When the first set of electric 2W vehicles were designed, their primary purpose was to achieve electric mobility for everyday use at low speeds. Then, the focus was on matching the performance and practicality of a similar class ICE vehicle. In the future, there may be a race among OEMs to combine the feel and experience of ICE vehicles with EVs.
World-renowned 2W manufacturer, Honda, is already working on it and the company’s latest patent suggests the same. With a pseudo clutch and flywheel integrated into an electric motorcycle, Honda aims to emulate some amount of the mechanical feel and feel of a traditional ICE motorcycle on an electric motorcycle. let’s take a closer look.
Honda pseudo clutch and flywheel patented
Pseudo clutch is nothing new and electric motorcycle manufacturers like Kymco and Zero are working on this technology. Kymco offers this pseudo clutch on the Supernex and Revonex as well as Zero motorcycles, having patented it with its high-performance SR/F electric street fighter motorcycle.
Given Honda’s industrial strength and production scale, it is quite interesting to find its foot in the pseudo clutch field. Right now, Honda has patented pseudo clutch and flywheel technology with its CR Electric Proto Motocross prototype developed by Honda Racing Corporation and Mugen.
The CR Electric Proto serves as a testing ground for Honda and has good potential to lead to its production-spec electric dirt bike range in the future. Honda has built a real clutch and flywheel on its competition-focused RTL electric trials race bike. However, the latest patent filed on the CR Electric Proto only simulates the feel of the clutch and flywheel.
How does this work?
Like its RTL electric trials bike, the new system deployed on the CR Electric Proto also gets a clutch lever. However, here it is entirely an electric unit, artificially simulating the feel of a clutch and flywheel. In the patent, we can see how the electric motor reacts to clutch actuation. In layman’s terms, if the clutch lever is pulled halfway the motor power will be halved and when the clutch is fully depressed the power is completely lost.
To get maximum power from the start, one can even dump the clutch, like an ICE vehicle. Honda is going one step further with haptic feedback for riders that makes the ICE bike experience more effective. One haptic motor is placed on either end of the handlebar and one on the clutch lever.
A few years ago, we joked about how Royal Enfield could give fake vibrations on the electric bike to attract fans as part of an April Fool’s joke. Now, this could be a reality in the future as Honda is making more progress in making electric motorcycles more attractive than they are at present.