Honda Working On Electric Motorcycle For 2010

Honda will produce a new, all-electric motorcycle that will go on sale beginning in 2010. The emissions-free bike is part of a plan laid out by Takeo Fukui, CEO of Honda.

In his end of the year speech, Fukui indicated Honda would make a push to release more environmentally friendly vehicles. Fukui even eliminated the Honda / Acura NSX project to prove his company's "green" will drive the market.

CEO Fukui believes the electric cycle would be a global hit, particularly in developing nations. In countries like India, where the government has been working to connect rural towns and urban cities with better roadways, sales of two-wheeled vehicles have grown tremendously. Indian consumers purchased over six million mopeds, motorcycles and scooters in 2005 alone.

No word yet on the bike's range, recharge time, or performance. But no doubt an all-electric Honda motorcycle would be super-quiet, and a welcomed change for people sick of hearing Harley-Davidson's tearing around town.

Source: themotorreport.com.au

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 Motor_Yakuza Motor_Yakuza
Hmm, 1st dropping the NSX and now an electric bike? Are u sure that Takeo Fukui is not a tree hugger?
January 5, 2009 5:24 pm
 genie genie
Whilst development is always good, even high performance bikes aren't exactly gas guzzlers. How about focus on making things like ABS and stability control standard on all bikes first, then tackle fuel consumption. And a quieter bike, whilst appealing to non-bikers, won't appeal to the vast majority of actual bike users. For places in the world were motorbikes are almost solely an a-b tool, ie asia and india where millions of super-cubs are sold, an electric bike might be more successful, if its cheap enough.
January 5, 2009 6:48 pm
 WildMaverick1200 WildMaverick1200
tsk, tsk, 90% of bikers won't like the idea of a silent bike. I hope at least they make it really fast and efficient. Bikes are already extremely efficient anyway, why bother? Why not make big trucks and stuff like that more efficient, cleaner, and then go the smaller vehicles?
January 5, 2009 7:43 pm
 slee slee
As a biker, I welcome an all electric sport bike with open arms. By the way, today's sportbikes and cruisers are not even close to being "efficient". The average bike holds 4.5 gallons of gas and has a range of 120 miles. That's 26.7 mpg! And that's on my 750cc MV Agusta. My Ducati 996 was even worst. Although I would ever give up my MV, I'd love to add an all electric sportbike to my stable because it would not only be an efficient clean comuter but a blast on the way to work as well.
January 5, 2009 8:39 pm
 sensei sensei
Honda displays that the yin no way beleive the H-D adage - loud pipes save lives.
January 5, 2009 10:25 pm
 howe2002 howe2002
Electric bikes will have tremendous amounts of torque available. Lots of fun I would expect from something so light. They could also have deer whistles installed so people will hear you coming.
January 6, 2009 5:22 pm