Back when we last coevered Lightning Motorcycles, we were fixated on their newest machine to challenged the electric land speed record. The American electric bike brand has been in the dealings of speed since 2006, when CEO and Founder Richard Hatfield participated in an electric Porsche race and came away with the idea to convert bikes to electric energy with lithium (via Lightning Motorcycles).
Now, that first passion for quality sparky stuff is being scratched, thanks to a new collaboration with Enevate, a company zoned in on “high energy density and long driving range, with the added capability of low-temperature operation” (via BusinessWire).
In plain-speak, they’re REALLY good at making EV batteries with fast charging times.
The figures we’re working with in this collaboration are quite stupendous; currently, the average electric motorcycle has a charge rate of under 1C.
Not familiar with this form of charging measurement?
Check out this article from Battery University which lays it all out, from which we’ve taken the following excerpt:
“Charge and discharge rates of a battery are governed by C-rates. The capacity of a battery is commonly rated at 1C, meaning that a fully charged battery rated at 1Ah should provide 1A for one hour.”
“The same battery discharging at 0.5C should provide 500mA for two hours, and at 2C it delivers 2A for 30 minutes. Losses at fast discharges reduce the discharge time and these losses also affect charge times.”
As you can see above, the ‘average’ we are working with shows off a wide disparity in battery types, but let’s assume for this instance that your generic electric bike has 1C.
According to Enevate’s recent press release on BusinessWire, the new battery Enevate and Lightning are working on will be capable of almost 5C, beating even Triumph’s electric monstrosity, which will be capable of 80% tank capacity charged in 20 minutes (a 100% charge would get the Triumph TE-1 161km of range, so with this new battery getting us 135 miles/217-ish kilometers in ten minutes, we’re getting a whole new level of tech that’s not present anywhere else in the industry…yet).
Lightning even has a bike to test this battery out; apparently, their Strike Carbon prototype (the one you can reserve for $19,988 freaking USD) has purportedly spent over 1,000km testing out the battery’s charging capabilities at your generic 350kW public charging stations.
So how soon until we see this technology come to market?
There’s no mention made in the press release, but given the Strike is still only available to reserve with anywhere from a $500 to the afore-mentioned $19,988 reservation fee, we’re not expecting anything crazy anytime soon.
“I want to thank our partner Lightning for their expertise and agility in developing state-of-the-art hardware and software solutions which enabled us to deliver this high-end, ultra-fast charging motorcycle,” says Enevate CEO Robert A. Rango.
“For the consumer, this means that riders of electric motorcycles with Enevate Technology can now ride all day alongside conventional motorcycles without being left waiting hours at the charger.”
“For myself, and everyone at Lightning, building our products and company not only provides us with the opportunity to be part of something bigger and better, it also allows us to contribute to progress in the relentless effort to save our planet,” adds Lightning Motorcycles Corp. CEO and Founder, Richard Hatfield.
Big congrats to Lightning from the WBW team; be sure to stay tuned on the best of the latest as we continue on the march through Q4; drop a comment below letting us know what you think, and as ever – stay safe on the twisties.