Closer look at Royal Enfield’s first electric motorcycle
Royal Enfield has just revealed its first-ever electric motorcycle, known as the Him-E. The bike was unveiled at the 2023 EICMA Milan Motorcycle Show, where Electrek got an up-close look at the new model ahead of its unclear production path.
The Indian motorcycle company Royal Enfield is better known for its classic style and enduring performance, not its progressive or high-tech design. The company has a reputation for building sturdy machines but that tend to lag a decade (or a few) behind in the technology department. In fact, Royal Enfield is one of the oldest motorcycle brands in continuous production. Founded in 1901 in England, the company has a storied history and has cultivated a loyal following among motorcycle enthusiasts.
The company has a tendency to stick to what works well, so it comes as no surprise that it’s taken a few more years than others to finally see an electric model.
The Royal Enfield Him-E is somewhat based on the brand’s Himalayan 450 adventure bike, swapping out the pistons and fuel system for a mid-mounted electric motor and battery.
The new electric motorcycle isn’t slated for production yet, at least not in its current form. Instead, Royal Enfield is using it as a test bed to prove its electric powertrain designs that will presumably work their way onto an upcoming electric motorcycle.
In fact, we don’t exactly have many hard specs on the bike. Figures such as power, battery capacity, torque, speed, range, and just about anything else measured in numerals are still followed by a “TBD”.
Instead, we will have to make do with what we can learn from checking out the model on display. The bike has obviously been undergoing real-world testing, as evidenced by the front-heavy coating of mud and other detritus from the company’s off-road rides. But what we don’t see upfront is any form of radiator, meaning this is likely an air-cooled model, at least for now. That’s not surprising, as even the company’s ICE bikes have largely been air-cooled until recent years, bucking much of the industry’s trend towards liquid cooling. There are a few hoses wrapping around the front of the bike, but without an obvious radiator or ducting leading to one, it’s hard to say that they’re for active coolant and not just for cable management on this workhorse of a test bed.
The battery box looks to be a structural element, similar to the way the LiveWire Del Mar and other electric motorcycles use their battery-as-a-frame design to cut down on weight and complexity, as well as offer multiple models on the same electric motorcycle platform.
There also appears to be a shifter mounted on the left side tied into a gearbox, which is a rare but not unheard-of option on electric motorcycles. Because electric motorcycles are torquey enough to handle low-speed crawling and high-speed racing all in a single gear, very few have employed the added complexity of a gearbox. The rare cases that have seen manual gearboxes on electric motorcycles are usually when they’ve been added more for enjoyment than pure performance, especially when targeting traditional ICE riders who consider the old-fashioned chore of shifting to be part of the riding experience.
In true adventure bike style, the Him-E sports a chain-driving rear end, though that’s likely to add significant noise compared to the more common belt drives found on most electric motorcycles these days. Without exhaust or engine noise to cover it, chains are usually the loudest part of electric motorcycles, which has led to many manufacturers switching to belt drives.
What else do you see in the Royal Enfield Him-E prototype? Or what are you hoping to see in the final version that makes it to production? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
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GreenPower Motor Company says it’s received three orders for 11 of its BEAST electric Type D school buses for western state school districts in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
GreenPower hasn’t made the sort of headline-grabbing promises or big-money commitments that companies like Nikola and Lion Electric have, but while those companies are floundering GPM seems to be plugging away, taking orders where it can and actually delivering buses to schools. Late last year, the company scored 11 more orders for its flagship BEAST electric school bus.
As far as these latest orders go, the breakdown is:
- seven to Los Banos Unified School District in Los Banos, California
- two for the Hood River County School District in Hood River, Oregon
- two for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Casa Grande, Arizona
Those two BEAST electric school buses for Arizona will join another 90-passenger BEAST that was delivered to Phoenix Elementary School District #1, which operates 15 schools in the center of Phoenix, late last year.
