Triumph is teaming up with Williams Advanced Engineering and a number of other UK innovators to accelerate the development of electric motorbike powertrains.

 

The project has been called TE-1, and aims to create light, compact battery-powered drives for motorbikes, thereby tackling some of the key issues that have slowed the introduction of electric bikes.

 

The end result will not be a new motorbike - at least not yet. Rather, it will be a set of technologies relating to batteries, motors and the packaging constraints.

 

F1 supremos Williams will contribute expertise in the realm of lightweight battery design and integration capabilities. Integral Powertrain, the motor and inverter experts, are also onboard, as is the University of Warwick – WMG. Some funding will come from Innovate UK, the government's science and technology agency.

 

Triumph CEO, Nick Bloor, commented: "This new collaboration represents an exciting opportunity for Triumph and its partners to be leaders in the technology that will enable the electrification of motorcycles, which is driven by customers striving to reduce their environmental impact, combined with the desire for more economical transportation, and changing legislation. Project Triumph TE-1 is one part of our electric motorcycle strategy, focused on delivering what riders want and expect from their Triumph, which is the perfect balance of handling, performance and usability."

 

In short, this project aims to solve key issues with electric drivetrains, to the point that, in the future, if a Triumph fan chooses a model with either petrol or electric drivetrains, they can expect the same high performance.

 

In coming years the project will lead to model development, but initially the project will develop the revolutionary technologies necessary for the next generation of electric motorcycles, which in all likelihood will be UK-built.