Other electric vehicle developers can use what they have developed, and in fact they encourage it. Mr Dube said they were an "open book", and information on their bike was freely available on their internet site. The couple are also happy to share KillaCycle technological developments. "And the high-performance, unlike gasoline, is not low-efficiency." "This is proving there is no need for electrical vehicles to be low-performance," he said. 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". They are continually developing the KillaCycle, and believe they can make it can go faster. "This is our extremely expensive hobby," Ms Hakansson said. 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. 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.īut 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". 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". He has been drag racing electric vehicles since 1996, and the Killa-Cycle since 1999. The electric car's transmission could not cope with the horsepower the electric motor was producing.
Mr Dube built the KillaCycle in his garage after difficulties with the transmission of an electric car he was initially developing. Mr Dube has a background in electrical and mechanical engineering, while Ms Hakansson is an engineering PhD student at Denver University. 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. 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.
It costs just 15 cents to run down a drag strip, compared with the thousands for a petrol-powered drag bike. No need for expensive high-octane fuel, no engine rebuilds after every run, and no emissions.