The History of Electric Motorcycles.. So Far (the parts I care about)

I’ll build this out into a full blog post, but for now, this is going to be a list of all my reference links for the History of Electric Motorcycles in Episode 11 of MotoHop On Air.

• Hub Motor Patent granted to Ogden Bolton Jr. of Canton Ohio in 1895
  • https://patents.google.com/patent/US552271
• Merle Williams develops two-wheeled electric motorcycle that towed a single-wheeled trailer to deal with fuel rations during WWII. Starts selling them
• Floyd Clymer’s  Indian Motorcycle Company produced at the Papoose prototype in 1967
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20070407193909/http://cycletownusa.com/dmelec.jpg
• 1974 – Mike Corbin sets electric motorcycle land speed record of 165.387 mph aboard Quick Silver, which used a  24 volt electric starter motor from a Douglas Skyhawk fighter jet
• Several speed tests, small production
• 2000 – Killacycle manages a 9.45 second 1/4 mile with trap speed of 152.07 mph using lead acid batteries. 312 volts with a 1400 amp controller
• Switched to Li-ion nano-phosphate and ran a 7.824 second 1/4 mile @ 168 mph in Phoenix in 2007
• Late 2000s are kind of the modern inflection point
  • Alta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_Motors)
  • Brammo
  • Electricross / Zero (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Motorcycles)
  • Mission Motors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_Motors)
• Brammo, Inc. registered in 2008
  • Ariel Atom license then electric version)
  • Enertia released in 2009
    • Best Buy Sales Deal (Geek Squad Repairs)
• Empulse announced 2010 – delivery date ended up being in 2012
  • 6 speed gearbox
  • Clutch
  • Real world 75 mile range
  • Top speed of 105mph
• 2015 Polaris purchases entire electric motorcycle business from Brammo
  • Rebadged Victory Empulse production by end of 2015
• Balance of business sold to Cummins in 2017
• Polaris kills Victory in 2017 and the remains of Brammo with it
• LiveWire prototypes shown off in 2014 – produced with help form Mission
• Harley invest in Alta then divests – Alta collapses
• Where’s Zero?
  • Starts as Electricross (electric motorcross) making a motocross bike called the Drift
  • 140 pounds, top speed ~44mph, $5500
  • Renames to Zero (for Zero Emissions) in 2007
  • Begins shipping the S in volume in 2010
  • 2012 new battery pack became first production electric motorcycles with EPA-estimated range of over 100 miles
  • Complete redesign in 2013
  • Last of the 4 horsemen
  • https://www.electricbike.com/zero-motorcycles-history-and-tech/