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| Not quite the most powerful electric bike its makers claim it to be, the Wattman nevertheless turns heads. |
TWO new electric motorbikes point which direction motorbike design
may take in the coming months.
Voxan launched Wattman, claiming it’s the strongest electric
motorcycle currently on sale.
Gizmag.com reports it is not the strongest — the Lightning
Motorcycle Corporation’s Electric Superbike has 30 more American horses — but
the Wattman’s styling is based on a scorpion exoskeleton, showing where designs
are going on two wheels.
The Wattman develops 150 kW (200 hp) of power at full tilt and
generates some 200 Nm from zero rpm to accelerate the 350 kg bike from 0 to
160 km/h in 5,9 seconds. Top speed is 170 km/h.
The Wattman will be hand-assembled unit by unit based on orders in
hand, so the price is likely to be rather high.
Gizmag points out the Wattman does not come close to
the performance numbers of its competitors.
The Wattman’s 0-100 km/h time of 3,4 seconds is squashed by the
Lightning’s Superbike’s 0-160 km/h time of only three seconds. Top speeds are
not a contest either, with the Lightning racing along at up to 265 km/h (166
m/h) compared to the Wattman’s slower pace of 170 km/h (106 m/h).
On the other end of the scale, the Saietta R does not aim to
compete in power or speed with either the Wattman or the Lightning, but its
makers create a whole new genre in bike design that reminds of the bravery by
metal working artist Orley Ray Courtney, who created an Art Deco scooter, the
Henderson streamliner, in 1934.
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| The Henderson streamliner |
Like Courtney, the creators at the London-based Agility Motors
threw away the rule book when they made the Saietta R, which was unveiled in the
U.S. at the Clean and Cool Missions show in Colorado.
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| The 220 kg Saietta R looks mean but caters for scooter riders. |
The 220 kg Saietta R’s top speed is only 129 km/h, with a range of
182 km in the city.
To cater for scooter riders, the Saietta R has a personalised
throttle response system, which allows riders to limit the bike’s power to suit
their preferences.
The Saietta R’s huge cowl covers the diagonally-mounted lithium-Ion
battery pack, which has a maximum capacity of 11 kWh.
The Saietta R is not due for export to South Africa.
