on the development of electric powertrains, it is interesting to watch the approaches taken by the different motorcycle manufacturers to move on from ICE powertrains. Some of them have the resources to largely go it alone (see the Yamaha video at the bottom of this article – which we will talk more about in a bit), while other manufacturers are seeking partnerships to develop cutting edge designs. Triumph is one of the latter.
Triumph’s latest renderings of its TE-1 prototype display an attractive design patterned very much after modern sportbikes, but the planned powertrain is the real news. The development of this powertrain involves Triumph and at least four other partners with funding coming from agencies of the British government.
One of the most important partners is Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE). As we understand it, WAE is the sole supplier of batteries to the electric vehicles contesting the Formula E championship. WAE is part of the Williams Group, which has been contesting the Formula One world championship for decades.
Triumph’s collaboration with WAE, which is a British concern, reminds us somewhat of Kenny Roberts’ partnerships with British engineering and manufacturing concerns in the late 1990’s when he developed his own three-cylinder motorcycle to take on the established Japanese manufacturers in 500cc GP racing. The efforts by Roberts were largely unsuccessful, but even then Britain was known for its cutting-edge motorsports engineers and designers. WAE certainly continues on, and builds from, this tradition.
The TE-1 is a concept utilizing an extremely compact, lightweight (22 pounds) motor developed by another Triumph partner, Integral Powertrain, Ltd., which specializes in efficient, compact electric engines. Together with WAE’s proven capability to design and manufacture batteries with extremely high energy density, I think we can count on Triumph introducing very competitive electric motorcycles in the near future. The resulting water-cooled design borrows “tricks” from both Formula E and Formula One. Kevin Cameron over at CycleWorld goes into great depth discussing this.
Larger companies, such as Honda and Yamaha, may be inclined to develop most of their technology and design in-house. The video below discusses some of Yamaha’s efforts towards development of electric powertrains, useful for both motorcycles and automobiles. Indeed, Yamaha is developing a business to supply other manufacturers with electric powertrains, not just itself.
The motorcycle industry is moving very rapidly toward the dominance of electric machines over ICE designs, and it will certainly be interesting to watch how developments move forward. MD suspects that, while ICE designs are extremely mature, with most motorcycle manufacturers able to produce competitive power and efficiency, electric powertrain development will be, at least initially, a significant differentiator between manufacturers, i.e., some will do much better in combining engine power and range than others.
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