High performance electric sports vehicles are really taking off! The Lithium Lightning is a working prototype that was developed by Richard Hatfield, a Burlingame solar panel importer. He worked with Electric Motorsport to develop this machine. It is powered by Lithium batteries and achieves an average 80 mile range. His idea is to charge the bike from solar panels, thus creating carbon neutral transportation. They are working on a production model that would run around $15,000, which is what this prototype cost to develop. Electric Motorsport also offers less expensive electric bikes that are available now. If you go to their site, check out the "Parts" page. It makes me want to start building stuff.

The ultra hot Tesla Electric Supercar/, which can rocket from 0-60 in just 3 seconds. With that kind of performance from a car, electric superbikes are inevitable. After some research on the net, it appears that the rMoto electric superbike leads the pack. It's still in prototype stage, but the rMoto website is worth the visit!

However, hot on the heels of its excellent electric maxi-scooter, Vectrix has finally delivered on its promise of an electric superbike, and it's amazingly close to the concept drawings we saw a couple of years back. Unveiled at the Milan motorcycle show, the Vectrix Electric Superbike has a top speed of around 125mph, a range of around 70 miles and it'll eat up the quarter mile in around 12 seconds, so it's clearly got some punch behind the throttle. It'll go into production if interest is high enough - can this be the first true production electric performance motorcycle? And if so - how long 'til they start racing it?

While we're waiting for further details on this exciting machine, we'd expect it to carry the same top-quality Italian running gear as its little brother, the maxi-scooter - and that means Marzocchi, Sachs, and Brembo bits in all the right places, as well as the two-way throttle-activated regenerative braking system we were so impressed with on the scooter.

The battery's a 240v, 7.5KWh unit but we're currently unsure whether Vectrix has moved past NiMH onto the more effective but less well-known lithium-polymer units that are leading the development charge in terms of power and range.

Thanks to Robrady design, the bike's appearance is stunning, the subframe and seat suspended in midair over the beefy "tank" area, and the large electric motor sitting in plain view on the rear hub. In total the bike weighs in at 204kg.

Seeing as the latest generation Japanese superbikes are 40kg lighter, 60mph faster and around 2 seconds quicker over the quarter mile, perhaps the Vectrix hasn't quite lived up to its Superbike name. This doesn't make the bike any less significant - the petrol engine has only earned its current levels of performance after decades of racing development. Here, at last, is an electric motorcycle that offers genuine racetrack potential, and once some competitors line up next to it, the real performance development can begin.

Vectrix say they'll run the Electric Superbike into production if they receive 500 deposits - we very much hope the demand exists for this innovative and exciting bike, in large part, because we can't wait to ride one! The USA debut is scheduled for the CES show in Las Vegas in January 2008.