#1. LS 218 – Lightning Motorcycle
Range: 100 miles
Source: Wikimedia
This is the kind of bike we are talking about! There’s something about the feeling of a truly powerful bike. Let me tell you the LS 218 is a truly powerful bike! The LS 218 boasts an eye-popping 200 horsepower. While this may arguably be too much horsepower, it wasn’t back in 2012.
During a run at Bonneville in 2012, the LS 218 set several records including fastest production electric motorcycle and fastest production motorcycle! It got up to a speed over 215 miles per hour. That’s absolutely insane and must have felt incredible while doing it.
Source: Wikimedia
What made the record run even more interesting was that they chose to charge the bike using solar energy instead of any other source of electric energy. Okay, yes, this was a bit of grandstanding. Lightning Motorcycle wanted to show what they felt the future was since they were the ones about to sell an electric superbike. Their website advertises the impressive record and that it only cost 8 cents to power a championship run. Admittedly that’s good value.
Depending on the type of charger you have, traditionally charging an LS 218 can take varying amounts of time. A level 2 charger will get it to full juice in 2 hours. The range of 100 miles is solid about as good as you’d get in most electric cars or against other electric bikes.
The elephant in the room when it comes to talking about the LS 218 is simply the price. Currently, it costs almost $39,000 to purchase an LS 218 from Lightning. Admittedly that’s a pretty penny. While you will be able to recoup some of that money at the pumps, you will still need to make sure you install a home charging station for it. In some areas, eco-rebates apply for vehicles. While it’s normally for cars, sometimes it can apply for motorcycles and make the LS 218 a more palatable hit on the wallet. Subsidizing the purchase of a superbike is what environmental tax breaks are all about!
