Photo: DNEPR
Ukrainian electric bike startup Delfast plans to begin production of an electric version of the legendary DNEPR motorcycle in the United States, and part of their plan is to take the prototype Delfast DNEPR Electric electric motorcycle to Bonneville Speed Week 2021.
The original M-72 was built by the Soviet Union and meant to be a replacement for the two heavy motorcycles used by the Red Army - both of which had performed miserably during the Winter War with Finland. The replacement chosen was the BMW R 71, and as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, BMW provided design, tooling and training for the manufacture of the motorcycle and military sidecar.
Production was planned to take place in three factories near Moscow, Leningrad and Kharkov, but only the Moscow factory Moskovskiy Mototsikletniy Zavod (MMZ) ultimately produced any complete motorcycles before the German invasion in 1941 which marked the start of the Eastern Front battles during World War II.
The Moscow plant was moved east to the town of Irbit in Western Siberia and renamed "Irbit Motorcycle Factory" (IMZ). In 1952 500 M-72 engines were shipped from IMZ to allow the KMZ factory in Kyiv Ukraine to produce their first batch of M-72s. KMZ then built the M-72 until 1956.
In 1957 the Soviets sold off the M72 production line to the People's Republic of China and the IMZ plant supplied M-72 military bikes to China. Production continued in China through the mid-1980s, making the M72 the vehicle with the longest production life, from the BMW R71 in 1938, to current day Chang Jiang CJ750s.
During late July, Delfast LLC finalized their purchase of the DNEPR trademark and became the owner of all intellectual property, technological developments and design documentation of DNEPR.
According to Delfast, their engineers have been hard at work adapting the DNEPR marque to swap out the current two-cylinder, four-stroke gasoline engine with a modern electric motor.
The EMRAX-228 synchronous electric motor, weighing 12 kg with permanent magnets, produces an impressive (for a motorcycle) 50 kW or 68 horsepower. The motor is driven by a 12 kWh battery with a voltage of 600V. The maximum output of the motor is currently limited to 200A and that results in a maximum torque of 220 Nm.
Production was planned to take place in three factories near Moscow, Leningrad and Kharkov, but only the Moscow factory Moskovskiy Mototsikletniy Zavod (MMZ) ultimately produced any complete motorcycles before the German invasion in 1941 which marked the start of the Eastern Front battles during World War II.
The Moscow plant was moved east to the town of Irbit in Western Siberia and renamed "Irbit Motorcycle Factory" (IMZ). In 1952 500 M-72 engines were shipped from IMZ to allow the KMZ factory in Kyiv Ukraine to produce their first batch of M-72s. KMZ then built the M-72 until 1956.
In 1957 the Soviets sold off the M72 production line to the People's Republic of China and the IMZ plant supplied M-72 military bikes to China. Production continued in China through the mid-1980s, making the M72 the vehicle with the longest production life, from the BMW R71 in 1938, to current day Chang Jiang CJ750s.
During late July, Delfast LLC finalized their purchase of the DNEPR trademark and became the owner of all intellectual property, technological developments and design documentation of DNEPR.
According to Delfast, their engineers have been hard at work adapting the DNEPR marque to swap out the current two-cylinder, four-stroke gasoline engine with a modern electric motor.
The EMRAX-228 synchronous electric motor, weighing 12 kg with permanent magnets, produces an impressive (for a motorcycle) 50 kW or 68 horsepower. The motor is driven by a 12 kWh battery with a voltage of 600V. The maximum output of the motor is currently limited to 200A and that results in a maximum torque of 220 Nm.
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