Introducing the world's largest electric motorcycle (with a 450-mile range)

By: New Atlas Posted On: March 29, 2024 View: 19

Pitched as a near-future electric touring bike, the Felo TOOZ has a top speed of 125 mph, a hand-of-God mid-range, and a range of 720 kilometers per charge (450 miles). Those numbers suggest it will be one of the largest motorcycles on the road, regardless of engine type, because that's a lot of battery capacity required to go that far on one charge.

The biggest promise the TOOZ makes is high levels of technological connectivity to your phone (AKA life), and the ability to output multimedia through the 12" TFT dashboard with sound via a 6-channel surround sound speaker system.

That laptop-sized screen is also used by the navigation system, and there were no demonstrations available of how the proposed 360-degree view camera system displays.

There's also a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), ABS and a traction control system, and if, more likely when it reaches market, no doubt there will be more technological capability on board.

The intention is to make it easy to continue your digital life when on your motorcycle and we expect many of these features to be incorporated into future offerings from Felo and fellow-brand RAPID.

The TOOZ also supports TYPE2 charging (from 20% to 80% in 20 minutes) and the brief Thai literature available mentioned an optional 8 liter cooling box that can be fitted to one of the panniers. The use of the word "optional" suggests that production is already planned, so we can't wait for the next instalment.

Like most cars and motorcycles these days, you can charge your electrical devices from the TOOZ, but it also has V2L technology which means you can use the bike's batteries to supply power to your home. We don't know the motorcycle's battery capacity, but it clearly must be significant.

Smartech is one of the stars of Thailand's electric vehicle sector, with its new electric motorcycle brands FELO and RAPID both starting with a clean sheet and the company well-funded and well-resourced with expertise.

Producing motorcycles in Thailand is seemingly a good idea, because most of the world's biggest motorcycle manufacturers already produce motorcycles there. Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, BMW, Triumph and Ducati all manufacture a portion of their global range in the Kingdom.

Just as the automotive world has been revolutionised by the manufacturing economies of the electric vehicle, so too will the motorcycle world, and one of the companies starting with a clean sheet to address this opportunity is purpose-built Electric Motorcycle Company Smartech. The technology on display was impressive.

Thailand might never have had "home grown" motorcycle brands of note, but it is already one of the world's largest producers of motorcycles. In terms of the value of its motorcycle exports, Thailand exports USD $3.0 billion worth of bikes annually to be the fourth largest motorcycle producer in the world. China ($12.8 billion), Germany ($3.3 billion) and Japan ($3.2 billion) sell more, but Thailand has already nudged aside India ($2.9 billion) and Italy ($2.43 billion). Within a few years we expect the order to be China first, then India then Thailand.

Then there's the gargantuan size of Thailand's domestic market (nearly 2.0 million motorcycles will be sold in Thailand in 2024) which ranks fifth in the world, with the four larger domestic markets of China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam all close by.

Thailand also ranks in the top 10 automobile producers in the world, and hence Smartech's decision to build an innovative "clean sheet" motorcycle company in the middle of one of the world's largest motorcycle and automobile manufacturing hubs makes a lot of sense - there is no shortage of expertise there for design, prototyping, manufacturing or efficient ways of getting the goods to a global market.

That's why the Thai Government is supporting Smartech. That's why this is a well-funded high-level play, and that's what I felt when I was on the Smartech stand at this week's 45th Bangkok International Motor Show.

That's why the unveiling of the Felo Tooz is not to be under-estimated. The company already has seven pure electric motorcycles on the market and the entire vibe of the stand was about innovation and doing things a better way.

There are several other innovations that were on the Smartech stand that we'll cover individually in the near future.

For now, we have several indications that this oddly-named electric motorcycle will be a production unit in the near future.

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