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World's First Hybrid Motorcycle To Launch In India

 
4,171 views Dec 21, 2009
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Eko ET-120 hybrid two-wheeler, from Bangalore, India

Eko ET-120 hybrid two-wheeler, from Bangalore, India

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We don't cover electric two-wheelers much here at GreenCarReports.com. They're not cars, and while millions are sold each year in China, we don't see many of them in the United States.

But we thought it was worthwhile to note the launch of the world's first hybrid two-wheeler.  We're not entirely sure whether it qualifies as a bicycle, a scooter, a moped, or a motorcycle, but we've given it the benefit of the doubt as a motorcycle.

On sale next May, the ET-120 comes from Eko Vehicles of Bangalore, India, which makes a range of electric scooters. It pairs a tiny gasoline motor of 70cc (that's .07 liter, or roughly 1/20th the size of the motor in the upcoming 2011 Chevrolet Cruze) with an electric motor.

Family transportation in India, by Flickr user Mircea Tudorache

Family transportation in India, by Flickr user Mircea Tudorache

Enlarge Photo

Nonetheless, the ET-120 is said to offer the same power and torque as 120cc motorcycles, which make up more than half of the two-wheel market in India.

The ET-120 can operate in electric-only mode for more than 20 miles, running off its battery pack alone. Using the gasoline engine, it returns more than 100 miles per gallon.

When operating in hybrid mode,  fuel consumption is quoted at an astounding 280 miles per gallon, three times the gas mileage of an equivalent gasoline two-wheeler.

Top speed is 40 miles per hour, probably as fast as you'd want to go. And the price is roughly $850, which is cheap compared to an electric bicycle. Eko says it hopes to sell the ET-120 in the U.S. next year.

[IndianAutosBlog, LiveMint, photo by Flickr user Mircea Tudorache]





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Comments (10)

  1. By  bikebhp Posted: 12/21/2009 8:13am PST

    A product of India will secure the path for the much conventional motorcycles all over the world.
     
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  2. gergs avatar gergs Posted: 12/21/2009 10:02am PST

    With horsepower equivalent to a 120cc "motorcycle" and a top speed of 40, this shouldn't even come close to be considered a motorcycle. This is a scooter at best. I'm a Harley rider and wouldn't mind an electric if it produced the same HP as current 650-1000cc bikes. I for one don't understand why there aren't already bikes getting 100mpg. It's shameful to buy a bike to save gas and end up with 35-40mpg on average.
     
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  3. By  Javon Posted: 12/22/2009 10:28am PST

    it's very nice
     
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  4. By jackiefedler Posted: 12/26/2009 8:29pm PST

    A wonderful idea - hope you sell millionss of them- if only more products were environmentally friendly like this one!
     
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  5. By  Raghupathi Posted: 1/5/2010 5:02pm PST

    best two wheeler non polluted
     
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  6. By Uncle B Posted: 1/21/2010 11:51am PST

    Yamaha has a similar 70cc hybrid hitting Asian markets where fewer "Harley" sized folk are hauled around since most folk there are light weight vegans and really don't require great gobs of resources for transportation, and whole families survive for weeks at a time on what one American consumes in a day! Their (Asian) EROI has wider margins of survivability even without the "Oil Leverage" used in America, but now that the world's finite supply of light sweet crude is almost used up and prices for the remaining drops are soaring, even Asians look to the economy of hybrid, plug-in bikes to extend the fuel supply and supplement it with Solar, Wind, Wave, Tidal, Hydro, Hydro, Geothermal, Nuclear, created electric power. Can the greater learn from the lesser, or will the Great Hulking American Neanderthal (no bigger bones than his have been found in all antiquity) fall into unsustainability and extinction with the end of light sweet crude, as the meek Asian continues in his normal life of scarcity, adapting to changes as rapidly as they occur?
     
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  7. By  kreditkarten Posted: 1/28/2010 2:11pm PST

    Mhhh...doesn't look to great actually
     
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  8. By paradigm shift Posted: 11/3/2010 10:19am PDT

    I had a 110 mpg yamaha scooter but in my area with potholes and no $$ to fix them and suvs everywhere, and no cops to enforce rules, and with six people killed last year in my town on motorcycles, I needed something bigger, got a 750cc honda and STILL beats my 2010 prius with 56 mpg and I can be an incognito environmentalist; that is the best I think we will get for the next two years....necessity is mother of invention; if GOP think everything is fine and dandy, don't expect new ideas from the US...it will come from places like china, india, japan, and europe...i.e. aprilia, piaggio, etc...there are a few ventures with internet money which are mostly on west coast which is thankfully still democratic and progressive and investing in clean energy and HOPEFULLY 'green' motorcycles such as aprilia which gets 140 mpg. can get imported here.
     
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  9. By paradigm shift Posted: 11/3/2010 10:21am PDT

    If Americans were 'green' at all despite being literally twice the sized as most asians, it would make a huge difference; another difference is you can be safe on a scooter in asia, as most either bike or motorycle and only a few aspiring to western style 'luxury' drive giant bloated suv/tanks.
     
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  10. fb_115508 avatar Steven Shultz Posted: 3/26/2012 9:40pm PDT

    Like so often happens, plans are made to sell in the U.S. but they never materialize. This is STILL not for sale in the U.S. We need more options like this!
     
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