If electricity isn’t yet ready to dominate the motorcycle world, perhaps forced induction can dominate the next era. Honda introduced its revolutionary large capacity V3 internal combustion engine with electric supercharger to EICMA.

The Japanese giant introduced an entirely new platform just after lunch on Tuesday: a compact V3 4-stroke engine; It appeared with red accents on the two front cylinder heads and a gorgeous tubular trellis frame on the single rear cylinder head. and the small cochlea of ​​the electric compressor visible from the frame above the front headers.

It is thin; It’s slightly wider than the forks, has beautifully curved exhausts that would look great in a bare-bones environment, and an easily accessible oil filter on the left side. However, valve clearances at the front will be problematic.

Loz Blain / New Atlas

The pistons are positioned at a 75-degree angle and are all water-cooled; You cannot see any radiators in the presentation case. The electric compressor is a world first in this type of application and is designed to increase torque especially at low and medium revs.

Where turbochargers are powered by exhaust gas pressure and superchargers are driven directly from the engine’s output shaft, Honda’s e-compressor consumes battery power. This completely separates it from engine speed; The ECU can force as much air as it wants into the inputs whenever it wants. Honda engineers can use this to completely eliminate any delay waiting for the boost to kick in or to tune for any efficiency and performance gains.

We’ll be fascinated to know how the efficiency of this overall system compares to traditional belt-driven superchargers, which consume a meaningful percentage of engine power at low revs before it starts spinning and contributing anything. Honda still needs to get the power to move that snail from somewhere; This motorcycle will need a much higher energy output from its alternator and possibly a larger battery to run the supercharger.

honda

Typically, losses in converting mechanical energy to electrical energy and back again have made electric superchargers less efficient than those driven directly from the engine; but the overall driving experience can still be superior here.

The V3 E-compressor was created from scratch and is incredibly compact. Honda claims the engine has been “newly developed for larger displacement machines” and we can see it being used in all sorts of applications, from street and touring to more track-focused machines – especially if it’s as tweakable as it looks, it could even work in the adventure sector.

But remember that this is still a concept. Just because it is shown mounted on a chassis with 200/55 wide section tires does not mean it is to be serviced. Fire Sword. It will be a while before Honda announces where it will start using this thing.

Loz Blain / New Atlas

It shares the same cylinder layout as the NS400R 2T, the one-off two-stroke triple that made waves nearly 40 years ago. And if it goes into production, it will join Kawasaki’s terrifying H2 One of the only forced induction production motorcycles on the market.

And the main purpose here is production. The company’s press release states: “Honda sees the development of this V3 engine with electric supercharger as a new challenge in the field of internal combustion engines, and its aim is to enable customers to further experience the joy of riding and owning a motorcycle.” . Honda also stated that “development will continue towards series production” of this new three-cylinder concept.

Is it too early to get excited?

Source: honda