Zero have won the historic Maudes Trophy, with a team of riders piloting two Zero DSR/Xs almost 1200 miles in 60 hours, in freezing temperatures. The Maudes Trophy, first awarded 100 years ago to Norton, is given to manufacturers completing observed endurance challenges. BSA, Triumph and Yamaha are other previous winners, and in 1974 Suzuki bagged the award after running a GT380, GT550 and GT750 around the coast of Britain three times in succession. Needless to say, this is the first time non-petrol powered bikes have featured.

The Zero team, which included the National Motorcyclists Council’s Craig Carey-Clinch, set off from Lands’ End on Wednesday 29th November, checking into Lowestoft that evening. Riding north next day, temperatures plummeted to -6 degrees C, but despite heavy snow they kept going and reached Edinburgh in the early hours of Friday morning. Later that day, they completed the challenge, arriving at the final checkpoint in Holyhead.

BMF Chair Jim Freeman hailed the run as a milestone in the development of electric bikes: “Sounds like all their charging plans worked out, I’ll be interested to see that schedule. There’s no question that the bikes will do it. I’ve seen other endurance challenges with Evs that haven’t worked out nearly as well. Charging points, in the real world, are the great unknown, it can be planned immaculately, only to fail at the first contact with the National Grid’.”

“It was a gruelling ride at times,” added Craig Carey-Clinch, who was impressed by the Zeros, but had a point to make about charging infrastructure as well. “ Much more needs to be done by public authorities if they want to encourage a switch to ePTWs (electric powered two-wheelers). It’s not that charging facilities are rare, the opposite in fact, but many have no facilities or shelter for riders waiting off their bikes. This is a matter the National Motorcyclists Council will look into further.”

Written by Peter Henshaw

Top image courtesy of Zero Motorcycles