Electric triumphs

摘要

A homemade electric motorcycle has set four records at the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials in the US. With a top speed of 241.901mph and a two-way average of 240.726mph, Eva Hakansson drove KillaJoule to beat the previous electric motorcycle speed record by 25mph. In addition to being a new electric motorcycle record, the speed is also an overall new record for any kind of sidecar motorcycles, including internal combustion-powered sidecar motorcycles. 'It is the first time in more than a century that an electric vehicle beats internal combustion for a vehicle type,' said Hakansson, a PhD student in mechanical engineering at the NSF Center for High Voltage/Temperature Materials and Structures at University of Denver. 'The last time this happened was in 1899 when the world's fastest car was the electric car La Jamais Contente driven by Camille Jenatzy at 65mph. Since then, internal combustion has dominated everything.'