It's been a rocky road for the UK's Arc motorcycles thus far, trying to bring what it calls "the world's most advanced fully electric motorcycle of its kind" into reality. Since we first saw this terrific-looking machine in 2018, the company's been crowdfunded, invested in, put into administration and bought back by its founder.
Still, the company claims it's more or less back on track now working on getting the first of its customer bikes built, and three years going through the wringer hasn't made the Vector look any less slick.
It's not what you'd call a performance monster, peaking at 103 kW (138 horsepower) and 200 km/h (124 mph), but it'll hike its skirt up and sprint just fine, with a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 3.2 seconds. It also claims an impressive 436 km (271 mile) range, although that's likely only possible dribbling along around town.
Underpinning Arc's claim to world's most advancedness is a projection-based HUD smart helmet, developed in conjunction with Hedon, complete with a rear view camera and voice controls – as well as an armored undershirt type thing with built-in haptic feedback that can be set to alert riders to danger, give "feedback on the bike's dynamic position," or bop along playing music through the haptics in something called "Euphoric mode." Alrighty then.
Recently, the company released an interesting shot of the Vector with its bodywork removed, and it's worth a look, because it reveals just how little bodywork there actually is on this thing.
The Vector's carbon fiber battery box forms the majority of its monocoque frame. The motor bolts to the back, with the rear swingarm mounting directly to the motor casing, and the hub-center steering system and front swingarm bolt to the front of the battery box.
The bodywork, such as it is, is tiny; there's a bellypan underneath to hide the fairly utilitarian-looking motor, and there's a very pretty one-piece section that lays on the top, linking the headlight unit to the tank, subframe and tail unit. That's it. And it looks amazing, particularly when they customize the top stuff with some nice polished walnut wood.
"The architecture featured in the images is now production-ready, and a number of production-spec Vector motorcycles will be out in Spain for final sign off and homologation over the coming months," said Arc Founder and CEO Mark Truman in a press release. "We have a very healthy order book and customers are already going through our new commissioning suite in Central England to individually tailor each Vector motorcycle so that they are all unique."
The bike's been seen on the move, albeit barely. A prototype went up the hill at Goodwood in 2019, but not with what we'd call an overabundance of gusto. Maybe the rider had his undershirt in Euphoric Mode. We look forward to finally seeing one ridden in anger at some point. Or perhaps just being bimbled about the high streets between the "commissioning suite" and the fancy watch and monocle shops. It is, after all, a £90,000 (US$120,000) motor bicycle.
Source: Arc Vehicle
