THE PACK has been contacted by Belgian industrial product designer Eric Vloemans who is very enthusiastic about the “Feet First Concept”. In the past we have published a few articles about Royce Creasy and Robert Wagner with their visions on electric power and two wheeler dynamics.
Eric: I guess everyone reading this article is convinced of the advantages of putting an electric drivetrain on a two wheeled vehicle. Although current technology and commercially available vehicles have performance levels close to ICE powered machines, the concept of feet forward driving might bring even more light in the darkness.
Increase of electric motorcycle performance by driving “feet first”
Aerodynamic performances of the traditional motorcycles-biker combination, are very poor. Comfort and weather protection can be quite OK on high-end touring bikes, but there’s no such machines with electric drivetrain yet.
The “Feet First Concept” might speed-up the market acceptance of electric motorcycles and this is why :
- Wind and rain protection are easier to integrate, semi or fully enclosed concepts already exist, with gyro’s, landing gear,…
- Comfortable seated position
- Frontal area can be drastically reduced
- Cw value can be optimised since the rider is not ON but IN the vehicle
- With a similar battery-pack, the autonomy of a feet forward motorcycle will be much larger due to the aerodynamic factors above, certainly at higher speeds. Or, with a smaller battery pack and motor, (lower cost !) the FF motorcycle can have the same performance as a traditional electric motorcycle. This of course also has an ecological impact, less Watt/km.
Opportunities enough to be really inventive, instead of replacing the ICE and fuel tank with a battery and an electric motor. Thanks to the internet, it’s easy to find interesting concepts from the past, just look for “feet first motorcycle”, two wheeled car etc.
So dear designers and engineers, get creative and start thinking feet first, like I did.”
You can follow Eric’s project here:
