Honda is working intensively on its first ever hybrid motorcycle – combining a gasoline engine with electric motors – and the company is taking a typically complicated approach to create a bike that aims to have unparalleled flexibility.
Several patent applications related to the new bike have been filed, and while they show the outline of an X-ADV scooter involved in the hybrid operating equipment, the reality is that the system will be more suitable for a tourer or a sport-tourer, combining range, performance, and economy, but at the cost of weight and volume.
Unlike simpler hybrids – and currently there is one in the form of Kawasaki’s Ninja HEV, which is expected to be launched as part of the company’s model range for 2024 – Honda is not just adding an electric motor to bolster a conventional engine and transmission. Instead, the company has created a design that uses not one, but two electric motors along with its conventional gasoline engine and essentially has two transmissions, allowing it to operate in a variety of modes, including pure electric, a CVT at idle, and a normal bike with various fixed gear ratios.
The layout of the transmission is presented here (above). It is inspired, in part, by the OG hybrid car – Toyota’s Prius – using a set of gears to connect the two electric motors and the gasoline engine, dispensing with a conventional clutch.
Finally, the combustion engine (represented by a single piston in this drawing, but in real life it should be at least a twin-cylinder engine) is connected to the gear support located between the crown and the central gear.
