You might have seen this week that MCN has published photos of a forthcoming electric motorcycle from Royal Enfield. Because I kind of like electric motorcycles, and I kind of like Royal Enfield, I find myself pretty intrigued. Will this bike be any good?
I don’t want to steal someone else’s photos, so go to MCN’s website to see the spy shots. Unfortunately, the accompanying article isn’t terribly informative. But, in fairness, how much can you know about a bike just by looking at it?
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Even without looking at it, we know that Royal Enfield’s been working on an EV for a while. We know that because the company has told us.
“Moving with the times and innovating to meet new challenges has always been a part of Royal Enfield’s DNA,” the company states on its website. “Our move into the world of electric two-wheelers is no different.”
The company goes on to explain that its been doing a lot of testing with an electric motor housed in a Himalayan chassis, which it has subjected to “relentless testing in the most extreme conditions.” To temper expectations, however, the company is clear that it is not (yet) planning to roll out an electric adventure bike.
“What will hit the road soon is a new category of electric two-wheelers from Royal Enfield to answer the call for urban mobility offering a sophisticated, nimble and connected experience,” the company says. “Though technology advances, our commitment to purity remains.”
How soon is “soon,” you may ask. Less than two weeks from now, I answer. On the page explaining its electric ambitions, Royal Enfield encourages people to sign up for updates and tells them to save the date for 4 November 2024. That date just so happens to be the first day of EICMA 2024.
So, even if I hadn’t received an email from Royal Enfield’s PR team with the subject heading, “EICMA – We invite you to Royal Enfields EV future!,” I could be pretty confident of where and when we’ll see this electric bike in full.
As MCN points out, this thing looks kinda tiny. The magazine goes so far as to compare it with the Flying Flea bikes that Royal Enfield produced in the Second World War ─ tiny 125cc machines that were designed to be shoved out of a plane with a parachutist and assembled on the ground. That bike was so small and lightweight (just 130 pounds) that soldiers could pick it up and carry it over unrideable terrain.
This electric vehicle probably won’t be quite that petite. I am guessing that it will have a power output equivalent to a 50cc machine, similar to the Vespa Elettrica. So, about 5 horsepower, with a top speed around 35 mph. MCN seems to be guessing at a 125 cc equivalent ─ ie, something producing closer to 14 hp ─ but I feel this machine is just too small to house enough battery for such a motor.
I’m wading deep into the Land Of Things I Don’t Really Know when I talk about electric motors but it’s my understanding that they are generally not that big. Where an electric bike gets its physical size is in the battery. So, a more powerful bike will be bigger not because of its motor, necessarily, but its power supply. Meanwhile, even in dense urban scenarios, you want an electric bike to have a range of at least 60 claimed miles (which usually means you’ll get half that in real-world conditions) for it to be commercially viable.
Apply those two generalities to the aesthetic of this bike and the odds of it delivering 14 hp (or anything beyond that) seem low. So, we’re probably dealing with a machine that has a very limited use case scenario. I mean, really limited. You need to live somewhere with a power source, that’s less than 10 miles from wherever it is you want to go, and the roads to get there are all 30 mph or less.
That puts a lot of pressure on the price tag, which, at this point, is a complete unknown. Royal Enfield has a talent for delivering surprisingly good-looking and enjoyable bikes for surprisingly less than the competition but can the company make this bike cheap enough that it will actually sell? We’ll see.
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