BMW has been planning, or at least developing, an electric motorcycle for some time now. While the company’s lineup of scooters is gradually expanding with the first C-Evolution and the following CE 04 and CE 02 (the latter presented at the end of 2023), there shouldn’t be many obstacles to the introduction of a model in the coming years when it comes to future electric motorcycles.
The idea gains even more strength when we look at the designs of a BMW patent, presented by our colleagues at Cycleworld, in which a monocoque motorcycle frame is clearly represented, which also functions as a battery container, with the motor mounted longitudinally and below the structure.
The idea is not entirely new, neither for BMW nor – with some differences – for other brands, and it certainly represents a rational way to predict the accommodation of batteries and control electronics without any change in their number or size (think, for example, of a major technological change, such as the one we expect from solid-state batteries) impacting the shape of the frame or supports, requiring a redesign of the structure. Protection in the event of a fall or accident also seems to be very important.
For this reason, a practically modular frame that reinforces this concept with bolted appendages that house the steering head and swingarm pivot, to make this solution adaptable even to models of different origins and segments.
Thus, unlike the E-Roadster prototype, which had a truss tubular frame to which the electric drive unit was attached, according to this patent, with the simple replacement of the “modules” of the head tube and the structure that accommodates the swinging arm pivot, it is possible to create the frame for a cruiser or a roadster, for example, with considerable industrial advantages. As we mentioned, a solution of this type was even planned – at least conceptually – in the 2019 BMW Vision DC Roadster prototype, which had the suspension fixings bolted to the central block consisting of the battery/frame assembly, but then, obviously, the project went in directions that we can only discover when a BMW electric two-wheeler is introduced to the market.
Finally, it is worth noting that this solution complements another patent that we showed you some time ago, which aimed at a medium-displacement electric motorcycle to be included in the segment currently served by the G 310 family produced in partnership with TVS.
In summary, the future of BMW could be to compete in the electric motorcycle market with LiveWire, Zero, Can Am, and Energica (to name just a few), on one hand, and with the growing segment of “small” motorcycles, which could also have a significant market in the East.
