To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the Arc Vector electric motorcycle’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
The Arc Vector has ridden some proverbial twisty roads over the last few years, even before ever reaching it to production.
The high-tech and high-dollar electric motorcycle debuted with fanfare at the 2018 EICMA Milan Motorcycle Show, but then ran into funding trouble from flaky investors that led to the company’s bankruptcy in 2019.
Now the founder and lead designer, Mark Truman, reportedly managed to buy the company back from administration and is ready to resurrect the high tech bike.
As Mark explained:
“We had lots of interest after the administration but nothing quite worked out. I decided to buy the assets myself four months ago. The project had come too far and had been too well received for me to not continue with it. The global support we had from people was astonishing and really left me with no other option.”
Originally sporting an eye-watering price tag of £90,000 (approximately US$117,000), the Arc Vector is certainly not a typical electric motorcycle.
With its designer hailing from Jaguar’s own skunkworks design department, the Arc Vector was certainly a one-of-a-kind electric motorcycle. It featured a carbon fiber monocoque design that gave the futuristic cafe racer an unmistakable profile.
The front swingarm suspension in place of traditional telescopic forks and the resulting hub-center steering also add to the unique design of the bike.
Spec’d with a 95 kW (127 hp) electric motor, the Arc Vector reaches an electronically-limited top speed of 200 km/h (124 mph). The bike also carries a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of just 3.2 seconds.
The 16.8 kWh battery pack can provide a range of up to 436 km (271 miles) on the NEDC cycle. DC Fast Charging enabled a recharge of the pack in just 45 minutes.
The bike was also designed to operate with a “human machine interface” that included a tech-embedded jacket to provide haptic feedback warnings as well as a special heads-up display (HUD) helmet allowing the rider to keep their eyes on the road while still seeing pertinent innovation.
While the Arc Vector may not have met its original production goals, Truman’s resurrection of the company is giving the bike a new chance.
The original goal was to produce 399 units to match the bike’s battery voltage of 399V. But now things are apparently going to move just a bit slower.
As Mark explained:
“Without the pressure of a big company, we’re taking things a little slower now. The first bikes will be delivered to their customers in 12 months. We are going to offer 10 customers a very special opportunity on the first 10 Vectors. I’m not revealing what this is just yet but watch this space.”
We’ll be back with more news about the Arc Vector’s revival as soon as the company shares more details about its upcoming plans.