Mission Motors

The world’s fastest production electric motorcycle was built in San Francisco’s Dogpatch—an industrial neighborhood bordered by the city’s waterfront. It is an amalgam of drydocks, former steel mills, and factories. Constructed in the 1860s and having largely survived the 1906 earthquake, the zone maintains a smoke-stacked atmosphere of sturdy stone and brick, the streets redolent of coal- and oil-powered commerce. It is appropriate then, that from this “earthquake proof” area of the old city, Mission Motors is leading the charge to shake things up in the world of electric vehicles.

Mission draws talent from Tesla, Ford, Ducati, Stanford, Yale, MIT, and the Presidio School of Management. Mission’s team is powered by a collection of really big brains and really small electric motors. Their goal is simple, if audacious: to create the world’s best production electric motorcycle without compromising acceleration, speed, range, performance, or reliability. They endeavor to create a product where green doesn’t come at the cost of power, and powerful doesn’t mean inefficient. “If people are passionate about the environment, well then that’s our core customer group, and if they are passionate about performance, well that’s also our core customer group,” says founder and President Edward West.

The Mission One, their first production vehicle, has reportedly gone faster than 160 mph, and has been officially clocked at 150.059mph. It jumps from 0 to 60 in a time that compares favorably to a high-performance gas bike, but has an even more impressive 60 to 100 mph interval, because it doesn’t shift gears, ever. Instead, the watermelon-sized motor delivers all torque, rocketing up in velocity without the shifting gears of a combustion motor.

“This bike puts out more horsepower than most commuter cars,” said Jeremy Cleland, who as the company’s product manager, “test pilot,” and amateur motorcycle racer would know. He deadpanned, “with this motorcycle we take that quantum leap to shhhhhhhhhh it’s fast.”

With the recent market attentiveness to clean technology, Mission Motors will not be the only vehicle at the electric charging station. It’s a fact that West embraces: “Yes, I think that this is the future and in a short time you’re going to see a lot of electric motorcycles on the road from a lot of manufactures.”

Filed Under: Cars & Transport