Honda’s Upcoming Electric Scooter Will Get Swingarm-mounted Motor

At the recent launch of the Honda Shine 100 in Mumbai, Honda disclosed that it will be revealing more details about its upcoming electric scooter as early as March 29, 2023. While said electric scooter is expected to be launched sometime early next year, the company’s patent drawings have surfaced online which reveal just how the company plans to mount the scooter’s electric motor.

Unlike the TVS iQube’s hub motor, or the Ather 450X’s mid-mounted motor with a belt drive, Honda’s upcoming electric scooter will have its motor mounted on the swingarm, right adjacent to the rear wheel, similar to what we’ve seen on the recent Hero Vida V1. 

The patent drawings clearly show the electric motor mounted to the end of the swingarm on the left side of the scooter, with the motor’s output shaft exiting to the right, to which the rear wheel will be attached. The drawings also show large air-cooling fins on the outside of the motor.

According to the design document, the advantages of using this type of motor mounting are manifold.

1. It reduces the complexity of manufacturing, where the frame doesn’t need complicated motor mounting points, and also reduces power transfer losses which come from using either a belt, chain or shaft drive.
2. It also simplifies manufacturing of the motor itself, where it just needs a few mounting points to attach to the scooter’s swingarm. The only reengineering required is of the swingarm itself, which needs to be strengthened and needs said mounting holes for the motor. This also makes for easier and faster assembly of the motor to the scooter.
3. The design and manufacturing of the motor is also simplified and can be easily adapted to multiple upcoming electric products from the company.
4. Since the motor is not part of the rear wheel hub, it also reduces rotational inertia of the rear wheel, theoretically increasing the responsiveness of the power delivery.
5. Having fixed (i.e. non-rotating) cooling fins exposed to the ambient air also ensures consistent cooling of the motor.
6. But for the end user, the biggest benefit is easy removal of the rear wheel for fixing punctures or any other servicing of the scooter. This is a small struggle when it comes to belt driven e-scooters, but a major one for e-scooters with hub motors.

The final form of Honda’s electric scooter for India still remains to be seen, but with this sort of a motor mounting system, we believe the company could easily accommodate an electric drive train in (the form of) an existing product such as its best-selling Activa 6G. So, an electric Activa doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea after all.