This e-Bike Can Behave Like Any Petrol-powered Bike You Want

• The Emula Concept electric motorcycle features McFly technology.
• A virtual clutch and gearbox imitates the feel of a conventional petrol-powered motorcycle.
• It can even emulate the gear ratios, power and torque delivery of a petrol-powered bike.
• Like the Revolt RV400, this motorcycle also gets speakers to emulate the sound.

Electric motorcycles are superior to conventional petrol-powered motorcycles in many ways. They offer superior torque output right from the get-go and are a lot more affordable when it comes to running costs. However, it lacks one thing that a petrol-powered motorcycle offers: a visceral mechanical experience. In order to emulate this, Italian brand Emula (get it?) has come up with its first concept electric motorcycle.

Unveiled at the 2019 EICMA, the Emula Concept e-bike features what the brand calls “McFly” technology. This system manages a virtual gearbox linked to real gear shifter and clutch lever. The clutch and gear lever actuation acts as a cue to the electric motor to behave like it’s a petrol-powered bike, complete with a momentary loss of momentum and jerks while shifting. The 250Nm electric motor only has a single-speed transmission but using McFly technology, it can emulate the gears of a petrol-powered bike. In fact, it can even emulate the redline as well as the power and torque curve. You can choose to emulate between a 1989 250cc 2-cylinder 2-stroke motorcycle or a 1999 600cc 4-cylinder 4-stroke or an 800cc 2-cylinder bike from 2004.

There are two modes: Boring mode, which makes the bike behave like a conventional no-nonsense electric motorcycle. Under this mode, the top speed is claimed to be 250kmph. Then there’s the McFly mode which features four levels of emulation: Beginner, Arcade, Easy and Real Emulation. Under the Beginner mode, the bike acts like an automatic motorcycle a la the Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin DCT. Switch to Arcade and you can experience gear shifting without the hassle of a clutch lever. The Easy Emulation lets you control the clutch as well as the gear but doesn’t let you stall in case you select the wrong ratio. The most realistic emulation, complete with stalling, can be experienced under the Real Emulation mode. It can even imitate ‘snatching’ if you’re one or two gears too high at a particular speed. Pretty interesting, no?

In a bid to make the feeling as realistic as possible, there are speakers on the left and right side of the fairing for engine sound and there’s a pair at the rear too, to imitate the exhaust note. Heck, there’s even a subwoofer housed under the ‘fuel tank’ and vibration emulation on the seat and on the clip-on handlebars. It seems like Emula has taken it to a whole new level compared to what Revolt has done with the RV 400.

You can control all these aspects on the 8-inch touchscreen instrument cluster with WiFi and smartphone connectivity. The ergonomics are pretty much supersport-like and the bike gets an all-LED lighting system. Underpinnings include an inverted front fork, rear monoshock, twin discs with radial calipers up front and a disc at the rear. The electric motor is linked to the rear wheel using a chain drive with a large sprocket.

Also Read: This Electric Low Rider Does 0-100kmph In 1.9s!

All in all, taking such pains to emulate something that already exists feels a little too over the top. Personally, I’d rather have the unique identity of an electric vehicle or any petrol-powered motorcycle for that matter. What do you guys think?