I bet you’ve heard about Energica by now. You know, the electric motorcycle maker with the coolest models so far. However, a new company, known as Fenris Motorcycles, is on the rise and become its main competitor.
Based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Fenris Motorcycles are working on a new electric bike platform on which to deploy at least two production models. The company claims the final model will be able to achieve a top speed of 186 mph (300 km/h) and go from zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) in under three seconds.
The firm’s CEO and co-founder Jesper Vind believes he has one single real competitor on the market, namely Energica.
“The two [main] US manufacturers started their development at a time when the technology was at an early stage,” Jesper explains, “and so we only have one real competitor in Italy’s Energica.”
Some big words thrown out there for a company that has only one prototype working. However, Fenris claim their electric motor weighs around 27 pounds (11.8 kilograms), which translates into about a quarter of the weight of their competitors’.
The final motorcycle should weight 432 pounds (195 kilos), which is about the average weight of a current naked bike. However, it will put out 200 horsepower and almost instant torque to beat anything out there.
On the same note, you can see in the photos attached that the Fenris motorcycles won’t be all that standard. Just look at the suspension that uses front and rear swingarms, with one shock per wheel mounted just below the motor.
Haven't seen such a contraption on other production bikes today, but I guess the main idea here is to try and keep the center of mass as low as possible, given the big battery pack that sits where the engine and fuel tank is usually found on a standard bike.
From these sketches here, the company plans to make at least two bikes based on the same intriguing platform - a sportbike and a tourer. Word is it’s planning an initial run of 500 units to be released in 2019, each probably costing an arm and a leg.
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