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Chris Noble writer

8 June 2009

designtransport

NO FUEL THROTTLE

You can’t turn around these days without seeing something extolling the virtues of “going green”. Everyone is doing it. With that in mind, a few entrepreneurs, cash-rich from selling some since-unheard-of software to megacorp x, are getting in on the game… small time. Coming from the open-sky, virtual world of unfathomable code and fantasy tech, some of these starry-eyed chaps are not straying from their ideals with their more solid ventures. They’re producing dream machines.
Like the much-publicized Tesla Roadster sports car, Mission Motors’ One motorbike is an electric vehicle to beat much of its gas-powered competition. However, unlike the dull Tesla, it is stunning to look at, thanks to the product designers at fuseproject.
Being electric, it has lightning-fast throttle response and a flat torque-curve: from a standing start you could, in theory, pull the throttle back and sit on its 100 foot-pounds of torque up to 60mph then carry on up to a top speed of 150mph—all without a squeeze of the clutch lever or flick of the gearshift, because it has neither. Electric vehicles don’t need gears. And with some help from its regenerative braking, it’ll take you a good 150 miles on a bank of charged whatchamacallits. Petrolheaded bikers have been floored by the One’s snappy performance and most haven’t complained about the simplicity of its operation or the wealth of number-crunching the onboard computers are capable of.
Once they’re over the initial buzz of the test ride, though, potential buyers will have to appreciate the gas dollars they could save as the eco-friendly Mission One has a price tag of $69,000, putting it within a stone’s throw of the $101,000 Tesla and the $88,000 Fisker Karma, a well-designed, luxury, full-size plug-in hybrid car also taking pre-orders and slated for delivery in 2010. (In contrast, a Ducati’s price tag is about a third that of a Porsche.)
But it is the only one of its kind—a gorgeous electric superbike—so, until it has some competition, Mission can charge what they like and it’ll sell. They had just better watch their back, because some of the big Japanese boys want to play too. Until then, Mission can keep on living their dreams.