Stealth Electric Motorcycle Brainchild Of Military And Private Company

Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online
The trailblazing company Zero Motorcycles makes impressive bikes with a unique twist — they´re all electric. These motorcycles have all the range you´d expect from a traditional bike. They´re also not scared of a few challenges, such as taking on the motocross world. Now, however, the company is bragging on a new product they´ve developed with a very special partner. The new bike is able to take off quickly from a standstill, start and run with no engine noise and run through up to a meter of water. They´re calling it the Zero MMX Military Motorcycle, and together with US Special Operations Forces (SOF) they´ve developed a bike meant to operate in perpetual stealth mode while giving riding soldiers access to important operative controls on the handlebars.
“It was a very rewarding experience for the Zero team to go through such an exacting development process. The military needed a very specific set of core features on the MMX, and we were incredibly thankful to work side-by-side with them to deliver such a unique product,” said Abe Askenazi, Chief Technology Officer for Zero Motorcycles in a statement on their website.
“The great news for our civilian customers is that we made the decision to incorporate into our 2013 MX, FX and XU retail motorcycles virtually all of the powertrain enhancements associated with satisfying this project´s stringent military requirements. Our 2013 product is truly ℠military grade´!”
The majority of the stealth benefits of this motorcycle can be attributed to Zero´s electric engine. Combustion motorcycles are notoriously loud when starting and racing down a highway or rough terrain. With the electric engine, the Zero MMX can start up and run with almost no engine sound at all. In fact, the majority of the sound emitted from this bike will come from road noise and navigating though wooded terrain. Zero started with its electric platform and made some tweaks to create a military-grade product, starting with the battery pack. These bikes can come in two models, the ZF2.8 and ZF5.7. The first model ships with one battery module and the second with two, either of which can be quickly changed in less than a minute regardless of the state of charge. Each battery offer about an hour of drive time.
The Zero MMX also offers integrated wiring to accommodate infrared systems at either the front or rear of the vehicle as well as a specialized dash just for military use. They also ship in flat black to better hide in dimly lit situations.
This isn´t the first tactical bike Zero has ever produced,however. They also offer a model built specifically for police officers which has much of the same functionality. The Zero Motorcycles Police Fleet can operate quietly, rapidly accelerate from a standstill, and even operate at top a speed of 95 miles per hour. In a demo video a police officer says his department loves using the motorcycles because they´re quiet enough to perform surveillance operations as well as patrol local neighborhoods and parks without disrupting citizens.
Don´t expect to find the MMX Military Motorcycle in stores, but there is a publicly available version of Zero MX which retails for $9,495.00.