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This machine is the most powerful and most technically advanced superbike in the world.

The world's most powerful and most technically advanced electric superbike is set to make history early next year.

Developed by Swigz.com Pro Racing in the USA, it will take on established petrol-powered race bikes on 9 January 2011 at the Auto Club Speedway in California.

The bike's rider and owner, Chip Yates said: "Our electric motorcycle will compete head on with real racing superbikes such as the Ducati 1198 and KTM RC8 as well as other established manufacturers, and we expect to work hard to show the world that electric technology can achieve lap time parity with petrol superbikes.

"We're not going on track to make up the numbers; we're going out to compete in order to raise our game and catch up to these guys."

The news comes in the light of the bike's recent exclusion from the FIM and TTXGP Championships for electric motorcycles, which has imposed a significantly lower maximum weight limit of 250kg for the 2011 season.

"Our bike weighs in at 266kg right now," Yates said. "Clearly, these championships are more concerned with promoting scooter development, and our bike is so much faster than the electric competition that we feel far more inclined to push our bike's unique technology platform forward in the ultimate competitive environment of petrol bike racing."

The Swigz Racing machine has a power to weight ratio that slightly betters that of 600cc petrol bikes, and it will begin the 2011 season by competing in the Wera Pirelli Sportsman Heavyweight Twins Superbike class where its power to weight ratio puts it in the middle of the field.

To be competitive against these heavyweight twin cylinder superbikes going forward, the bike will benefit from a more than 20% increase to its current 145kW after this first race weekend in January.

Yates continued: "Our scheduled power increase will make our electric superbike more powerful than a MotoGP bike and will bring us extremely close to power to weight parity with the best 1000cc Japanese superbikes. Those two facts are a simply outstanding reflection of the potential in electric power."