Delfast prototypes Police Patrol e-bike

By Paul Ridden, November 14, 2019, New Atlas

Delfast's special edition Top Cop e-bike. Photo: Delfast

Back in 2017, Delfast released a long-range e-bike called the Prime that went on to nab a Guinness World Record for the greatest distance traveled on a single charge of an e-bike's battery – 228.066 miles. Earlier this year, the company announced the powerful Top 2.0, and has now designed a special edition for US police departments called the Top Cop.

Currently at the prototype stage of development, the e-bike offers 174 miles (280 km) of per charge range from a battery designed to offer an 8 year lifecycle (or around 3,000 cycles). Its powerful 5,000-W motor will zip a patrol officer up to a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h), and can be locked by the rider to deter would-be thieves, but there's GPS tracking cooked in just in case an opportunist does manage to steal the e-bike away.

The Top Cop features front and rear damping units for a smooth ride, IPX5 weather protection, and naturally, given its intended purpose, special horns have been installed together with police lights. It also features twin panniers at the back and a stealthy black paint job emblazoned with police logos.

Delfast reckons that police departments could save some serious money too, if they transferred officers from motorcycles to Top Cop e-bikes – in the region of US$2,000 per year in fact.

With a prototype in the bag, the company is currently in talks with over 20 police departments across the US to arrange real-world testing. If/when mass production starts, the starting price for the Top Cop will be around $4,899.

Paul Ridden:  While Paul is loath to reveal his age, he will admit to cutting his IT teeth on a TRS-80 (although he won't say which version). An obsessive fascination with computer technology blossomed from hobby into career before hopping over to France for 10 years, where he started work for New Atlas in 2009. Now back in his native Blighty, he serves as Managing Editor in Europe.

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