Hammarhead Industries is growing fast. To date, they’ve sold five Jack Pines and a couple of Woodsmen, and they have a firm order for the Ural Solo X we revealed last month. But no one had ordered a Volta. “Then out of the blue we are building one,” says founder James Hammarhead. “We are back in the game with the electric bike, and I will probably build a ‘naked’ version in parallel to this customer order.”
Yes, despite appearances the Volta is an electric moto (and only the seventh one we’ve featured on the site over the past two years). The current crop of electric bikes does nothing for me, but there is something interesting about the Volta. Probably because it’s the antithesis of what you’d expect.
It’s a collaboration with the EnerTrac Corp, and according to Hammarhead, “The bike is based on a Royal Enfield Bullet, with modified sub-frame added to support the battery. It’s a nice candidate for electric conversion—a solid, simple open frame that’s widely available on the used motorcycle market. And there’s a huge reproduction parts and accessories market that is affordable.”
My electrical knowledge is limited to replacing lightbulbs, so the specs mean little to me. But for our more engineering-oriented readers, the Volta uses “BLDC 3-phase permanent magnet brushless motors”. These have a 10KW continuous output with a 30KW peak. Current top speed is 75 mph, with a range of 50 miles, but Hammarhead is shooting for a goal of ‘100/100’.
Bringing that within reach is extra capacity in the electrical system: The current battery pack is a 32-cell setup, but there’s room to expand to 36 cells for more power. And the bike weighs just 368 lbs—the same as stock.
If an electric moto ever found its way into my garage, it’d probably be this one. Tempting enough for you?
Images by Ryan Miller.