“As school districts continue to make the change from NOx emitting diesel school buses to a cleaner, healthier means of transporting students, school district transportation departments are pursuing the gold standard of the industry – the GreenPower all-electric, purpose-built (BEAST) school buses,” said Paul Start, GreenPower’s Vice President of Sales, School Bus Group. “(The) GreenPower school bus order pipeline and production schedule are both at record levels with sales projections for (2025) set to eclipse the 2024 calendar year.”
GreenPower moved into an 80,000-square-foot production facility in South Charleston, West Virigina in August 2022, and delivered its first buses to that state the following year.
Electrek’s Take
Since the first horseless carriage companies started operating 100 years ago (give or take), at least 1,900 different companies have been formed in the US, producing over 3,000 brands of American automobiles. By the mid 1980s, that had distilled down to “the big 3.”
All of which is to say: don’t let the recent round of bankruptcies fool you – startups in the car and truck industry is business as usual, but some of these companies will stick around. If you’re wondering which ones, look to the ones that are making units, not promises.
SOURCE | IMAGES: GreenPower Motors.
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While some recent high-profile bankruptcies have cast doubt on the EV startup space recently, medium-duty electric truck maker Harbinger got a shot of credibility this week with a massive $100 million Series B funding round co-led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for fledgling EV brands like Lion Electric and Canoo, but box van builder Harbinger is bucking the trend, fueling its latest funding round with an order book of 4,690 vehicles that’s valued at nearly $500 million. Some of the company’s more notable customers including Bimbo Bakeries (which owns brands like Sara Lee, Thomas’, and Entenmann’s) and THOR Industries (Airstream, Jayco, Thor), which is also one of the investors in the Series B.
Other prominent investors include Tiger Global, the Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, and ArcTern Ventures.
As for what makes Harbinger such an attractive investment prospect, Dipender Saluja, Managing Partner of Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund explains that, “Harbinger has demonstrated a remarkable ability to reach significant milestones far quicker than other EV companies … the market has been impressed by their ability to develop large portions of the vehicle in-house to drive down unit costs, while remaining capital efficient.”
The company plans to use the funds to ramp up to higher-volume production capacity and deliver on existing orders, as well as build-out of the company’s sales, customer support, and service operations.
“Harbinger is entering a rapid growth phase where we are focused on scaling production of our customer-ready platform,” said John Harris, co-founder and CEO. “These funds catalyze significant revenue generation. We’ve developed a vehicle for a segment that is ripe for electrification, and there is a strong product/market fit that will help fuel our upward trajectory through 2025 and beyond.”
The company has raised $200 million since its inception in 2021.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Harbinger.
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There is no state more associated with cars and car culture than Michigan – and the state that’s home to the Motor City has just taken a huge step into the future with the deployment of its first-ever all electric police vehicle.
The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E patrol vehicle is assigned to the Michigan State Police State Security Operations Section, and will be to be used by armed, uniformed members of the MSP specializing in general law enforcement and security services at state-owned facilities in the Lansing, MI area.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to research, in real time, how a battery electric vehicle performs on patrol,” says Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “Our state properties security officers patrol a substantially smaller number of miles per day than our troopers and motor carrier officers, within city limits and at lower speeds, coupled with the availability of charging infrastructure in downtown Lansing, making this the ideal environment to test the capabilities of a police-package battery electric vehicle.”
The MSP’s Precision Driving Unit is nationally renowned for its annual Police Vehicle Evaluation, which our own Scooter Doll participated in last year, driving the then-new Chevy Blazer EV Police Pursuit Vehicles in a game of “cops and robbers.”
In those tests, the EVs have impressed – but the MSP has been hesitant to commit to a BEV until now. “We began testing battery electric vehicles in 2022, but up until now hybrids were the only alternative fuel vehicle in our fleet,” said Lt. Nicholas Darlington, commander of the Precision Driving Unit. “Adding this battery electric vehicle to our patrol fleet will allow us to study the vehicle’s performance long-term to determine if there is a potential for cost savings and broader applicability within our fleet.”
Michigan joins other states like Wisconsin and California in deploying electric patrol cars and saving big money on fuel and maintenance, with many more out there and many more to come.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Michigan State Police.
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