Motorcycles

e-raw electric moto pushes the boundaries of traditional motorcycle design

e-raw electric moto pushes the boundaries of traditional motorcycle design
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: electric motorcycle design can be worlds away from traditional petrol bike ideas
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: electric motorcycle design can be worlds away from traditional petrol bike ideas
View 16 Images
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: CAD render shows awkward charging port under the bike
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: CAD render shows awkward charging port under the bike
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: vastly different from a petrol bike design
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: vastly different from a petrol bike design
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render experimenting with girder-style front suspension
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render experimenting with girder-style front suspension
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle:
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle:
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render that became the final design
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render that became the final design
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: shaped laminate wood seat/'tank' unit
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: shaped laminate wood seat/'tank' unit
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render with funky girder forks
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: early CAD render with funky girder forks
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: seat unit is shaped from some 80 layers of wood laminate
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: seat unit is shaped from some 80 layers of wood laminate
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: wood laminate seat unit offers rigidity with a bit of give. Still unlikely to be a tourer.
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: wood laminate seat unit offers rigidity with a bit of give. Still unlikely to be a tourer.
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: slim rear tyre hints at modest power output
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: slim rear tyre hints at modest power output
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: dash unit is actually your iPhone in a cradle. Not sure how this holds up in bad weather
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: dash unit is actually your iPhone in a cradle. Not sure how this holds up in bad weather
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: clean single seat unit has no brake light or indicators
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: clean single seat unit has no brake light or indicators
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: renders exploring different colour and front suspension options.
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: renders exploring different colour and front suspension options.
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: renders exploring different colour and front suspension options.
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: renders exploring different colour and front suspension options.
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: electric motorcycle design can be worlds away from traditional petrol bike ideas
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Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: electric motorcycle design can be worlds away from traditional petrol bike ideas
View gallery - 16 images

The electric bike segment must be such an exciting opportunity for budding motorcycle designers. Instead of making window dressing for an increasingly complex combustion engine, you're dealing with an incredibly simple, compact motor and a flexibly shaped battery package. Plus, nobody has decided what an electric motorcycle should look like yet, so you're free to experiment with all sorts of funky ideas that would simply never fly in the gasoline-powered bike world. Case in point: the e-raw from France's Expemotion, which features a floating seat made from 80-odd layers of wood laminate, and uses an iPhone as a dash.

The e-raw is clearly not designed for production; the process of creating that extraordinary laminate seat unit looks painstaking and time-consuming, and the bike's clean design benefits from the fact that creator Martin Hulin hasn't bothered to stick brake lights or indicators on it. But it's an example of what can be achieved when the hardware and plumbing associated with a combustion engine is ditched in favour of an electric unit. With the fuel tank gone, Hulin has been able to keep mass low and central while sticking on that eye-popping seat unit.

Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: dash unit is actually your iPhone in a cradle. Not sure how this holds up in bad weather
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: dash unit is actually your iPhone in a cradle. Not sure how this holds up in bad weather

It's a retro-futuristic design and Hulin seems clearly to be a lover of gas bikes as well, describing in poetic French his appreciation of the "charming sounds and perfumes" of the petrol motor, but saying they must give way to the "osmotic silence and transcendental flow" of the electric. Personally, I can see that wooden seat rudely interrupting my "transcendental flow," but then comfort is frequently the first casualty on a custom bike.

Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: shaped laminate wood seat/'tank' unit
Martin Hulin's e-Raw electric motorcycle: shaped laminate wood seat/'tank' unit

Drive is by belt, the frame is a simple metal tube design, and the suspension is traditional USD forks with a laid-over shock – although other CAD images from the Expemotion website show that Hulin has been experimenting with the idea of a girder front end. For the sake of simplicity, the regular fork is a winner in this case.

There's no detail available on battery capacity, motor output, charge times, range or pricing, because it's not a production machine. But as a design study and a prototype it's an interesting machine nonetheless, and we hope it's not the last we see from Hulin. Enjoy the large photo gallery on this one.

Source: Expemotion via Asphalt & Rubber

View gallery - 16 images
10 comments
10 comments
limbodog
oh god... One slip off the back of that seat and jimmy and the twins are being removed via the rear wheel and fender.
Al Mayberry
This frame looks to be prone to a lot of unwanted flex. Looking at the many Ducati frames of similar tubing one will find many cross struts stiffening it up.
Island Architect
Wow Loz!
Very creative from the ART world.
Bill
Mac McDougal
Cool idea! Re seat: What I find puzzling is the creation of an "outline" of the gas tank. A nifty joke, yes, but imagine if the designer had followed through on the rest of the de minimus approach to the bike and made the smallest possible seat. *That would have been interesting. The process of making the seat could easily be "mechanized" with a mold/jig; it's just wood and epoxy. Re falling off the back: put a ducktail on the end of the seat. Why not?
Buellrider
What does that seat thingy weigh? Since an electric doesn't need a fuel tank then why fake one with wood laminate? I'd maximize the batteries and sit right on them.
Thomas Roberts
I've ridden a lot of bikes, from inexpensive crotch rockets to my current Harley cruiser. That seat is a complete deal breaker. To blow off comfort in the name of art is just silly and it is not near cool enough to look at to buy one to showcase.
Antony Stewart
first thoughts is that it looks like a sensible minimalist frame with newfangled additions on it. The chassis looks like an old ladies shower cubicle seat or something, any kind of straight or different bevelling and some honeycombed/sedan grill inspired vents would be better. even just a different color that shower cubicle beige please.
Tjoe
Go back to the drawing board on the seat. It looks ready to launch a persons tail bone over the handle bars. I'm into wood lamination of thin lumber but his design as a flat spring seems to at least need a shock absorber.
PedroNuno
The seat has to be more comfortable but I will bet that its still as comfortable as many bikes out there. The use of the smartphone for the dash is clever and obvious choice for the people that know what big potencial smartphones have. The design is cool and thats what all the electric bike manufactures out there should go for. If one is going to pay extra / premium for an electric bike, at least make it different from conventional bikes. The designer could improve some aspects but its going on the right direction. I like it a lot.
DonaldStone
Just lookin' at that seat makes my prunes ache