Old Soviet Army Motorcycle Turned Electric Sets New Record For Land Speeds
Image via Delfast
Among all the high-end electric motorcycles attempting to land a new record for speed at the SCTA Bonneville Speed Week event, an underdog was the one to take the lead.
The Delfast DNEPR electric motorcycle clocked 107 miles per hour, setting a shiny new Category A Omega (electric propulsion) class record.
Previous new records had been set at Bonneville by its rider, Serhii Malyk. He rode a DNEPR Electric special in 2017 and 2018, tweaking the bike to make it faster each time. This year, he managed to beat his own 2018 record by three miles per hour. Only the frame is a one-off, Jalopnik reports; its motor and batteries were reportedly taken straight from a stock DNEPR.
The DNEPR, with its origins in the Soviet Union’s Red Army in the 1940s, has since been reworked by Delfast to swap out its previous gasoline-based engine with a new EMRAX-228 synchronous electric motor.
This feat was accomplished with a new controller carrying updated software along with a 50-kilowatt permanent magnet electric motor, which can hit up to 100 kilowatts at its peak. Apparently, the bike carried 36 batteries on board, too.
In 2017, Delfast also set the Guinness World record for the greatest distance traveled on a single battery charge. It was set by the brand’s Prime electric bike, covering a total of 228 miles.
It’s another indication that electric vehicles are well on their way to becoming a widespread offering and even a go-to, replacing their predecessors gracefully.
[via Jalopnik, image via Delfast]
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