Ultraviolette F77, inspired by a fighter jet, gets configurable riding modes

Ultraviolette Automotive, the Bengaluru-based company that has raised two rounds of funds from TVS Motor, is gearing up to showcase its first product, the Ultraviolette F77, on 13 November. We caught up with Narayan Subramaniam, CEO and Head of Design at Ultraviolette, for a chat about his creation that promises to disrupt the ‘sporty’ motorcycle market.

Is the F77 a codename or the commercial name of your motorcycle?

This not in an internal codename, this is the final name of the vehicle. The F77 name comes from the aviation background. There is a lot of aircraft grade technology and components that have gone into the motorcycle. And that is the basis on which (we named the product)…you know the entire F Series, F16, F22 Raptors, etc.

You are talking about developing an entire ecosystem of high performance electric vehicles. Can you talk to us about that?

Where this stems from is the fact that electric is able to outperform IC engine vehicles, both in terms of the performance and financial aspects. If you see the general spectrum of EVs, most offerings are on the low-end performance. For us it is important to build desirability into the vehicles as well. For people to want to own vehicles there has to be a certain pride of ownership. This is where the performance aspect also comes into play.

We want to prove the technology at the highest end and then look at other opportunities. That is why the first product is going to be a high-performance motorcycle and yes we definitely have plans for multiple vehicles under the high-performance segment.

With respect to innovation which particular aspect has seen the most work on the F77?

I would say 2 aspects – on the powertrain aspect most innovation has happened on the battery technology and on the vehicle side I would say it is the innovation around redefining the architecture for the vehicle itself.

Are you looking at experience centres and dealerships? How are people going to purchase your product?

We are looking at a combination of these (experience centres and dealerships). We are definitely looking at an experience zone. What follows to support the experience zone is something we will disclose on the launch date (13 November).

Can you talk about the safety aspect, with 450 Nm at the wheel, young riders may not have the skill level to handle such outputs..

This is something we have been sensitive to. The bike comes with 3 different riding modes so each of the modes unlocks different levels of performance. The second aspect is in the regenerative braking – again this is something that with experience you will be able to tune it to higher and higher levels. To start of with the experience will be close to what are used to, and as you get more experience riding the F77, you can tune settings to match your requirements and style of riding. All of this can be configured through the app that we are developing.