As the car market undergoes a paradigm shift closer to electric powered propulsion, a informal observer would possibly word that bikes appear to be lagging in the back of. While there are numerous super electric powered bikes to be had for purchase, the marketplace remains a step in the back of electric powered vehicles, with technical demanding situations and a skeptical consumer base complicating diverse producers` tries at Tesla-stage buy-in for battery-powered bikes.
All this drama might have been prevented if now no longer for one unique quirk of history. One of the sector's biggest and maximum a success motorbike producers went electric powered over a decade ago. By all appearances, Honda had each goal of setting its complete advertising muscle in the back of its RC-E electric powered sports activities bike. Had it succeeded, the sector would possibly have visible a repeat of the continent-spanning achievement of Honda's Super Cub, with the marketplace for scooters and mild bikes, which could run to masses of tens of thousands and thousands of vehicles, moving to electric powered propulsion. What went wrong?
The idea lived on, kind of
Honda debuted its RC-E on the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show as one automobile amongst many it was hoping might shift the complete delivery market closer to electric powered power. Other showpieces protected an electric powered remix of Honda's famously transportable Motocompo "trunk bike" and stripped-returned battery-powered town vehicles intended for dense city commutes.
The muted reaction to the ones ideas appears to have willing Honda to stay with the fossil gasoline method that had already supplied it with global achievement. When Honda did try and innovate withinside the electric powered propulsion space, it hit critical stumbling blocks, as with 2017's Clarity electric powered sedan, that can manipulate a measly 89 miles earlier than wanting a recharge. Still, the RC-E controlled a form of survival. The Mugen Shinden Hachi, a a success all-electric powered racer, borrowed appreciably from the RC-E design. The Shinden Hachi has considering that excelled on the Isle of Man TT Zero (as in 0 emissions) and the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The RC-E additionally endures as the muse for ongoing innovation on the enterprise. Honda has massive international desires for engineering, lately laying out a plan to be carbon impartial with the aid of using 2050 and for 0 visitors fatalities throughout its range. Toward that end, the enterprise introduced in September 2022 that it'll launch at the least 10 electric powered bikes with the aid of using 2025. They all owe a debt to the engineering and marketplace classes Honda discovered from the RC-E.