr. Hatfield has a little bit of help on his side; Lightning Motorcycles is working with The Battery Innovation Center.
When someone needs to get cutting edge battery technology developed, they turn the the Indiana based Battery Innovation Center.
This non-profit has ties to the biggest players in the international electronics community, and they bring a working class, can-do attitude to the world of next-generation power storage technology.
Japanese mega-corporation NHK is one of their backers, so you know they mean business.
There are some other interested parties involved in the development of the motorcycle that will attempt this feat, but they are keeping their identities on the down-low for now.
One thing is for sure, it will only be a matter of time before someone challenges Tesla for their record.
A little competition never hurt anyone.
[via forbes]
