An electric Indian might clash with the brand’s retro image but that’s exactly what the company is working on.
In an interview with Reuters, the Steve Menneto, boss of Polaris’ motorcycles division, confirmed the project. He said that an electric Indian will come in four or five years’ time.
That schedule should put the bike’s debut on track to meet the planned production version of Harley-Davidson’s Livewire prototype. That’s also reckoned to be around four years from production.
Victory’s Empulse shows Polaris already has electric know-how
The decision to develop an electric Indian comes just after Polaris announced the closure of its other bike brand, Victory. Under that badge, it was already offering an electric machine, the Empulse. That was a rebranded version of the Brammo Empulse, a result of Victory buying Brammo.
It’s likely that the know-how and engineering skills from that Brammo purchase will now be dedicated to creating the new Indian electric bike.
Details of a motorcycle that’s still so far from production are understandably sketchy. So far the firm is hoping to get a range of 120-140 miles on a charge. That would put it near the head of the electric bike field in that respect.
The electric bike comes as part of a push from Indian to attract younger riders. That’s likely to see the firm developing smaller-capacity and sportier models in the future.
