It’s not every day that you see the kind of engineering a group of college students can achieve when given the freedom and encouragement to create something incredible. The Delta-XE is an innovative electric superbike.
If you’re wondering what kind of electric vehicle is fast enough to make your eyes bulge, or if you’re just mad about all things that can reach 186 mph faster, you’ll be pleased to know more about this fascinating, fully electric superbike.
Usually, when you hear “college students build a bike”, it’s referring to a gas-guzzling project involving makeshift carburettors, sleepless nights, and duct tape.
This time an engineering student team from the Netherlands has transformed one into what could be the world’s most powerful electric superbike.
In Enschede, Twente University’s production facility Electric Superbike Twente has built its newest flagship machine, the Delta-XE.
A fifteen engineering students at the Twente University of Technology in the Netherlands set out to design and build a high-powered electric superbike with an in-house team of electronic, mechanical and software engineers. That would challenge preconceptions about how these high-end vehicles are designed. After more than two years of research and development, they created the remarkable Delta-XE.
Electric motor
- Type: Custom PMAC (Permanent Magnet AC)
- Supplier: AE Group
- Specifications: 170 kW
Battery pack
- Type: Lithium Polymer (Li-Po)
- Specifications: 13.5 kWh modular
- Number of cells: 576
Motor controller
- Type: PM150DZR
- Supplier: Cascadia Motion
- Specifications: 820 V, 400Arms
Battery management system
- Type: Custom made
- Supplier: Prodrive Technology
Components / Chassis
Frame
- Type: CrMoB Steel Trellis Frame
- Supplier: Bakker Framebouw
Swingarm
- Type: Custom aluminium 7020
- Supplier: Bakker Framebouw
Front suspension
- Type: Öhlins cartridges with ceramic reinforced carbon tubes
- Supplier: CeraCarbon Racing
Rear suspension
- Type: Öhlins TTX GP
- Supplier: Ten Kate Racing Products
Bodywork
- Type: Suter MMX 500 with custom seat
- Supplier: Suter Industries and Allplast
- Livery design: New frame
Brakes
- Type: Solid Billet 4 Piston Radial Brake Calipers
- Supplier: HEL Performance Products
- Specifications: 108 mm
Wheels & Tires
- Type: Marchesini Forged Aluminium front wheel & PVM Magnesium rear wheel
- Supplier: Ten Kate Racing Products
Sprockets & Chain
- Type: 520 Xs ring chain & custom sprockets
- Supplier: CeraCarbon Racing & AFAM
Electric vehicle tech still has a long way to go before it becomes mainstream. Still, recent developments in EV racing suggest even the first electric superbikes may be truly stunning, and that is what these students have done.
via Twente
