Lightning Strikes..

American electric firm Lightning appear to be working on a new off-road-focussed plug-in adventure bike.

Exposed in design pictures registered in China, the new machine looks set to go toe to toe with the Italian-made Energica Experia, which stole the march on battery-powered adventure bikes back in May.

The filing has been made by Lightning founder and chief executive officer Richard Hatfield, who is also listed as the bike’s designer, and took place at the China National Intellectual Property Administration, which is not that surprising when you realise that Lightning has a factory in China.

Accompanying text, translated from Chinese, describes the design not specifically as an adventure bike but as an ‘off-road motorcycle’, which immediately distinguishes it from the Experia which has road-orientated 17-inch wheels.

In addition, the word ‘Dakar’ is used – most likely just to describe the bike’s style as its adoption as a name is almost certain to be contested by BMW, who have used it on adventure bikes as far back as the 1985 R80G/S Paris-Dakar.

Lightning, if you remember, first came to prominence in 2012 by claiming an electric land speed record of 218mph with a prototype version of its first production bike, the appropriately-named, limited edition 200bhp LS-218.

That bike was then succeeded by the similar-looking but much more affordable (mostly due to being made in China) Lightning Strike sportster in 2019, which is still available to order from $19,998 (£16,631) and yet still boasts a claimed 120bhp, Brembo brakes and Öhlins suspension.

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