Electric motorbike definitely no drag

At first glance, Bill Dube's drag racing motorcycle looks like any other: low to the ground, huge rear wheel, a shiny paint job.

But lift off some of the body work on the "KillaCycle" and you will find not a giant engine but an electric motor, batteries and circuitry.

Colorado-based Mr Dube is touring the country with his machine, touted as the world's fastest electric motorcycle and quite probably the world's fastest electric vehicle.

The 500 horsepower bike is capable of more than 250kmh, can accelerate to 100kmh in less than a second, and, best of all, it can make 10 runs on a quarter-mile track on one charge.

No need for expensive high-octane fuel, no engine rebuilds after every run, and no emissions.

It costs just 15 cents to run down a drag strip, compared with the thousands for a petrol-powered drag bike.

The couple's New Zealand tour included a stop at Wintec's Avalon Campus in Hamilton this week, and about 40 people came to inspect the machine.

Mr Dube and his wife Eva Hakansson jokingly describe themselves as "the celebrities of the electric vehicle world", and have been working together on electric motorcycles for several years.

Mr Dube has a background in electrical and mechanical engineering, while Ms Hakansson is an engineering PhD student at Denver University.

Mr Dube built the KillaCycle in his garage after difficulties with the transmission of an electric car he was initially developing.

The electric car's transmission could not cope with the horsepower the electric motor was producing.

He has been drag racing electric vehicles since 1996, and the Killa-Cycle since 1999.

Mr Dube initially rode the machine himself, but admits to putting his ego aside and allowing it to be ridden by experienced (and lighter) drag bike rider Scotty Pollachek, and "now it goes faster".

When he first showed up to race the KillaCycle, at an All Harley Drag Racing Association race meet at California's Pomona Dragway, he was scoffed at.

But when the KillaCycle "turned the numbers" – ( 270kmh and a quarter mile in 7.6 seconds), the tattooed petrolhead crowd were impressed to the point of emitting a collective "wow".

While the couple are excited about the prospect of installing new battery technology into the KillaCycle, Ms Hakansson said they were limited by their budget and having to work on the bike in their spare time.

"This is our extremely expensive hobby," Ms Hakansson said.

They are continually developing the KillaCycle, and believe they can make it can go faster.

Mr Dube said the technology in the KillaCycle was applicable to commuter vehicles, even if people didn't want "a nerd-mobile, or a travelling science project".

"This is proving there is no need for electrical vehicles to be low-performance," he said.

"And the high-performance, unlike gasoline, is not low-efficiency."

The couple are also happy to share KillaCycle technological developments.

Mr Dube said they were an "open book", and information on their bike was freely available on their internet site.

Other electric vehicle developers can use what they have developed, and in fact they encourage it.

"We want more people to do this."

Waikato University mechanical and electrical engineering professor Dr Mike Duke, who has developed solar-powered electric vehicles, said he was hugely impressed by Mr Dube's bike.

"I love it, it's fantastic. A lot of people think electric vehicles are really slow, but this thing would just rip anything off [on a track]."

Dr Duke said while the basic technology of the KillaCycle was familiar, he was particularly interested in the lithium iron phosphate batteries.

"I think that's the way forward. They've got a really good life cycle, and they're easy to charge."

Mr Dube said the couple's visit to New Zealand had been "wonderful" and interest in the bike was "awesome".

"People have been very receptive here to new and interesting technology. Once they talk to us a little bit, they realise how appropriate vehicles are for New Zealand – you really have a perfect situation for that, with most of your energy being renewably generated," he said.

"That's the way to run electric vehicles."

The KillaCycle will feature at tomorrow's 4 and Rotary Nationals drag racing at Meremere Dragway.

Gates open at 8.30am.

- © Fairfax NZ News