French motorcycle manufacturer Voxan is set to unveil an electric motorcycle that will challenge the world speed record.
The Voxan Wattman will be unveiled on July 1 at 10pm (AEST) and will attempt to set a new world speed record on the Salar de Uyuni salt flat in Bolivia in July 2021. The target is to beat 329.085km/h, the current world record for an electric motorcycle.
Voxan, now based in Monaco under the ownership of the Venturi Group, released the original Wattman in 2013. At the time, it was billed as the most powerful electric motorcycle ever made with 203hp and 200Nm.
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The new high-performance version of the Wattman has been designed entirely in Monaco in close collaboration with Venturi North America and the Centre for Automotive Research at Ohio State University.
After months of design work and testing, the new Wattman took to the track for the first time on March 12, but the COVID-19 crisis interrupted the testing programme. Once lockdown restrictions were lifted in Monaco, Voxan ramped up the testing programme again.
Former MotoGP and World Superbike champion, Max Biaggi, was originally tipped to pilot the machine, but that plan is unclear now.
Despite Voxan’s intentions to unveil the bike on July 1, there is still plenty of work to be done for the record attempt in 2021. Over the coming months, the company will continue to develop the software aspect of the machine to determine pure performance and thermal stability. The aim is to increase the speed of the motorcycle in increments during the test sessions.
Voxan was founded in 1995 in France but, after going into liquidation in 2009, Monegasque company Venturi purchased the brand and shifted its focus to electric vehicles.
The Venturi Group is no stranger to world speed records – The Venturi VBB-3 set a record of 549km/h in 2016 as the fastest electric car on the planet.