Electric Motorcycle on a Mission

The Mission One motorcycle was unveiled yesterday at the TED2009 conference in Long Beach. The bike has 100 ft-lbs of torque (available at any speed or rpm) and will allegedly have a top speed of 150mph. Fully charging the lithium ion batteries takes eight hours and its range is said to be 150 miles. 50 bikes will be built and delivered early next year; for a cost of $69,000.

Forrest North, Mission Motors founder, helped engineer battery packs at Tesla Motors before starting up the company. With a current staff of 12 right now, the key for Mission Motors is to stay small and flexible. Building motorcycles is far less complex then cars without the need for a complicated assembly line for all the extra features cars contain. Before the company starts on a new and cheaper model, it aims to sell another 250 at a price not yet set.

Mission Motors has already raised $1.5 million from venture capital and angel investors but that will only be enough for the next six months.

Source

By Joe Magro