Cellcius C-01: Australian superbike concept splits its battery into eight swappable cells

October 27, 2026
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B2B news, Electric motorcycles
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Neil Davidson, CEO and Design Innovation Director of Australian studio Clandestine Design Group, reached out to THE PACK to introduce the Cellcius C-01, an electric hypersport motorcycle concept the studio recently unveiled. Its defining feature is a modular battery system called “Hex-Core”, which lets the rider decide how much battery the bike carries.

The C-01 received a 2026 Australian Good Design Award in the Concept Design category. According to Davidson, it has also earned a Silver Pin at the New Zealand Best Design Awards and a Tokyo Design Award.

The C-01 is a design concept. Clandestine Design Group has not announced a production partner, pricing, a timeline, or performance figures such as motor output, top speed or range.

Eight cells instead of one pack

The central idea is to stop treating the battery as a fixed part of the bike. In place of a single large pack, the C-01 takes up to eight hot-swappable hexagonal cells of 3 kWh each, for a maximum of 24 kWh. The rider decides how many to carry.

With two cells fitted, the studio quotes a weight of 160 kg, which positions the bike as a light urban machine. With all eight installed, it goes up to 220 kg for longer rides or track use. Those figures put each cell at roughly 10 kg.

The designers present this as their answer to a familiar trade-off in electric motorcycles: big batteries bring range but add weight, small batteries keep the bike light but limit how far it goes. Here the rider adjusts the balance from day to day.

Empty bays become storage

Cell slots that are not in use double as mounting points for hexagonal luggage, so the bike can carry bags without side cases. Removed cells are not dead weight either. Each one has AC and USB outlets and can be used as a portable power station, a vehicle-to-load function aimed at camping and off-grid use.

Charging without a garage

Clandestine Design Group designed the concept with apartment dwellers in mind. Cells can be carried indoors in a dedicated backpack and charged from a regular wall socket. For riders with a garage, a wall-mounted dock charges several cells at once so a fresh set is ready to swap in. On the road, a CCS fast-charging port is integrated flush into the top of the tank.

Chassis and hardware

Instead of a chain or hub motor, the C-01 uses an enclosed carbon shaft drive, which the studio describes as silent and maintenance-free with low unsprung weight. Cooling relies on airflow rather than fans or a heavy liquid system: intakes at the front and a low-pressure tail section are designed to pull hot air through the chassis at speed.

The concept specifies Brembo racing brakes and fully adjustable Öhlins suspension. Lighting includes switchback daytime running lights and a segmented rear LED that handles signalling without separate indicator stalks. A 5G-connected app covers keyless RFID or PIN entry, over-the-air updates and firmware tuning that adapts to the number of cells fitted.

What’s next

For now, the C-01 exists as renders and an award-winning design study. Swappable batteries are not new in the light electric segment, but applying a scalable cell system to a hypersport motorcycle is a different proposition, and questions around cell weight, connector durability and real-world performance would only be answered by a working prototype. THE PACK will follow up if Clandestine Design Group moves the project beyond the concept stage.