Yesterday, Chip Yates successfully completed his first ever test aboard his 295lb/ft, 194bhp electric superbike, the same one he plans to campaign against gasoline-powered superbikes in WERA Heavyweight Twins beginning January 9. Chip describes the experience as mind-boggling. Here’s video from on-board what could be the fastest electric motorcycle ever made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMzGa-uhACc

In an email, Chip stated: “Today was an EPIC day for our hardworking team (Ben Ingram, Robert Ussery, Jimmy Summers and me)!”

“Thanks to the incredible vision and generosity of Infineon Raceway in beautiful Sonoma, California, we enjoyed the use of their world class track today all to ourselves!”

“We successfully tested our electric superbike and had no problems, failures or issues - it simply worked right out of the box!”

“The day started cold and with a completely wet track, so we worked in the garages on our test plan and at noon, the track was dry enough that I took my World Supersport 600cc gas bike around for a session of sighting laps.”

“We then took the electric bike out and went very cautiously for a lap and brought it into the pits for inspection and download of our MoTeC data.  With things looking good, I went out for 2 complete laps and then came in again for a scheduled data check and to balance our battery pack with the Manzanita charger and BMS.”

“We then recharged and balanced our battery pack, and I went back out on the World bike during the recharge down time to keep the fans and media who were there entertained and to collect some additional track data.”

“Finally, I took the electric superbike back out for a continuous session of 6 complete laps in one session.  I was still going very cautiously in the corners, but I steadily increased the pace and started opening the throttle on the straights - the acceleration is absolutely like nothing I have ever felt before - it is mind boggling and even on the "dragstrip" straightaway out of the carousel where you would think I have plenty of room to gas it, the data showed I was only opening the throttle to 70% max!  The data also showed that I only used something like a max of 199lb/ft of the available 295lb/ft of torque of the UQM Technologies motor!”

“In summary - we did it!  We developed and successfully tested on track what amounts to a legitimate superbike with insane acceleration capabilities.  We can't wait to get back to the race shop and make improvements based on the data and my riding impressions from the 8 laps I got done today during the beautiful weather window we got in the afternoon.”

Chip and the bike’s next outing will be the race at Auto Club Speedway in January.

Swigz Pro Racing

Top comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
Comment!
Got a tip for us? Email: tips@rideapart.com