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ON THE FAST TRACK
Lawless Industries’ battery-powered motorcycle breaks records
By Grace Wyler
poland
Lawless Industries, a local company known for its innovative electric-drive systems, is breaking world records with a new motorcycle that is on track to become the fastest battery-powered vehicle in the world.
The company, 8431 South Ave., has once again teamed up with celebrity bike shop Orange County Choppers to build an all-electric motorcycle that recently recorded the quarter-mile world record for a battery-powered bike.
“One of the reasons we did this was to show that we can make all of the power that a customer needs with an electric engine,” said Shawn Lawless, president of Lawless Industries. “We built the bike to be over the top in terms of performance.”
Lawless Industries has been chasing the world record since 2002, Lawless said. But it wasn’t until Lawless approached OCC — the focus of TLC cable network’s “American Choppers” — that the dream could be realized.
The two companies first teamed up last year to create a hybrid motorcycle that allows the rider to choose between a silent, eco-friendly ride and one that is loud, fast and gas-powered.
Based on that first partnership, OCC had faith in Lawless’ ability to come up with an all-electric drive system for a new bike, said Jim Quinn, lead engineer for the Montgomery, N.Y.-based custom bike shop.
The creation of the new bike was documented in an episode of “American Choppers” that aired Oct. 7.
“We went over the practicality of the concept and talked about what we could do,” Quinn said. “The challenge was the size of the battery and the motor — we had to shoehorn a lot of stuff in the bike and use up every piece of space.”
The new motorcycle is powered by 1,980 individual battery cells that together produce 363 volts and 3,000 amps, Lawless said. The motor has been modified to operate at 300 volts and produce 700 horsepower.
The bike broke the world quarter-mile record in August at Salem’s Quaker City Raceway.
The bike — driven by legendary top-fuel motorcycle racer Larry McBride — registered 7.77 seconds at 165 miles per hour, beating the previous record of 7.82 seconds.
“We had the best of everybody to help us do this,” Lawless said. “All of our guys did a fine job on this bike.”
The team has continued to break its own record. In September, McBride rode the bike at 170 mph for a 7.469-second quarter mile at the Virginia Motorsports Park near Petersburg, Va.
McBride, who is recognized as one of the world’s best top-fuel motorcycle drag racers, “wasn’t that impressed the first time he drove the bike,” Lawless said. “But now he has a lot of respect for it.”
Next year, the team has plans to upgrade the bike’s battery system to achieve a 6.8-second quarter mile and a top speed of more than 200 mph.
Lawless now has his eye on the land-speed record for an electric motorcycle, set at 179 mph in September. The achievement would make his bike the fastest electric vehicle in the world.
“It would be a nice thing to say that in Ohio, we have the world’s fastest electric motorcycle,” Lawless said.