Electric Rider

When Jay Hutchins was enduring 135-degree heat in Kuwait two years ago as a National Guard officer, his thoughts were of his Davie County home. And of building electric motorcycles there.

After getting a Forsyth Technical Community College diploma in automotive technology, Hutchins, now 42, made a living by working on gas-powered vehicles all his adult life. That included 14 months’ service earlier in Iraq before heading to Camp Airfjan in Kuwait to be battalion maintenance officer for the North Carolina National Guard.

But now, contemplating his future after Kuwait, he realized that electric vehicles are “the way we need to be going.” A member of EnergyUnited electric cooperative, Hutchins says, “Electric compulsion doesn’t pollute the environment. And it saves money.” He remembered the hit to his pocketbook when he regularly drove a Ford Focus back and forth to a National Guard assignment three hours from his home: “I was up to something like $6,000 a year in gas.”

An Army buddy encouraged his electric motorcycle dream, but as a career?  “My wife thought I was insane.”  
So Jay taught automotive technology at an Iredell County high school. At night in his garage, he worked on what would become the Lektron Stelth R motorcycle. The Stelth R (for rigid or hardtail style, no suspension) is a green, one-seat bike with a 35-hp electric motor. He entered it into a 2013 online voting design contest. Family members, Army buddies and other friends all over the U.S. came through with thousands of votes. “One guy emailed a vote from Mongolia,” Hutchins remembers. The Stelth R won a spot in competition at the famed Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, but the slot was eliminated.

He didn’t win a contest, but Jay was determined to move on. He quit his job, formed HutchInnovations LLC, and started working fulltime on a more sophisticated, powerful, cruiser-style bike he calls Lektron Stelth S. The S signifies “softail,” or hidden rear suspension, for a more comfortable ride.

An awesome fun ride

The Stelth R, with its 50-mile range at a 90-minute charge, is “a happy bike, a putt-around bike,” Jay says.

The Stelth S, however, is serious stuff: a 96-volt battery feeds a 70-hp motor. It goes from 0 to 60 mph in 7 seconds, Jay says, and can get up to 100 mph. Plus, “It’s so much more comfortable.”

Traveling 35- to 50-mph, he gets 100 miles from a 12-hour charge at a standard 110-volt household outlet. Or six hours if charged at a 220-volt outlet.

“I’ve ridden it to Mount Airy (80 miles round trip) and back. It’s an awesome fun ride,” he says.

The bike has a purple and black aluminum body on a steel frame, and a constant velocity transmission that eliminates gear shifting. Its two seats allow you to “take your girlfriend out,” he says, and its stereo lets her plug in her phone to hear music.

Both R and S use lithium iron phosphate batteries, considered lighter, cheaper and safer than earlier lithium batteries.

Stelth S’s  saddlebags are topped with solar panels that feed a 12-volt battery to run lights, gauges and stereo when the main motor is off.

Hutchins, who works with an investor, will custom-make an R for $24,000 or an S for $32,000–$35,000, which he says is in the same ball park as high-end gas-powered bikes like the touring Indian. An Indian with added features can top $30,000, he says.

Driving 15,000 miles per year, a Stelth S in 10 years’ time could save its owner more than $20,000, Hutchins says.

That’s figuring gas at $2.50 a gallon and 1,500-mile oil changes at $100, for a total of $23,392, contrasted with $3,150 for 100-mile battery charges at $.10 per kilowatt-hour.

Stelth buyers may be able to tap into special funds. The Clean Energy Technology Center at N.C. State University is awarding law enforcement and other public and private entities federal funds to buy vehicles that reduce transportation-related emissions.

Despite the recent drop in gas prices, “I think people are going to continue to switch over to electrics and electric hybrids because of the cleaner emissions,” Hutchins says. “The batteries are going to get better, the distances are going to get longer.”