There’s something so iconic about BMW’s motorcycles. The sound, the feel, but most of all, the shape. That lithe front end giving way to the protruding air-cooled fins of a dynamic boxer engine. It’s immediately recognizable. A BMW motorcycle’s design is inextricably linked with the brand’s nearly century-old boxer engine design. Yet, the boxer engine isn’t the future. Electricity is. BMW, however, understands it can’t just release its heritage, which is why the all-electric Vision DC Roadster looks so familiar and so damn good.

To ensure that the classic boxer design element continues, Motorrad’s designers fit the electric motorcycle’s battery longitudinally instead of the more package-conscious vertical fitment. Furthering the designed integration, the Vision DC Roadster uses twin side elements that “protrude with cooling [boxer-esque] ribs and integrated ventilators.” Further, just like BMW motorcycles in the past, the Vision DC Roadster’s electric powertrain is connected to the rear wheel via a universal shaft that “visually echoes the history of BMW Motorrad while at the same time taking a step further.”