It’s 1903 all over again, and with so many companies flooding our inbox with electric motorcycle news, The Current channel on TheVintagent.com is presenting a weekly roundup by our EV Editor Tim Huber.  Dig it!

Triumph Announces First EV Project

An electric Bonneville? Tim Huber’s sketch of an EV/EB. [Tim Huber]

At this point, it seems like it’s not a matter of if every big-name motorcycle company will release an electric model but when, and the newest major player to announce that it’s tossing its hat in the
two-wheeled EV ring is Triumph. Dubbed the “TE-1”, the project will take place over the next two-years, culminating in the unveiling of what will reportedly be a highly-compact, cutting-edge electric powertrain — with a production model assumably following not long after. The Hinckley firm isn’t going the project alone and has partnered up with a number of other electrical engineering outfits that have been tasked with developing individual elements of the forthcoming electric Brit bike. Williams Advanced Engineering is responsible for creating
the batteries while Integral Powertrain is handling the electric motor (and silicon carbide inverter). The University of Warwick will then carry out the long-term research and testing of the new systems, with Triumph being left with developing the machine’s chassis and executing
its final design. It should be interesting to see if Triumph takes the vintage-aesthetic route, and releases an electric Bonnie-type bike, or if it will follow Harley’s lead in introducing an entirely new aesthetic to the firm’s lineup. Time will tell.

Tork’s T6X Gets Closer To Market

When the Indian motorcycle industry goes electric, the rest of the world’s EV industry will be changed. India is the largest consumer market for motorcycles (1M/month!) and has the largest motorcycle companies too. [Tork]

For the last seven-years, India’s Tork Motors has been slowly developing its upcoming electric streetbike, the T6X. The Pune-based firm began accepting pre-orders a while back, and aside from final pricing — which is believed to be around 1.25 lakhs (roughly $1,875) — the company has already released most of the T6X’s specs; 20ft-lbs of torque powertrain, 100km/h (62mph) “cruising speed”, 100km range, and an 80-percent charge-time in one-hour.

Unlike most electric startups, Tork — which is now being seen as the primary competitor of Revolt Motors — has a wealth of experience to draw from when it comes to developing its bikes. The company has been taking part in the TTXGP for the last several years with a great deal of success. This know-how is expected to translate into real-world performance, though the machines “affordable nature” gives me pause. The T6X will also be connected to the cloud, allowing it to receive firmware and software updates as the tech progresses, helping to “future-proof” the sporty electric commuter. We’re not sure when the T6X will finally debut, though the release of a new promo video from the Indian outfit hints that it’ll be sooner than later, with Tork expecting to have some 5,000 T6X examples on the road by the end of 2019.

Pursang Rises From The Dead 

The Pursang returns! An e-Tracker ready for a Hooligan race near you. [Pursang]

The Pursang name is being revived, and this time around is setting its sights on the EV sector. This week at the Barcelona International Motor Show — which saw its 100th anniversary this year — Avan, the Indian firm behind the revived Spanish brand, took the opportunity to show off two of its production prototypes. The first is called the “E-Street” and is reportedly powered by a 6kW (roughly 8hp) Ashwoods brushless motor paired with dual, removable Torrot battery cells, all
housed in a chromoly frame shrouded in lightweight plastic bodywork. The E-Street rides on a set of 18” aluminum wheels with stainless spokes, and supposedly offers a range of 55-to-75-miles (depending on how hard you push it), a top-speed of 75mph., and will be reportedly be priced at just shy of $10K.

Easy access! [Pursang]
The more noteworthy proto-specimen shown off this week is known as the “Big Bore”. The protobike is a modern take on the flat/street-tracker aesthetic adorned in carbon fiber bodywork. At the heart of the ironically named “Big-Bore” is an 11kW motor wrapped in an alloy frame. The tracker tail and number-plate flip up to reveal the model’s pair of batteries which can be removed for easy charging. Other amenities include fork guards, LED lighting throughout, Renthal bars
and MX-style foot-pegs, LCD instrumentation, spoked rims, Nissin brakes, with waved rotors, and chain final drive. Pricing is supposedly somewhere just south of the $15K mark and pre-orders are
seemingly available on the Pursang website, though there’s no mention of when shipping will begin.

