Norton, under the guiding hand of new owners TVS, is moving in an innovative direction and has announced that their new electric Norton project is going to be part funded by a Government scheme, aiming to increase the manufacture of electric bikes in the UK. The plan will include six other partners and last for 30 months, part funded by the Government's Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)19 with the aim of getting the UK to the point of having a net zero automotive industry. Norton have been moving in an electric direction for a while which we have written about before, but the Government financial backing is a new development.

That Petrol Emotion
With this new venture Norton are attempting to bring electric motorcycles up to speed and move away from the idea that they are limited on range or speed compared to their petrol brothers and sisters, offering race performance and a touring range. The new bikes will have an all new electric propulsion system but will keep the Norton style and design of old, which gives Norton its class.

Norton CEO Dr. Robert Hentschel, says about the project...
'This significant funding investment is a momentous milestone for the brand as it marks the beginning of our electrification journey and fulfilling our ten-year product plan. Norton is an exemplar of modern luxury and unafraid to challenge the status quo, innovating for the future of mobility while staying true to our British heritage. It also brings into focus our desire to support the UK in its mission for a net-zero automotive future. Working alongside our world class partners, we’re confident that project Zero Emission Norton will eliminate the current dispute between a conventional and electric motorcycle to create EV products that riders desire – motorcycles that blends Norton’s uncompromising design DNA with racing performance, touring range and lightweight handling.'

The other companies in the partnership are focused not just on bikes, but also on developing world class tech for the whole supply chain including batteries, motors, coolants and chargers to name but a few components. Each partner has its own area of special expertise to contribute to the project, for example Delta Cosworth will develop the battery while HiSpeed will engineer and make the electric motor and inverter and INDRA will work on at-home charging, and there are others involved as well. In combination these companies have a great range of skills to offer to the project. A couple of the great side effects of this project is that more jobs are being created at Norton as people are recruited to work on the zero emissions bikes. Plus the fact that the engineers already employed by Norton, will be upskilled to work on electric motorcycles, as well as the internal combustion engines they currently work on. This will mean that there are more skilled engineers trained up in the UK ready to meet and address the current skills shortfall.

"This significant funding investment is a momentous milestone for the brand as it marks the beginning of our electrification journey and fulfilling our ten-year product plan,”
...added Norton's Robert Hentschel.

Ian Constance, Chief Executive of the APC, added:
“The projects receiving today’s investment highlight the breadth of technologies needed to help the UK accelerate to net zero emissions. They’re reimagining not just vehicles, but transport in general.”

Our Friends Electric
So here it comes, incrementally, the electric vehicle industry creeps on apace and the future of motorcycling looks full of electric-capable engineers working on electric machines. Will we get used to them or do we need some androids to ride them too? Or will they be self driving and drive themselves? It will be interesting to see how Norton go with charging them. It looks as though they are going down the plug-in charging route but will they think about the swappabale battery idea? Watch this space... What do you think? Is this a good development or not? Get in touch via email at [email protected] or drop us a message on Facebook