The electrification of two-wheelers is advancing significantly faster than that of the automobile, especially in Asia [1]. Along with this global trend for electrification, especially motorcycle industry is entering new spheres of highly advanced products and has to meet the increasing customer demands for electric mobility. Beside hard facts such as performance, driving range, durability and ease of use, also the brand specific attributes such as styling, driveability and even sound for electrified 2-wheeler are very emotional, unique selling prepositions. To determine the subjective parameters for driveability and acoustics, dedicated tools and methods have been developed and used to quantify these attributes with high maturity.
A battery-electric motorcycle has been developed to experimentally prove the achievement of premium subjective attributes. Commercially available products have been taken as benchmark reference. With maximum output of up to 20kW, a maximum speed of 100 km / h and a range of more than 100 km (with 4 kWh battery capacity), this actual demonstrator vehicle delivers highly appealing driving performance and impresses in particular with its excellent drivability. Furthermore, this vehicle demonstrates lowest in-class noise radiation and delighting sound quality.
Besides attractive subjective attributes all kinds of electric motorcycles (same as automobiles) have to meet all the stringent safety regulations (eg. ISO 26262) and environmental standards. In the paper the methods for development of the Smart Drive 48V Motorcycle will be