Unu Debuts 2nd Gen E-Scooter

The Unu e-scoot has tons of cargo space [Unu]

If you reside in North America, you probably aren’t familiar with Germany’s Unu Motors, though it’s nonetheless one of Europe’s leading scooter companies, specializing in cheap, economical two-wheelers. This week the Berlin-based brand pulled the cover off its latest e-scooter, and while it’s technically a second-generation version of an existing offering, it’s undergone a complete redesign and could be arguably classified as an entirely new model. The gen-two sports a much sleeker visual theme which is a major departure from the gen one, plus specs have improved and a host of features have been added.

She comes in colors! The Unu will soon be everywhere, with its ultra-low price. [Unu]
The new Unu features a Bosch hub motor housed inside the scooter’s Vespa-style single-sided swing-arm and removable batteries from LG. The powertrain yields a 45km/h (28mph) top-speed and is available in three different specs; a 2kW model for $3,125 (€2,799), a $3,675(€3,299) 3kW version, and a 4 kW $4,350 (€3,899) scooter. Other standard amenities are as you’d expect with things like LED lighting and regenerative braking. The scooter also boasts a surprising amount
of storage space, with room for two ¾ helmets and a pair of batteries under the seat. Like the majority of modern e-moto offerings, the Unu 2.0 is a fully-connected machine with GPS navigation and smart-phone pairing and everything that comes with that (remote unlocking,
geo-fencing, etc). The gen one’s instrumentation has also been replaced by a tablet-esque screen.

All black everything for the streets of Europe, at first. [Unu]
Pre-orders are currently being accepted (limited to Germany, France, Austria, and the Netherlands for now), and the company is offering early buyers a $110 discount (€100) plus a free helmet, and an additional year of warranty on top of the standard two-year plan. Unu
is also offering financing plans as low as $77 per month, with the German outfit delivering scooters directly to the customer’s door.

Aritra Das’ Electric Panigale Concept

Faster than a Panigale? We’ll see about that, but this e-concept fits with the family style. [Anitra Das]

As a brand with a reputation for delivering some of the most breathtaking motorcycle designs on the market today, it’s no surprise that moto and EV enthusiasts are itching for a glimpse of Ducati’s debut electric superbike. Though it didn’t come from the Bologna brand’s official design team, a new rendering of an electric Ducati superbike popped up on the web this week and has been making its rounds online. Dubbed the “Elettrico”, the digital rendering comes from Aritra Das, a 26-year-old designer from India with zero formal training and an impressive portfolio of superbike and supercar concept renderings. Das’ latest concept envisions an electrified version of Ducati’s existing flagship superbike, with similar lines and shapes to that of the Panigale V4, plus the rest of the amenities typical of a Ducati (single-sided swing-arm, Brembo brakes, carbon fenders, and the classic deep red paint job).

It’s hard to say if the presence of the shifter on the left side was an oversight or an intentional choice, suggesting the e-Duck could sport a manual transmission. The size and shape of the faux-fuel-cell missed the mark a tad IMHO, and I’d love to have seen something novel done with the belly-pan area instead of simply deleting the section normally occupied by the under slung exhaust. Gripes aside, I’m genuinely excited about Ducati joining the EV segment, now we’re just
waiting on an announcement about the real thing.

Chasing Land Speed Records In a Home-Brewed Streamliner

Sketches for the cast-off bin Landspeeder special. [Shea Nyquist]

An aerospace engineer and EV enthusiast has set his sights on a land-speed record, and he’s cooking up a bonkers, home-brewed machine in order to bring the plan to fruition. The brainchild of Shea Nyquist, the fully-enclosed “Lark Racer” — which features 22kWh LiFeP04 battery cells linked to a 200kW (268hp) motor— is comprised of a collection of recycled parts as well as whatever Shea had sitting around his shop. The streamliner has a very Max Max-esque feel to it, with Nyquist personally designing and building each element of the racer himself. The project features a full custom chassis with separate pairs of rear-shocks soaking up the bumps fore and aft (helped along by a GPR stabilizer). Nyquist also implemented his own traction control system that alerts him if the front and rear wheel-speeds begin to vary. The entire machine was reportedly built for around $10,000, which is a lot of money, but a fraction of what most spend on land speed racers. Nyquist is gunning for getting his name into the record books at El Mirage later this summer, as well as a possible run in Bonneville the following month depending on his first attempt. If you’re interested to see how Shea has gotten the project to where it currently is, or if you want to follow his upcoming attempts, the guy has thoroughly documented the creation and testing of his “Lark” streamliner on his Youtube channel:

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