Electric revolution

A motorcycle that could revolutionise our outlook on electric bikes? Read on

ELECTRIC BIKES NEVER really caught the fancy of Indian buyers and there is a very good reason for that. Despite the affordability factor, electric scooters have limited range and are achingly slow — two bugbears that are quite hard to digest. Here is where Tork Motorcycles steps in. Tork is a Pune based company, a year-old start-up with racing cred straight from the Isle of Man. What started as a college project, managed to then secure a podium at the 2009 TTXGP on their very first outing and a third place at the six-round TTXGP championship in 2010. Thereafter, the focus shifted towards creating a massmarket commuter motorcycle. The company has gone through five prototypes so far with the sixth one being in the final stages of testing before the bikes hit the road early next year. From the looks of the rendered images, the bike seems styled just right, the design steering clear of cost-built electric scooters and right up there with current bikes. The bike will come with an array of lithium-ion batteries neatly packaged across the bodywork and a lightweight motor to keep weight down. Cycle parts are similar to conventional motorcycles with a trellis frame to keep weight in check. While the final specs have not been disclosed, the goal is to make a bike that should reach 90kmph with a range of 100 kilometres which is more than enough for your daily commute. Another interesting feature is systems integration into a smartphone app that will allow you to keep a tab on the bike's various systems and even modify performance parameters. The aim is to get the bike to feel and perform as close to a gasoline powered bike. The best part is that they can be easily tuned for power.