Orange County Choppers Builds Its First Electric Motorcycle

By John Farrier in Science & Tech on Aug 12, 2009 at 6:35 pm

Orange County Choppers, the New York-based custom motorcycle shop, is famous for its loud, raked-back choppers. The shop is also the scene of the TLC reality show American Chopper. Recently, OCC worked with Siemens to develop an electric motorcyle:

On Wednesday, Siemens, the electronics and electrical engineering global powerhouse, unveiled the Smart Chopper it commissioned from the renowned custom motorcycle outfit. Siemens claims the bike has a 60-mile range and a 100 mph top speed. An onboard charging unit can be plugged into any 110-volt socket to charge the bike in five hours, and Siemens says it’ll charge in as little as one hour when plugged into a higher-voltage station. A single-speed, clutch-less transmission delivers the power from a 27-hp electric motor.

Link

Tags: electric vehicles, Orange County Choppers, Siemens, Smart Chopper

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psulli
Aug 12th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I love this. I ride moto-bikes. I don’t ride choppers, though. It is great to see OCC take an alternative power project. I think both motorcycles and auto-racing need to take a big lead into alternative power.
Christophe
Aug 12th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
Hells Angels on CO2 friendly bikes?
Johnny Cat
Aug 13th, 2009 at 12:37 am
isn’t 70% of the appeal directly related to the loud roar of a Harley engine? Or am I missing something?
Johnny Cat
Aug 13th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Somewhere, employees of West Coast Choppers are laughing hysterically.
pad2
Aug 13th, 2009 at 1:21 am
Design seems to be very attractive. But is the engine speed rpm.
Larfin Jackarse
Aug 13th, 2009 at 3:04 am
Mehhh…so what.

The world’s fastest motorcycle has already been built and crashed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o15EALghp0
(note: no one super badly hurt)
Lasse
Aug 13th, 2009 at 3:46 am
Johnny Cat >> you can probaby upload your own roar sound in mp3-format.
ted
Aug 13th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Man, Paul Sr looks like a dork on that bike.
abdulhamid
Aug 13th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Might as well drive around in a big vagina.
seefish3
Aug 13th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
More green propaganda to make you want to cuddle your utilities provider instead of forming the lynch mob.
Vonskippy
Aug 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
60 mile range – welcome to the bane of electric powered vehicles. In Cali thats just enough to get you from work to where you park your car so that you can begin the real commute home.
Foreigner1
Aug 14th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Such a large bike and such a poor mileage…? I’d expect at least double of that! …but then again- most of those big OCC-bikes have only about a teacup’s worth of gas in the pathetic gastanks that they build on their usual bikes. So 60 miles perhaps for Paul Sr and his posse is something like Out of this world Range…?
trollkind
Aug 14th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Yeah, 60 miles before a 5 hour stop? That’s poor.
The design also suffers from the Siemens logo, they should have come up with something special for the occasion. It turns this bike into a kitchen appliance.
There are a lot of self built electric dragsters already and they are super impressive, at least on the quarter mile.
ernest
Aug 14th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
riding around with the white siemens between his legs…
Beeve
Aug 15th, 2009 at 9:58 am
The noise of a harley is key when cruising over a crosswalk as well. I’ll bet those people wouldn’t even know he was coming.
Skipweasel
Aug 16th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Why do electric vehicle producers always aim for such high accellerations and top speeds? Who actually really drives like that?
Surely if they put the effort into better charge times, longer range, lower prices…
jim craft
Aug 19th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Apparently, they are going on a tour with the smart chopper and the makings of smart chopper is airing on this October. Check out more about the smart chopper buzz @ http://twitter.com/SmartChopper
their facebook page is on the way, as well.
Blake
Aug 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
If you are curious, the facebook fan page is up:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smart-Chopper/122737577203
Penny Kittredge
Sep 16th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Can anyone tell me when the American Chopper Siemens Smart Chopper episode will air? I found out about the bike via Flicker http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcbauer/sets/72157621900421585/ but don’t know when it will be on TV.
jerrygman
Sep 20th, 2009 at 12:36 am
I think that for disabled riders like myself,this would be the perfect unit to turn into a three wheeler.60 mile range would be plenty enough miles for me. It would great to once again feel the breeze in my hair & the sun on my face. Keep up the great work Paul sr. & O.C.C.
john Spencer
Oct 21st, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Wonderful launch by the orange county choppers. First electric motorcycle can charge in 5 hours on 110 volts and can produce 27 hp. Orange County Web Design
derrickblunden
Dec 15th, 2010 at 3:51 am
What a Great Article

headset it its really informative and innovative keep us posted with new updates. its was really valuable. thanks a lot

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