ETH Zurich builds 400 km range 2WD electric motorcycle

Students from the ETH Zurich have come out with a prototype of a power packed electric motorcycle. Their Ethec boasts a 15 kWh battery for 400 kilometres of range. It supplies the AWD formed of two in-wheel motors delivering 50 kW at peak.

For continuous operations, the electric drives still run with a power of 22 kW. Moreover, the front hub drive serves to recuperate braking energy and obtain higher stability.

The team behind the Ethec had been rather mixed as it consists of 16 engineering and design students from ETH Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts. While they did come up with great solutions, putting them all together has not always worked in the most balanced manner but sure is intrigueing.

The large battery consisting of 1260 cells appears particular edgy, given the elegantly outlined monobody frame that they say follows the form of the human body. Underneath the bulky form of the battery though, is a clever thermoelectrical cooling system that the students developed by combining a low-maintenance cooling system and a direct-cooling oil stream around all cells. This allows the battery to power the e-bike along for 400 kilometres on one charge, all the while using the 2WD for improved driving feel.

One of the sponsors that supported the Ethec team was Huber+Suhner who provided different Radox cables as well as data bus, multicore and single lines. They managed to cover the entire cable harness, including wiring the powertrain, battery, Signal, sensor and data bus systems, doing away with what easily turns into a mess.

As you can read, the technical data is powerful enough to make us want to see that electric motorbike hit the road. For now though, the Ethec electric motorcycle is a one-off prototype with only a small to make it into serial production. Any takers?

ethec.ethz.ch, newatlas.com, hubersuhner.com (cables)