Developing more sustainable modes of transport is now a key focus for many researchers at academic institutions, along with many automotive manufacturers around the globe.
Late last year, a team of aspiring young engineers at the University of Warwick set about building an electric race bike as a side project to their studies. Over the past 10 months, their project has gained considerable interest from other departments, inspiring several other new avenues of research in the process.
Just over a week ago, the Warwick Moto team also received a welcome boost from the team at Michelin UK, who have come on board as a tyre partner to the project.
Michelin’s commitment to the electric racing scene is already well known.
As the official supplier to the MotoE series, they have worked closely alongside bike manufacturer Energica to create a range of tyres which are able to better exploit the power output generated by their electric race engines.
In the 4-wheeled world, they have also worked extensively with teams in Formula E.
Despite working on a tight budget, more than 30 students have been involved with the project to date, overseen by academics and technicians from Warwick University.
One of the key challenges was keeping the weight of the battery, and therefore bike, as low as possible. The more aerodynamic the bike, the smaller the battery required to help it achieve its target top speed – but this also needed to be achieved without upsetting the stability of the machine.
They’ve recently reached the end of the initial design phase, and we can’t wait to see this bike in action on track in the near future.
