Lightning Motorcycle Corp. is an American manufacturer of

electric motorcycle Electric motorcycles and scooters are plug-in electric vehicles with two or three wheels. Power is supplied by a rechargeable battery which drives one or more electric motors. Electric scooters are distinguished from motorcycles by having a st ...

s. CEO and Founder

Richard Hatfield Richard Bennett Hatfield (April 9, 1931 – April 26, 1991) was a New Brunswick politician and the longest serving premier of New Brunswick from 1970 to 1987.Richard Starr, ''Richard Hatfield, The Seventeen Year Saga,'' 1987, Early life T ...

started the company in 2006 in San Carlos, California. Founder Hatfield looked to convert a motorbike to electric with lithium batteries after participating in an electric Porsche race team. Lightning Motorcycle then converted a former

Yamaha R1 The Yamaha YZF-R1, or simply R1, is a -class sports motorcycle made by Yamaha. It was first released in 1998, undergoing significant updates in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2018

race bike to electric in 2006. The bike featured over 60 horsepower, about 70 pounds-feet of torque and a top speed of 100 mph. In 2008, Lightning developed a lithium battery induction motor ATV to be used for military, border control, law enforcement, and search and rescue. The Lightning Bike electric motorcycle set a new land speed record with an average of 173.388 mph at the

BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials Bonneville Speedway (also known as the Bonneville Salt Flats Race Track) is an area of the Bonneville Salt Flats northeast of Wendover, Utah, that is marked out for motor sports. It is particularly noted as the venue for numerous land speed reco ...

on the

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land managed by the Bur ...

. It later set a new record in 2012 with a 2 way average of 215.96 mph and a top speed of 218.96 mph in Bonneville. In 2012, the solar-powered Barracuda Lightning Bike won the joint eGrandPrix

TTXGP TTXGP are the official promoters of FIM eRoadRacing, an electric motorsport race series. Founded by Azhar Hussain MBE in 2008, TTXGP started life as the first zero-carbon, clean-emission race to take place at the Isle of Man TT as teams from aro ...

and

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

ePower electric motorcycle racing series at the

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and ...

with rider Michael Barnes. Rider Carlin Dunne and Lightning's LS-218 Superbike won the motorcycle field at

Pikes Peak Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in North America. The ultra-prominent fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The town of Manitou S ...

in 2013, making it the first electric bike to beat out all its gas-powered counterparts. Richard Hatfield said about the Pikes Peak win, "It was great. The Lightning team and its sponsors did an incredible job bringing is all to its culmination of a goal we set ourselves fours years ago, to compete head to toe against the best gasoline powered vehicles in the world." With a top speed of 218 mph, the LS-218 has been named one of the fastest motorcycles in production. In 2018 Lightning Motorcycles moved into its new corporate headquarters in San Jose, California. The new San Jose based facility is five times the square footage when compared to Lightning’s previous San Carlos location. The new larger building has provided Lightning with the ability to dramatically expand production of the LS-218 Superbike, as well as an in-house design studio for designing future Lightning products, increased research and development capabilities and additional office space to accommodate the expanding Lightning team. On January 17, 2019, Lightning Motorcycle teased their next bike, the Lightning Strike, claiming a top speed of 150 MPH, a top range of 150 miles, a 35 minute DC charge time, and a starting price of $12,998. It is scheduled to be released in March 2019.

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.lightningmotorcycle.com Motorcycle manufacturers of the United States Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2006 2006 establishments in California