Revolt Intellicorp, a company founded by former Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma, has unveiled its first electric motorcycle for India, the Revolt RV400. However, we don't know what it will be priced at yet, but bookings will begin online on 25 June for a token amount of Rs 1,000. It can be booked on Amazon or on the company's website.
India already has some electric scooters like the Okinawa iPraise and Ather 450 running in some markets, but no electric motorcycle yet. In that sense, this would be the first commercially available electric motorcycle.
So here's what we know so far, from the unveiling. The company wasn't very forthcoming with technical details though, so we'll have to reserve our judgement on this bike for now.
Revolt RV400 Design
The Revolt RV400 looks like a regular sports commuter motorcycle at first glance, but on closer inspection you notice it is all-electric, with the lack of an exhaust or even foot controls such as a gear lever or brake pedal.
It gets full LED lighting with dual projectors, dual disc brakes (with possible combi-braking), regenerative braking, 17-inch alloy wheels running a 120/80 tyre at the rear and LCD instrument console. It has an upside down fork front suspension and rear mono-shock. The overall design has a naked, sport commuter look about it.
The frame appears to be all aluminium, but it did have some unsightly weld marks (these may be because these are pre-production bikes that seemed hurriedly put together). All the panels are plastic, which would probably make this bike incredibly light.
Revolt RV400 Motor
The Revolt RV400 comes with a lithium-ion battery pack placed where a normal bike's fuel tank would be. It is concealed within a removable plastic top. Below that are the electronics and then the motor, which is connected to the rear wheel with a belt drive.
Revolt didn't give out any specs on the wattage of the motor, but said top-speed has been capped at 85 kmph. The associated mobile app showed that it has three riding modes - Eco, City and Sport, with a range of 140Km, 110Km and 80Km respectively on a full charge.
It has no gears – the levers on the handlebar control the front and rear brakes just like a gearless scooter. Being an electric motorcycle, it is silent.
However, Revolt has given users the option of playing motorcycle sounds through an in-built speaker on the bike. We didn’t quite get a live demo of how that would work though, to judge if the “fake” exhaust sound is anywhere like the real deal.
Revolt RV400 Features
Rather than the features on the bike, Revolt showcased its mobile app as that is the main control unit for the bike. The app is needed to start the bike – it pairs with the motorcycle over Bluetooth.
The app also has features such as geofencing, security alerts and navigation, as well as the various bike "sounds". It collects data on your daily riding style and suggests routes and tweaks the bike's performance accordingly. Revolt says it is AI-enabled, but I think that's just stretching the definition of artificial intelligence a little. We will have to test it fully to figure out how much machine learning capability it really has.
What's interesting is the charging options it comes with. It has an onboard charger that can plug into a 15amp socket. It has a removable battery pack (no specs on amperage yet) that can be charged at home. And Revolt says it is setting up swapping stations around the cities it operates in, so users can swap batteries easily. It is also planning home delivery services of charged batteries.
Revolt plans to announce prices in July and be present in seven metros in the next four months.
Full LED lights.
Photo: The Quint
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