Canadian Dakar competitor, Patrick Trahan, has been keeping busy in Morocco, competing in the Merzouga Rally on an electric bike.
The rally took place on November 3-9 and Trahan was the sole competitor registered under a new category called New Energy. He was riding a T-Race, an electric rally bike built by Tacita, a company based in Italy.
A few DNFs placed Trahan near the bottom of the roster in the final results, but Tacita’s goal was to test the machine in the most difficult conditions possible.
Although electric bikes have taken part in closed-course competition in the past, including motocross, road racing and even the Isle of Man TT, this the first time an e-bike has raced in a long-distance rally lasting several days.
“I have race many rally here in Merzouga, but it is the first time that I raced in silence,” said Trahan. “The T-Race performs like any rally bike and was very good to ride in the dunes.”
The T-Race uses a liquid-cooled, three-phase brushless electric motor that produces a peak of 24 kW (32 hp). It runs on a 10 kW lithium-polymer battery.
The company will be launching its T-Tour project in March of next year, offering off-road electric bike tours in the Italian Alps.
You can find out more at tacit.it (Italian).
