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Around the World in 80 Days with the First Electric Touring Motorcycle

STORM, world's first electric touring motorcycle, designed by students of TU Eindhoven. (Photo: Bart van Overbeeke.)
STORM, world’s first electric touring motorcycle, designed by students of TU Eindhoven. (Photo: Bart van Overbeeke.)

STORM Eindhoven, a group of Dutch university students from Eindhoven University of Technology, has developed the world’s first electric touring motorcycle and is now preparing to take its STORM Pulse across the world in 80 days. “Building a zero-emission vehicle without compromising on design, safety, and pleasure,” noted STORM Eindhoven. “This is what STORM Eindhoven means to realize with an electric motorcycle, to show the world that e-mobility can be attractive… By being the first to drive an electric series motorcycle around the world in 80 days, the team wants to show that attractive sustainable mobility is possible right now.”

The STORM e-mobility motorcycle features aluminum solutions and technical competence supplied by Sapa‘s Benelux unit. This includes providing the aluminium cartridges for the battery pack. All of the 24 cartridges (each with 28.5 kWh of energy) was extruded, edged, cut, tapped, and anodized at the company’s aluminium extrusion plant in Drunen, Netherlands. The unique, custom-made battery pack enables the motorcycle to have a range of 380 kilometers on a single charge. Furthermore, it is possible to adapt the whole pack by reducing the number of cartridges to create a lighter bike and a more sporty ride. Sapa also provided knowledge sharing with the STORM Eindhoven team.

The aluminum mainframe for housing the battery pack of the STORM motorcycle. (Image: STORM Eindhoven.)
The aluminum mainframe for housing the battery pack of the STORM motorcycle. (Image: STORM Eindhoven.)
Individual battery cells can be added or removed to either improve range or lighten the overall weight of the motorcycle. (Image: STORM Eindhoven.)
Individual battery cells can be added or removed to either improve range or lighten the overall weight of the motorcycle. (Image: STORM Eindhoven.)

Around the World in 80 Days

During the STORM World Tour — kicking off on August 14 from Eindhoven — the 25 students from the Eindhoven University team will be riding around the world in 80 days, a journey that takes in the northern hemisphere and a total of 26,000 km (around 16,200 miles) of road. “We will drive our motorcycle through Europe, central Asia and China to the harbor of Shanghai,” explained STORM Eindhoven. “After sea transportation, our team will make a tour through the United States before finishing in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.”

The key to convincing the world, STORM Eindhoven believes, lies in sharing the experience. People as well as universities and companies from all over the world can take part in the STORM Grid and offer electricity or other facilities. One stopover will be at the Sapa site in Portland, Oregon, on October 4.

After returning to Europe and concluding the tour, the STORM bike will be displayed at the Sapa stand during this year’s ALUMINIUM 2016 exhibition in Düsseldorf, Germany, November 29 – December 1.

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