QJMotor electric roadster on the way By Ben Purvis
China's QJMotor has been growing at a phenomenal rate in the last couple of years with a fast-expanding model range that's soon to extend all the way up to a 1078 cc, MV Agusta-powered, four-cylinder superbike. But QJMotor also has an eye on the electric motorcycle market.
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While several of QJMotor's most recent ICE-powered bikes have been attractive, and the upcoming 'Ten78' superbike has been designed with the help of former Benelli and MV design boss Adrian Morton, recently filed registrations show a new electric model that couldn't be described as beautiful. Undeniably distinctive, perhaps, but its shapes are not aligned to the kind of styling that we are accustomed to seeing.
Under the skin, the new model is based on the existing QJMotor OAO Pro, a 7 kW electric sports bike that's been under development for some time, but it takes a radically new approach to the aesthetic elements of the design. While fully faired electric bikes can easily follow existing design traditions, with their bodywork hiding the unconventional mechanical parts, making an electric roadster is a more challenging task. One option is to stick to conventions, using a dummy 'fuel tank' and packing the batteries into a block that sits where the engine would normally be found. But QJMotor's designers are opting for another route by creating a machine that embraces its novel powertrain and moves away from the norm.
The high 'tank' section seen here is actually a cover over the batteries and electronics, and by rising higher than normal, it means there's more space for those parts. Rising above the height of the bars, it is extended forwards, over the top yoke to provide a mount for the instruments, which again breaks with convention. The small touchscreen dashboard appears to be designed to be able to fold down into the bodywork when the bike is parked, protecting its screen and giving a cleaner look to the machine.
The rest of the bodywork adopts an angular look, resulting in something that could easily come from the pages of a comic book.
The bike's internal codename is 7000D-A, showing it's closely related to the OAO Pro, which is coded as 7000D. The '7000' relates to the wattage of the bike, equating to 7 kW or 9.4 hp, and for the 164 kg OAO Pro, QJMotor claims a top speed of 105 km/h (65 mph) and a 0-50 km/h time of 2.5 seconds. The 7000D-A, with the same mechanical parts, is likely to have similar performance.
