This Electric Motorcycle Just Set A New Range Record With A 271-Mile Ride

A Zero DS with the optional Power Tank rode from the French Alps to the Mediterranean on a single charge.

Photo by: Zero Motorcycles

By: Iulian Dnistran

Oct 14, at 8:18am ET

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Zero Motorcycles set a new Guinness World Record for the longest journey by an electric motorbike on a single charge.
A Zero DS set off from Les Claux in the French Alps in the evening and arrived near Montpellier the next day.
The achievement blows past the previous record, set by a Verge TS Pro.

There’s a new long-range electric motorcycle champion, and it’s made by a company with American roots. Zero Motorcycles, which was founded in California two decades ago, just bagged the Guinness World Record for the longest journey by an electric motorbike on a single charge.

A Zero DS went 271.2 miles (436.5 kilometers) on a full charge from the French Alps to the Mediterranean, smashing the previous record from 2025, when a Verge TS Pro went 193 miles (310.6 km) on a single charge.

Zero’s record run, which happened last month, had a total of three bikes involved, but only the DS managed to go so far, and there’s a big reason for that: it was fitted with the optional Power Tank, which ups the bike’s battery capacity from 15.6 kilowatt-hours to 19.2 kWh. Mind you, this is an official option from Zero, which can be installed at a dealer, and not something that was jerry-rigged.

Belgian Jelle Verstaen was the rider who took home the title, but it’s worth noting that the route excluded major highways and two-lane roads. Instead, Zero says the riders took the route less traveled, favoring single-lane roads where they could maintain a consistent pace. The convoy left in the evening and drove through the night until the next morning, when a major storm hit the bike that would set the new range record.

Photo by: Zero Motorcycles

Zero Motorcycles didn’t provide specifics about the route or the average speed, but it mentioned that where the road conditions and speed limits allowed, riders aimed for around 32 miles per hour (52 kilometers per hour).

Nevertheless, it’s a great result for what is effectively a battery on wheels. The accompanying bikes didn’t do too bad, either, with the SR/S model ending the journey after 217 miles (350 km), while the DSR/X in the convoy went 238 miles (384 km). In other words, even the shorter-range Zero bikes beat the Verge TS Pro’s record from last year.

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Before setting off, the record-setting bike’s charging port was sealed, and the rider had not one, but two GPS trackers on him. At the end of the trip, a Guinness World Records representative verified the trackers and noted the result, making it official.

The Zero DS, which is not sold in the United States, has a single rear motor with a peak power of 45 kilowatts (60 horsepower) and a continuous output of 11 kW (15 hp).