Electric Royal Enfield Bullet unveiled

The electric Royal Enfield Bullet is based on a 2005 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 and uses batteries from the Nissan Leaf and an electric motor to power the bike. The original 500cc engine and transmission has been completely discarded after a blowout.

The builder has been working on the electric bike for several months now, first with a bench test of the components and then installing them on to the motorcycle. What we have now, as evidenced from two videos posted by the builder, is a completely operational electric motorcycle, or electric Bullet, if you will.

All the internal combustion engine components of the bike have been stripped off and have been replaced by the electric components. The electric motor takes the place of the transmission and the batteries have been installed where the combustion engine motor was.

The Nissan Leaf batteries are stacked in six over five, sitting on a customized aluminium frame. The electric motor is mounted on four bolts on where the traditional transmission sits, with a 13 tooth front sprocket and 52-tooth rear sprocket.

The left toolbox of the electric Bullet 500 houses a data logger with an SD card recording all the data produced by the cycle analyst like speed, amount of power used, etc. The left pannier houses an onboard charger integrated with a DC-DC converter.  

The bike build is still ongoing and the builder says he has to add additional components like a chain guard and better weather protection for the battery terminals. From the test ride video, it seems this electric Bullet has faster acceleration than the current Royal Enfields in production and can easily clock speeds in excess of 100-110kmph.

Royal Enfield purists may find it eerie to see a Bullet without the traditional ‘thump’, in this case, without any engine noise at all, except the whine of the motor and the chain. But this is one bike build which is certainly a commendable effort. Now, if the management at RE is watching, this could well be a decent idea to develop the first factory produced electric Royal Enfield.