White Motorcycle Concepts aims for the electric land speed record
White Motorcycle Concepts CEO Rob White plans to break the electric land speed record on a bike built in-house to do just that. The all-electric WMC250EV is theoretically capable of exceeding 250 mph (as its name suggests) and will provide the foundation for a line of road-going scooters and bikes White plans to mass-produce. For now? It's about proving that the technology works, and to do so, WMC is aiming to take down the Voxan Wattman, which currently holds the world's land speed record for an electric motorcycle at 254 mph.
WMC says the bike has three tricks up its sleeve, but what stands out the most is its aerodynamic pass-through design that channels air directly through the bike rather than just over and around it. The company says this design improves the WMC250EV's aero performance by 70% compared to the market leaders. WMC says this design also allows the use of regenerative braking on the front axle, helping recapture some spent energy.
The WMC250EV features all-carbon-fiber body construction over a billet aluminum chassis and is powered by four Hacker synchronous electric motors (two front; two rear) producing a total of 100 kW – or roughly 135 horsepower. The suspension utilizes Multimatic's DSSV damper technology, the same utilized in some high-performance road cars and the comparatively humble (but still very good) Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 pickup. A 15kWh battery provides the juice.
“If you want to demonstrate to the rest of the world that you’ve just invented a new aerodynamic concept that means you can go faster for a given power, the best thing to do is go as fast you can,” says White. “That’s why we created WMC250EV high-speed demonstrator, the most radical version of this concept, to challenge for the world land speed record. It is electric, as that is the pre-eminent zero emissions power source at the moment, but as the aerodynamic concept provides efficiency benefit, it could just as easily be hydrogen or any other future power source.”
"The records are all champagne, but are actually the insignificant part of the story," says White. "While this technology allows you to go faster, it also allows you to go much further for the same amount of energy. This has a direct and tangible benefit on C02 reduction. Market-disruptive ideas like this are uncommon, and if successful, have the potential to revolutionize industry."
Look for the WMC250EV's first record attempts later this year.
