Posted on 07/31/2015 2:08:25 PM PDT by Red Badger
(Photo: Victory Motorcycles, website)
A Minnesota company appears to have beaten Harley-Davidson to the punch by unveiling its first electric street motorcycle.
Medina-based Polaris Industries, makers of Indian and Victory motorcycles, has this week revealed its “Empulse TT” high-performance sport bike, which runs without gas and has a top speed of 110mph.
The Pioneer Press reports that with the Empulse appearing in Victory dealerships by the end of the year, Polaris has secured a key advantage over competitors Harley, whose Project LiveWire motorcycle won’t be brought to market until battery technology has improved enough to allow for longer driving distances.
“We wanted to get in early, and so we are,” Victory Motorcycles product director Gary Gray told the newspaper. “At Polaris, we are pretty proud of our speed to market. We think it gives us a big competitive advantage.”
You can take a closer look at the Empulse TT here.
According to the Business Journal, the bike has a range of around 65 miles for “typical” riding, but those easier on the throttle might be able to get more than 100 miles out of a single charge.
The key to Polaris’s success getting the bike to market so early, Bloomberg reports, was its purchase in January of electric vehicle company Brammo, which provided the battery-powered technology that could be incorporated by Polaris’ Victory designers.
“Brammo is very, very good at electric technology and we are very, very good at motorcycle engineering, so there was a good marriage there,” Polaris VP of motorcycles Steve Menneto told Bloomberg, which says that the full recharging of the Empulse battery will take four hours on a 240-volt outlet, or nine hours on a standard 120-volt plug.
The bike will have a suggested retail price of $19,999, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Polaris isn’t resting on its laurels either, as it says it will continue to improve its products in tandem with Oregon-based Brammo.
“The day is coming when you’ll be able to ride 300 miles [on a single battery charge],” energy consultant Mike Cornwell told the Journal Sentinel.
VIDEO AT LINK........................
2016 Victory Empulse..................
Motorcycle ping!.......................
It might be fun to ride, but I would definitely miss my the sound of my Vance & Hines True Dual exhaust.
65 to 100 miles per charge and only 20 grand. They’ll be flying off the shelves! </ sarc>
Couple years ago at the MotoGP race at Indianapolis, there were a couple of electric motorcycle races as prelims.
It was unique because of lack of noise. They were pretty fast.
I haven’t seen them since, not sure if the series is still going or not.
will get you two miles really fast!
you can coast from there...
Oh Yes! I want to sneak up on cars so they can run me over! M/C need to be heard first so they can be seen. Not to sure I want a silent M/C.
Loud pipes save lives...
Bicycles are silent....................
Pop three wheelies.. Rejuice time.. Bummer. Maybe they can make it solar.. Or better yet. wind power.
Don’t forget that to achieve 65 miles per charge you gotta keep it below 25mph. Same with all these electric bikes. The promos on them are always highly misleading. Unfortunately the motorcycle press in the USA is entirely in the pockets of the manufacturers now. So their tests are sanitized to please the advertisers.
“...and will beat Harley to market.” Not if the market is more than 100 miles away. :{)
I'll take this one instead. They can keep the toy.
Gonna have to build more bars, way closer together :)
Made in Oregon:
https://www.brammo.com/
9 hours of charging then 100 miles...then 9 hours of charging....
By bother? Just get a scooter at 100 MPG.
Many good motorcycles get 50 MPG. Gas is the least of the costs.
Well, there goes my around the USA road trip. Like you can find 240V outlets everywhere..............
Well, there goes my around the USA road trip. Like you can find 240V outlets everywhere..............
Figures....................
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