Mission One Land Speed Record
15/09/09
Mission Motors, the San Francisco based company redefining the world of performance motorcycles, announced that its zero-emissions electric superbike Mission One has claimed the national AMA top speed record for an electric motorcycle, achieving a record 150.059 mph two-pass average at Bonneville Speedway. Lead up runs for the record saw one-way speeds over the mile stretch peek at 161mph.
The record-breaking top speed was achieved at the annual BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials at the Bonneville Speedway. The Mission One machine achieved a top speed higher than 70% of the petrol powered entrants.
“I give the credit for this achievement to our extraordinary engineering team. We set this record on our first visit to the Bonneville Salt Flats on poor salt conditions and in high cross-winds. And to set it with our production prototype vehicle, not a custom Bonneville bike is truly amazing,” said Edward West, Mission Motors Founder and President. “We’ve all known what was possible for the Mission One for some time, and to set this record is very gratifying. It’s a watershed moment for electric vehicles and further proof that the era of the electric superbike has begun. Electric is no longer the future of high-performance motorcycling; it is the present.”
Since returning from the TTXGP in the Isle of Man, Mission Motors’ engineering team has been working hard to improve the Mission One, resulting in this performance milestone. Its top speed puts the Mission One into a category of it's own: the world’s fastest street-legal pure-electric motorcycle, and adds to the list of firsts that the company has achieved.
“The Mission One is just an incredible motorcycle,” said Jeremy Cleland, the AMA and AFM racer who shares duties as both Product Manager and Test Rider at Mission Motors. “This is a bike that can rip up the track at Infineon Raceway, do power wheelies at 80 mph, and then come out here to Bonneville and dismantle the prior electric world speed record. It pulls hard all the way from 0 on up to 161mph, all in one gear, with incredible torque. It’s a riding experience like no other. The important thing to understand is this is not a one-off race vehicle, this is a production prototype. It is the same bike that we raced at the Isle of Man and features the same powertrain that we will be delivering to our customers in 2010.”
With a top speed of over 150 mph, a 150-mile range and unparalleled access to torque, the Mission One surpasses the performance of other production electric motorcycles and rivals petrol-powered machines. The Mission One’s design, created by Yves Behar and fuseproject, blends traditional racing elements with a modern pioneering sensibility. The motorcycles are produced in San Francisco, CA with a radical commitment to environmental sustainability.
