Project Skypark SR1: An extreme electric motorcycle that money can’t buy

Anton Brousseau, a Canadian freelance automotive designer, based in Austria, has rendered an electric motorcycle using the design of the Zero SR as the base. The result is a seductive street bike with a few elements inspired by the KTM Duke motorcycle that Indian viewers would connect with.

Over to Anton to take you through his design project:

Introduction

I’m a freelance designer focusing on electric vehicles, especially on electric motorcycles. The project here is called Project Skypark SR1 and the whole vision of this project was based on the idea of creating an alternate reality.

The alternate reality is what if electric motorcycles are always around, just as the IC engine motorcycles; what if we’re in an alternate reality where we proceeded in a direction of only electric vehicles and we have developed them to such a point where we have figured out all the problems that we had gone through with combustion engines. This is a kind of a glimpse into that alternate reality, and showcasing what it potentially could be. It’s really a way for me to explore electric motorcycles as a concept.

That’s the idea behind the project. As a way to create this concept and make it a reality, I chose the Zero SR motorcycle. I chose the battery and platform from that and modified to create my concept over it. I took the heart of the vehicle, which is the battery and the motor, and I built over that. I tilted the battery forward slightly, allowing the motor controllers to be below that and created a frame around it that would allow everything to be more dynamic in approach. That’s why I wanted to create a streamlined architecture first and part of the thinking was to design from inside out. This allows for a cleaner design over a nice package.

The Design

The headlamp is KTM-inspired with its aggressive DRLs inspired by the KTM Super Duke and I wanted this aggressive feature to be on the front of the bike. You don’t many elements on a bike, so the face of the bike is quite important. So I thought that this aggressive simplicity could be cool. I’m very inspired by cyber punk stuff and wanted it to be a crazy cyber punk feature.

The display is something inspired by jet fighters cockpit and is really cool with a transparent screen. One of the things in motorcycles or during riding is the screen needs to be quite visible. Here, this is an approach to the head-up displays (HUD) on the helmet and this is an HUD that is tactile but still on the bike itself and is transparent to not block your sense of the road. You can still see through the screen but things are projected on to it. It’s not a fully explored concept but that’s the idea behind it.

Moving on to other parts, there are smaller ideas like the aero cover and the charging underneath the seat. This is a kind of naked sports bike and we can use that tank area to be used for ergonomics. This area could easily be used for storage and we can explore this area to really differentiate between electric and combustion bikes. I also placed the warning lights there, relieving the screen of the clutter of blinkers and other light, putting them above the storage compartment.

Cooling is quite important for electric vehicles, especially for motor controller and batteries. It’s easier to forget about it but in combustion engine bikes, we have learnt ways to funnel air into certain areas to make the performance better. We could use the same thinking in electric bikes and apply fins and other elements to guide air that allow different electrical components to perform better.

The project is kind of my own self-journey to realize I want to focus my energy into electric vehicles and that’s what I see as the real shift in the future. It’s kind of opening a window into what I want to do as well.

Images – Supplied and from Anton Brousseau’s Behance page.