Battery powered motorcycle achieves 1/4 mile record

Pomona (CA) - When TG Daily editor, Humphrey Cheung, captured some video of the inventor of the KillaCycle crashing at Wired NextFest, it raised a few eyebrows, and not just about safety concerns. The KillaCycle is an all electric motorcycle capable of amazing acceleration. 0-60 times are less than 1 second, but there’s a reason for this high performance. The battery technology inside the motorcycle is what gives its electric motor the real oomph.

The Killacycle previously used 165 lbs, or 990 cells, of A123 Systems nanophosphate lithium-ion batteries. The new battery system incorporates 1210 cells and now weighs 186 lbs. These tiny power sources are all chained together in an undisclosed sequence of parallel and series links, resulting in an unknown voltage. They were able to provide the motorcycle with enough power to set a quarter-mile world record for any batter-powered vehicle. The sub-8 second runs were completed at a recent drag racing event sponsored by Harley-Davidson. When everything was fully charged, the equivalent energy of a 500 hp gasoline engine surged through the electric bike (more than most high-end V8 engines), accelerating it to 168 mph in just 1,320 feet. The previous battery solution gave it 350 hp. The bike also has a new 27 inch tire and new gearing.

According to a press release by KillaCycle, "The spectators didn’t clap or cheer [when the run was completed], but, simultaneously, let out a revenant, hushed, low-pitched ’whooooa’ when the board lit up. They too were completely awed and nonplussed by the historic event that we all had just witnessed."

The team completed two runs to make it official. The second run was a little slower, at 7.991 seconds. However, the KillaCycle has now been officially declared the fastest battery-powered vehicle on the planet, at least in the quarter mile. A video of the fastest run can be seen on YouTube.