Electric motorcycles (e-bikes) are coming, no one can deny that, and it looks like Indian Motorcycle might be jumping on the bandwagon. This comes from trademark filings with the US Patent and Trademark Office, the European Union Intellectual Property Office and IP Australia for the name “EFTR”.
The filing lists the EFTR name as “electric motorcycles and structural parts therefor” which could be for an electric powered version of the FTR1200, reports motorcycle.com. Indian Motorcycle’s parent company, Polaris, is not new in the e-bike game, having previously issued the Empulse under the now defunct Victory brand name after acquiring e-bike maker Brammo in 2016.
Nothing else is known aside from the name on the trademark filing, but the initials ‘FTR’ could indicate Indian’s new e-bike will be based on the FTR1200. The current model FTR1200 comes in a base, ‘S’ and ‘Carbon’ versions, with a 1,203 cc V-twin producing a claimed 125 hp at 8,250 and 115 Nm of torque at 6,000 rpm.
Such a product from Indian will naturally go up against the Harley-Davidson Livewire e-bike, which puts out 105 hp and 116 Nm of torque with a range of some 150 km. The previous e-bike offering from Polaris, the Empulse, was rated at 54 hp and 82 Nm of torque, but with advances made in battery and motor technology since 2016, we can safely assume the EFTR, if such a thing comes to market, will have no problems meeting current performance standards.
The top level of the e-bike field is dominated by names like Zero Motorcycles and Energica, which produce a stable of electric powered sports motorcycles.
