photo: Mission Motors
Would you pay $68,995 for an electric motorcycle that goes 150 mph and 150 miles on a charge? Mission Motors, a San Francisco startup, is betting well-heeled techies and gearheads will pony up for the thrill of instantaneous acceleration offered by an electric superbike. The company’s prototype, the Mission One, earlier this month set a world speed record for electric motorcycles. As I write in The New York Times today:
Mission Motors, an electric motorcycle startup based in San Francisco, said Tuesday that its prototype vehicle had set a world speed record for battery-powered bikes of 150.059 miles per hour at the Bonneville Speedway in Utah.
That was the average speed achieved during two, mile-long trials but the motorcycle, called the Mission One, hit 161 m.p.h. on the Bonneville Salt Flats during one run on Sept 1.
Speed matters for what amounts to the Tesla Roadster of electric motorcycles.
“Our focus is on the market that is most motivated by performance,” said Forrest North, the co-founder and chief executive of Mission Motors and a former battery engineer at the high-end electric car maker, Tesla. Mr. North is bringing a bit of that company’s strategy to Mission Motors: Build a stylish high-tech, high-priced electric vehicle for enthusiasts, and then move down the market with less expensive models.
You can read the rest of the story here.
Green Wombat 
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This is an absurd product. Motorcycles already get up to, and in some case more than, 50 MPG. I averaged 45 MPG on my ’98 Harley. Maybe more people should be riding instead of driving.