According to a 2010 report published by Pike Research, the global market for electric two-wheeled vehicles, including e-bikes, e-scooters, and e-motorcycles, will grow at a compound annual rate of nine percent through 2016. (Earlier post.)

Lightning Motorcycles is expecting to answer some of that demand by first introducing a street-legal version of its Lightning SuperBike, which earned an official world record of 173.388 mph in October last year.

We’ve tested many different battery solutions over the last year, including Ener1 and several of its competitors. The Lightning data and test results showed us that Ener1’s lithium-ion batteries far out-perform those from competing companies, which is why we’ve switched to using their cells in our electric motorcycles. Lightning Motorcycles is committed to using what we believe to be the most powerful, safest, best-of-breed batteries on the market, which is why we’re also extremely pleased to be representing Ener1 as an official distributor.

—Richard Hatfield, founder of Lightning Motorcycles

Lightning Motorcycles has been distributing electric parts and components for several years with a strong focus on and knowledge of serving the electric motorcycle and light-duty vehicle markets. In addition to the supply relationship, Lightning Motorcycles will also serve as an end-user distributor for Ener1’s PHEV and EV lithium-ion cells.