Company Puts The Varoom In Electric Motorcycles

If you thought electric motorcycles were only capable of putt-putting around town like scooters, BRD aims to put that notion permanently to rest.  The San Francisco company says their all-electric racing motorcycles outperform their gasoline powered rivals in motorcross competitions.  BRD’s high-speed bike, called the RedShift SM, is a performance monster that goes far beyond just being a cool green machine, according to company reps. To that end, it appeals more to bike racing enthusiasts than eco-consumers who are concerned about reducing carbon emissions and breaking free of gasoline dependency.

BRD, which promises to do all of its manufacturing in the U.S., aims to be to performance motorcycles what Porsche is to cars – that is, maker of lean, mean, sexy machines.  For motorcycle racers on the competitive level, the RedShift SM can slice a second off of their race time, making the difference between winning and losing, claims BRD backer Mike Donoughe, who formerly held executive positions at Chrysler and Tesla Motors.  BRD announced that it has recently received a big vote of confidence, having just gotten a cash injection of over $800,000 from angel investors from a variety of industries.

The bike weighs 250 pounds, has 40 horsepower and can travel 50 miles on a single battery charge. It’s expected to be released to the market sometime in 2013 at a price of $14,995 for the motorcross version and $15,495 for the supermoto version.  BRD claims it will be the fastest street-legal motorcycle on the market, gas or electric.

The RedShift’s battery is fully rechargeable in four hours and is able to use a public EV charger station.  It can also be plugged into a standard 120-volt wall charger via its charging station.