A German brand has decided to hop on the bandwagon for clean emissions – only they’ve taken a bit of a left turn into the hybrid corner, and they’ve done it with a prototype that doesn’t look too different from your generic Husqvarna offering.
The company in question is none other than Vitesco, a new marque with the same opinion as Kawasaki when it comes to flex-fuel beasties (namely, that electric won’t be as successful as a bike that runs on a blend of juices).
“German company Vitesco believes emission laws will start forcing motorcycle companies to use hybrid power,” explains the report from NewAtlas.
“Designed for motorcycles over 125cc, Vitesco’s kit includes a 48-volt, 12-kW (16-hp) electric motor – indeed, it’s a starter/generator from Vitesco’s automotive supply business…if properly integrated into a production motorcycle, the hybrid system would add less than US$1,000 to the cost of the bike.”
Apparently, the kit includes a ‘smart transmission,’ as well as centrifugal clutch, ‘intelligent actuator,’ and powertrain domain control unit’ – and though the 1.5 kW battery might only be capable of a neat 30km (18.6 miles) of range, the benefits are big.
Like, really big.
For the bike used in the demonstration at this year’s EICMA, Torque has been almost doubled and emission has been cut by 75%, giving it “more punch than a conventional bike with a 1,000cc engine.”
We’d also be looking at the instant ability to use reverse gear, regenerative braking, and a silent chuckle about town at the twist of a key – an admittedly attractive concept, and one that would likely add value to a lot of smaller-cc gas bikes around here.
“…our development focus was initially entirely on reducing CO2,” explains Torsten Bellon, Vitesco’s head of 2-Wheeler & Powersports products.
“During our development work, it became increasingly clear that our hybrid concept opens up completely new possibilities for making motorcycling more dynamic, more comfortable and safer.”
“We exploited these options and are now in a position to support manufacturers with an easy-to-implement, low-cost and highly effective system.”
There’s currently no debut date on when something like this would be made available to the industry, but we look forward to seeing what Vitesco punts out in the following seasons.
In the meantime, stay connected by catching up o the best of the latest via our homepage, drop a comment below to get the conversation started, and as ever – stay safe on the twisties.