A homemade e-bike managed to hang tough against a 400-horsepower Ford Mustang GT in a drag race, highlighting the strengths of electric propulsion, even in the most makeshift powertrains available.
Recent polling has consistently shown that the younger generation is the group most interested in electric vehicles and electric mobility. Simultaneously, this group is least likely to have the money needed to buy an EV. For this demographic, e-bikes have become a viable alternative. As these bikes have become more popular, more people have attempted to make them as fast as possible.
One such example is the YouTube channel All Things Electric. The creator has been building a custom e-bike capable of up to 18 horsepower on his channel. In the video, he attempts to drag race a Ford Mustang GT, a muscle car with over 400 horsepower.
What is surprising as you watch the video is not that the race is taking place but that for the first couple hundred feet, the e-bike is beating the Mustang. Only within the final seconds of the race the car pulls ahead and wins. The bike replicates these results astonishingly well as they run the race three times.
In the video, the creator discusses creating a bike that will double the current power the bike is making and may even create a series on the build process. It sounds like more of a deathtrap than even this Frankenstein creation, and nonetheless, it is a series I would watch every second of.
According to the video creator, the bike is capable of 60 miles per hour via a custom 20,000 mAh battery setup that feeds a single bicycle hub motor that produces roughly 18 horsepower at its peak. The entire bike setup only weighs just over 70 pounds.
Many are quick to criticize electric vehicles for bringing armageddon to automotive enthusiasm, some going as far as saying that driving a car in the future will be much like riding a horse today, a niche hobby for enjoyment. But this video, and many others, show that a passion for going quickly on the things we make and tinker with is more engrained into us than we may think.
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