With the world currently transitioning toward a future with exclusively electric production vehicles, universities from around the planet have been preparing the next generation of mechanical and electrical engineers with hands-on projects that allow students to test the limits of this rapidly-advancing technology. Based in the Netherlands, one such outfit is Electric Superbike Twente which has just revealed a fourth-generation fully electric superbike known as the Delta-XE.
Made by a team of 15 students at the University of Twente in Enschede, the Delta-XE is constructed around a CrMoB steel trellis frame and swing-arm courtesy of Bakker Framebouw that have been paired with an inverted Öhlins fork with ceramic reinforced carbon fiber fork uppers and a TTX mono-shock. Riding on Marchesini forged aluminum wheels, the bike also boasts GP-style switchgear, an AiM MXL 2 race display, radial-mount four-pot calipers, and a full suite of carbon fiber bodywork borrowed from Suter Racing’s track-only MMX 500 two-stroke superbike.
Powering this cutting-edge track weapon is a proprietary 170-kW (228-hp) PMAC motor that’s linked to a Cascadia Motion controller and a 13.5-kWh, 800-volt Lithium polymer battery. This custom powertrain produces 590ft-lbs of torque at the rear wheel, allowing it to achieve sub-three-second 0-60mph runs and a top speed of 186mph. In total, the Delta-XE weighs in at just 485lbs, too.
Though the Delta-XE is merely an educational project, the electric superbike nonetheless points to a future that, while lacking internal combustion engines, will almost certainly include some extremely high-performance motorcycles.
