Photo: Zvexx Motorbike
Don't bother looking through your memory - don't even try to use our website's search function - you won't find anything about Zvexx. After all, with a name like that, don't you think you would have remembered?
But the name itself pales when put next to Zvexx's first product: an all-electric motorcycle that, before anything else, is a stunningly beautiful vehicle to behold. People tend to believe that designing a motorcycle is easy: there are only so many things you can do with the constraints of the wheel placement and the fact it needs to have a rider sitting on top and actually reaching the handlebar and pedals.
But that's precisely what makes it so difficult to come up with something truly original. There aren't so many areas where a designer can let their imagination run wild, so, if we're honest, most bikes that are actually usable tend to look more or less the same.
Zvexx, on the other hand, doesn't. It was developed by a group of Swiss engineers together with a bunch of bike shops from their area, and it's declared purpose is to show anybody that an electric bike can be just as hardcore as one that goes boom. It may not pose the same aural presence, but the fact it's stealthy-silent shouldn't take anything away from its fear-factor. Nobody ever said a B-2 Spirit wasn't mean-looking.
The stealthiness isn't the only thing the Zvexx shares with the invisible bomber: it also borrows some of its looks. The exposed carbon fiber and matte black surfaces are enough to make you think of radar-repellent vehicles, but the Zvexx pushes it even further with some diamond-cut surfaces.
That huge rear tire is an indicator of the amount of grunt the Zvexx's motor can produce. It doesn't say anything about its horsepower output, but the torque figure is enough to send most riders cowering under the kitchen sink: it has 1,218 Nm (898 lb-ft) available, in true electric motor fashion, from zero rpm.
It has a 13 kWh battery pack that's said to power the electric bike for up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) of "reasonable driving," but the developers themselves ask the rhetorical question "who wants to be reasonable when riding this bike?" Yeah, and even if somebody did, we'd like to see him try. It's said the Zvexx can reach 80 km/h (50 mph) - an odd benchmark, but electric vehicles tend to change things - in under three seconds, so we can't imagine it would take it more than two seconds max to go for the full 100 km/h or 62 mph.
But the best thing about the Zvexx is that it's not just a computer rendering on some madman's hard drive. These guys have actually built the bike, and they can even be seen riding it. We think the Zvexx gets right what so many electric car producers have failed to realize so far: EVs, regardless of how many wheels they have, don't need to look weird or different, they just need to look good. Well done, guys. If this is your first attempt, consider us interested in seeing those that will follow.
But that's precisely what makes it so difficult to come up with something truly original. There aren't so many areas where a designer can let their imagination run wild, so, if we're honest, most bikes that are actually usable tend to look more or less the same.
Zvexx, on the other hand, doesn't. It was developed by a group of Swiss engineers together with a bunch of bike shops from their area, and it's declared purpose is to show anybody that an electric bike can be just as hardcore as one that goes boom. It may not pose the same aural presence, but the fact it's stealthy-silent shouldn't take anything away from its fear-factor. Nobody ever said a B-2 Spirit wasn't mean-looking.
The stealthiness isn't the only thing the Zvexx shares with the invisible bomber: it also borrows some of its looks. The exposed carbon fiber and matte black surfaces are enough to make you think of radar-repellent vehicles, but the Zvexx pushes it even further with some diamond-cut surfaces.
That huge rear tire is an indicator of the amount of grunt the Zvexx's motor can produce. It doesn't say anything about its horsepower output, but the torque figure is enough to send most riders cowering under the kitchen sink: it has 1,218 Nm (898 lb-ft) available, in true electric motor fashion, from zero rpm.
It has a 13 kWh battery pack that's said to power the electric bike for up to 150 kilometers (93 miles) of "reasonable driving," but the developers themselves ask the rhetorical question "who wants to be reasonable when riding this bike?" Yeah, and even if somebody did, we'd like to see him try. It's said the Zvexx can reach 80 km/h (50 mph) - an odd benchmark, but electric vehicles tend to change things - in under three seconds, so we can't imagine it would take it more than two seconds max to go for the full 100 km/h or 62 mph.
But the best thing about the Zvexx is that it's not just a computer rendering on some madman's hard drive. These guys have actually built the bike, and they can even be seen riding it. We think the Zvexx gets right what so many electric car producers have failed to realize so far: EVs, regardless of how many wheels they have, don't need to look weird or different, they just need to look good. Well done, guys. If this is your first attempt, consider us interested in seeing those that will follow.
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