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A legendary motorcycle brand is officially committed to a vast electrification program, while promising to reconcile performance and autonomy.
As part of a government program, the mythical motorcycle brand Norton Motorcycles, owned by the Indian group TVS, will start developing electric motorcycles.
Thanks to funding from the Advanced Propulsion Center (APC)19, a British initiative that aims to help companies in the automotive sector to advance their low-carbon offer, Norton will be able to invest in the development of electric motorcycles.
The director of TVS, Sudarshan Venu, had already mentioned the electrified future of the brand, but nothing had come to support his statements. Through a press release, the manufacturer formalized its entry into the world of “zero emissions”.
The ambition is obviously high for a brand with a legendary track record: “So far, electric motorcycles offer neither range nor performance, as the weight and size of the battery compromise the design of the vehicle. However, using the Norton team’s considerable engineering and design experience, this project aims to eliminate that trade-off while simultaneously delivering race bike performance and grand touring range.“, can we read in the press release.
To carry out this ambitious project, the manufacturer, holder of 17 victories at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy between the two wars and then until 1954, will work with partners specializing in electric mobility. The team includes Delta Cosworth for the battery pack, HiSpeed Limited for motor manufacturing, Formaplex Technologies for composite materials, M&I Materials for cooling, INDRA for charging and university partner WMG (University of Warwick) for modeling and the software part. As a reminder, WMG has collaborated on the project of the future electric Triumph TE-1, which will be officially unveiled in mid-July, and is working on the competitiveness of electric racing motorcycles which precisely participate… in the famous Tourist Trophy.
If no precise timetable has been unveiled for the moment, it will be interesting to follow the evolution of this type of project, and especially to observe the progressive establishment of competition between different manufacturers with Zero, Energica, Triumph Or even Norton. BMW is also working on the development of an electric roadster. With any luck, the electric future of motorcycles might turn out to be less boring than expected.