Every year, sometime during the last week of November, Vagator Beach in Goa hosts the India Bike Week (IBW) and the whole town reverberates with the thundering sound of hundreds of big bikes being revved to their limits. Bikers from around the country come together to exchange stories of being on the road with their machines, the wind in their hair, the powerful motorcycle thrumming between their legs. But much of the spirit in all those big fuel tanks gets spent on loud idling.
Now imagine a scenario where all those macho bikes are battery-powered and the only sound that you hear from them is the whine of an electric motor! Is it premature then to think that it is time for electric bikes? Will the coming electric vehicle revolution, which is now almost assumed to be inevitable in the car industry, be replicated in the two-wheeler space too?
The lay of the brand
A few weeks ago, Harley-Davidson shook the motorcycle industry when it announced that sometime late next year it will be launching an electric bike called ‘LiveWire’. Most other major two-wheeler makers around the globe also have e-bikes as part of their technology showcases for auto shows. The difference with the LiveWire is that it will be a commercially available motorcycle, while the others are mere concepts. Harley-Davidson claims that its electric two-wheeler will provide a visceral riding experience, with instant torque and thrilling acceleration: “no clutch, just twist and go”.
BMW Motorrad, another motorcycle maker that is serious about going electric, already has an electric motor-powered maxi scooter called the ‘C Evolution’. But in late 2016, Motorrad unveiled the Vision Next 100, a futuristic, self-balancing motorcycle that is virtually uncrashable and so riders can literally just wear goggles that display data that is fed by the bike’s sensors, and no other protective gear. BMW says that this is not science fiction any more, and that the day when bikes of this kind will be in the market is not far.
Gliding over
Performance biking is as yet a new passion in the Indian market. Admittedly, the urge to don the image of a big-bike owner more often precedes the urge to truly enjoy the ride. But the expanding clutch of serious bikers is a passionate lot, consisting of people who will look after their machines like they would their pets. They’d also prefer the music created by the exhaust note. Bikers aren’t any more environment-conscious compared to the others. So, where in this melee does the electric two-wheeler fit in? Will we glide towards the current global trends that point to the possibility of electric bikes following electric cars?
Tesla was the big disruptor that really shocked the automobile industry worldwide and woke them from their gasoline-induced stupor. Fresh innovation, lateral thinking and a disruptor’s approach to the subject of EVs uncorrupted by the historical baggage that the other automobile companies had to deal with, helped Tesla. Being a startup was its strength.
The same is true with the electric motorcycles category, where startups like Italy’s Energica and the California-based American company Alta were the first disruptors. The big gasoline-powered bike-makers are only now waking up to the potential, after seeing the strong acceptance that these are seeing amongst traditional motorcycle buyers.
In the US, where motorcycle sales have seen a precipitous 50% fall, electric motorcycle sales is growing at a steady clip. Internal combustion (IC)-engine-powered motorcycle makers are too heavily invested in trying to make their bikes meet future emission regulations and in improving the conventional performance parameters. So, they are less eager to look beyond and consider the prospects for electric motorcycles.
India calling
In India too, the disruptors are likely to be startups and not the traditional IC-engine-bike makers. Take Ultraviolette Automotive and Tork Motors, both working on mid-size premium motorcycles. Tork, which unveiled its T6X in 2016, is a Pune-based startup that had already registered successes at racing circuits around the globe with its e-bikes, before developing one for the commuter segment.
Globally, both buyers and EV makers know that electrics need to outperform their conventional IC engine counterparts to stay desirable. The electric T6X is said to be capable of speeds of over 100 kmph and a riding range of 100 kms per charge. Ultraviolette claims that it will launch an electric motorcycle in the 200-250cc equivalent performance class and is confident that it can price it aggressively too.
Ultraviolette’s business model revolves around creating an electric motorcycle that will fit into the category of the premium executive commuter bikes, but deliver performance that is way above the segment benchmark. Narayan Subramaniam and his co-founder Niraj Rajmohan believe that their electric motorcycles will have what it takes to wean even serious bikers away from gasoline.
The promise of instant torque, a much-above-segment level of acceleration and even the aural experience of listening to the top note of an electric motor’s whine, they believe, can be as desirable as the engagement offered by the big IC engine-powered motorcycles of today. “We want to bring the pride of ownership element to electric vehicle owners,” says Narayan, who is also the CEO.
But for the Indian buyer, EVs, both cars and two-wheelers, are considered compromises in terms of performance and build. Since much of the development in the EV sector has, in the past, focused on staying under the radar of the regulatory environment and leveraging the support from incentives, the cars and two-wheelers (mostly scooters) have been underpowered and over-thought. The perception that electrics are undesirable needs to be changed.
The duo also feel that increasing congestion in the cities will lead to more people choosing the freedom of clutch-free riding that electric motorcycles can offer, a trend which is currently only reflected in the growing popularity of automatic transmission cars. But it is one thing to want the convenience of an auto transmission and another to want to go electric.
In the near future, electric motorcycles may, like EVs, only make small incursions into the market for two-wheelers. But if the future is going to be all electric, it will have a clique of Indian players there too, including some of the big brands. And if the recent decision by TVS Motor to invest in and partner with Ultraviolette is any indication, the future looks like it’ll be a quieter ride. As for the image, perhaps the next generation won’t associate noise with machismo.
