Zero Motorcycles joins 2010 TTXGP series

Zero Motorcycles has announced it'll be joining Team Agni and CRP Racing next year in the TTXGP's electric motorcycle racing series, eGrandPrix. That's big news for the TTXGP, giving them and not the FIM e-Power series one of the industry's leading innovators and biggest names. It's expected that Zero will be using a Mavizen TTX02 (read KTM RC8) chassis equipped with their own batteries and motors. We also expect to see some sort of streamlined dust bin fairing on the bike, the last time we spoke to the company's founder, Neal Saiki, he speculated that such equipment was the best way for electrics to win races. Look for other major players in the electric motorcycle world to announce their participation in eGrandPrix in the coming weeks. The first eGrandPrix race takes place at Infineon in California next May.  >Here's Zero's announcement:

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (December 1, 2009) - Zero Motorcycles announced today the creation of its first street racing team and its plans to enter the upcoming 2010 TTXGP electric motorcycle series. Zero has indicated that its race-ready motorcycle will be using the same Z-Force powertrain technology that is currently used in its production electric motorcycles. Few additional details have been released on the development of Zero's race bike, but it has been hinted that many of the design cues will come from the production Zero S street motorcycle.
 
TTXGP is the world's first zero carbon and zero emissions motorcycle race series. The inaugural TTXGP race took place on the historic Isle of Man TT course in June 2009 and will return again in June 2010 with the addition of a new race class. The first TTXGP race in the 2010 season will be the TTXGP North America Championships at Infineon in Sonoma, California on May 14 - 16.
 
"Electric motorcycles are powerful, exciting and available now. There is no race that highlights electric motorcycle technology more than the TTXGP and we are excited to support their efforts with our own racing team," said Gene Banman, CEO of Zero Motorcycles.  "We have identified a series of strategic partners for this program and will be making announcements shortly about their involvement."
 
Zero Motorcycles is not a stranger to competitive racing. Recently, Zero Motorcycles took first place in a sanctioned motocross race (finishing third overall in points for the series), in France hosted by the French Federation of Motorcycles. The Zero MX beat out more than 200 450cc gas motorcycles in fierce competition.
 
Zero's Z-Force technology includes its patent pending Z-Force power pack which is capable of delivering a tremendous amount of energy from a highly compact and lightweight system. It also includes a newly announced Z-Force Air Induction system that allows Zero to fully leverage their power pack's capabilities by dispersing excess motor heat. This development also paves the way for Zero to increase performance in upcoming models.

"We've spent four years developing the Z-Force electric power train technology for high performance dirt and street riding. We're excited to take it to the track and compete. We expect to gain valuable information through the competition of our motorcycles and plan to apply that knowledge to the development of future products," added Neal Saiki, Zero Motorcycles Founder and CTO.
 
Zero Motorcycles is the next step in motorcycle evolution and represents the ultimate electric motorcycle technology. Unencumbered by conventional thinking about how they design, manufacture and sell high performance electric motorcycles, they are on a mission to turn heads and revolutionize their industry by combining the best aspects of a traditional motorcycle with today's most advanced technology. The result is an electric motorcycle line that's insanely fast and environmentally friendly.

Zero Motorcycles