Rick Simpson and the crew at Evo Design Solutions know a thing or two about speed, having worked on grand-prix motorcycles and Le Mans race cars. Now they're applying that expertise to a race-ready electric motorcycle as unusual as it is innovative.

Everything about the EV-0 RR seems to break from traditional motorcycle design: the carbon-fiber monocoque chassis, the forkless single-sided front suspension and the twin electric motors propelling it all. The irony is these ideas have been around for decades. The first monocoque bike hit the track in 1967, single-sided front suspension appeared in 1949 and the earliest patents for electric motorcycles were filed in the late 1860s.

But Evo is updating all this technology and packaging it in a greener motorcycle promised to deliver the thrill of a fossil-fuel burning crotch rocket when it lines up on the grid at the TTXGP zero-emissions grand prix in June.

"It will offer the performance of a superbike," Simpson told Wired.com. "I'm quite confident of that."

It will have to if the British engineering firm hopes to stand out in the growing field of high-performance electric motorcycles.



Major manufacturers like Honda and KTM are following a growing number startups down the electric path. Most of the battery bikes have been limited to scooters like the Vectrix VX-1E or motocrossers like the Zero X from Zero Motorcycles. But a community of knee-draggers don't believe going fast and going green should be mutually exclusive.

British entrepreneur Azhar Hussein has an electric sport bike capable of zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds. He will showcase it at the TTXGP he's hosting June 12 on the Isle of Man, although it is not slated to compete in the event. A San Francisco firm led by former Tesla Motors engineer Forrest North says its electric motorcycle can do 150 mph. It plans to compete in the TTXGP and says the bike will be on sale next year.

Simpson, an avid motorcyclist and co-director of the automotive and motorcycle engineering firm Evo Design Solutions, said he was drawn to the race because of the engineering opportunity it presents.

"It's a challenge to design something that doesn't yet exist," he said. "There are electric motorcycles, but no true electric sports motorcycles."

Like Mission Motors, Evo Design stands out for the depth of its experience. The iconic British motorcycle company Triumph is among its biggest customers, and its five employees have worked on "everything from submarines to glass bottles," Simpson said.

Still, the EV-0 RR (Electric Vehicle, zero emissions, Road Race) is the first project the six-year-old firm has done on its own. The aesthetics came from motorcycle design house Xenophya, but almost everything else about it – beyond the motors and battery – are being designed and built in-house. "We've really gotten a chance to get our hands dirty," Simpson said.

One of the biggest challenges is getting all the electric bits to fit and packaging them so the weight doesn't throw the handling off. A traditional frame limits the placement of the battery pack and motors, so Evo opted for a monocoque that encloses the drivetrain like a shell.

"A monocoque doesn't use a frame, so you've got a lot more room," he said. "It's almost mandatory for an electric motorcycle because it gives you much greater latitude in placing the batteries. It's also incredibly stiff."

Spanish motorcycle company Ossa produced the first monocoque motorcycle in 1967, and Peter Williams won the 1973 Isle of Man TT motorcycle race on the monocoque Norton pictured below. Honda used a monocoque on the on the 1979 NR500 race bike, and the current Ninja ZX-14 features an aluminum monocoque.

A prototype of the EV-0 RR uses a monocoque manufactured a few years ago. It weighs about 44 pounds, but Simpson says the technology used to build it has advanced and he's confident the race-ready chassis will weigh considerably less.



The forkless front suspension is a double wishbone design based on that of the GTS1000 that Yamaha produced from 1993 and 1996. Imme, a German manufacturer, used a similar design from 1949 to 1951. Simpson says the design provides greater rigidity and stability under braking. "It's proven technology," Simpson said. "It makes a lot of sense."

Evo hasn't picked a battery supplier yet and won't offer any details on what might appear on the EV-0 RR except to say it will use lithium chemistry. The motors are from Green Motorsport, but Simpson's keeping mum on the specs and won't say why he's using two of them.

Without knowing what kind of batteries they'll use, Simpson says, it's impossible to say what the bike will weigh. And though Evo has some performance benchmarks it is shooting for, Simpson won't share them. He doesn't want to tip his hand to the 40 or so other teams.

"This is a very competitive race," he said.

Still, Hussein says his 364-pound TTX uses lithium-phosphate batteries. It will do zero to 60 in 3.8 seconds and, depending upon the gearing, as much as 135 mph. Mission Motors is shooting for 150 mph from a 3-phase AC induction motor and a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery with a range of 150 miles.

Ensuring the bike has enough juice to finish the race will be the biggest challenge. The TTXGP will use the same winding 37.73-mile course as the famed Isle of Man TT race, where riders maintain an average speed of more than 120 mph and navigate more than 200 curves.

"Range is always an issue with anything electric," Simpson said. "We won't have the option of recharging or replacing the battery, so we'll have to do one complete circuit. That's going to be one of the challenges, but then, everyone's facing the same challenge."

And that's one reason Evo was drawn to the TTXGP. The technology is so new and the possibilities so broad that anyone can win. It's a big change from conventional motorcycle racing, which tends to be dominated by a few teams backed by a few manufacturers, Simpson said.

Evo Design is bringing two bikes to the race. Olie Linsdell will ride the EV-0 RR in the pro class. Paul Owen will ride in the open class on a slightly less high-tech model that may use a conventional fork to save money. Both are seasoned racers with loads of experience on the Isle of Man. Prototypes will appear at upcoming track days, but Simpson says the race-ready bikes won't be seen until race day.

The firm has no plans to mass-produce either bike, but the race rules require that open-class bikes be offered for sale at the conclusion of the race for no more than 20,000 pounds (about $28,000), so there's a chance you could get one.

"If there's a big long queue of people lining up for it," Simpson said, "we'll make more."

Photos: Evo Design Solutions. Used with permission.

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This is an early prototype of the EV-0 RR with a two-piece monocoque chassis, conventional fork and swingarm. The pro-class entry in the TTXGP will have single-sided front suspension and swingarm. The monocoque bolts together like a clamshell on the vertical axis, enclosing the drivetrain. The design allows greater flexibility in packaging the battery and motors for optimal weight distribution.

The monocoque design of the EV-0 RR was inspired by this Norton designed and raced by Peter Williams, who won the 1973 Isle of Man TT. It also used a monocoque chassis, a design pioneered by Spanish manufacturer Ossa in 1967.

The single-sided wishbone front suspension on the EV-0 RR was inspired by the Yamaha GTS1000 shown here in race trim. Evo says the design offers greater rigidity and stability than conventional telescopic forks.