Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/997997
CURTISS ZEUS E-CRUISER FULL TEST P116 ALL AMOUNTING TO ZERO C urtiss engineers will have to establish a new set of electronic and powertrain suppliers, af- ter initial plans to launch the Zeus with batteries, motors and a control- ler all supplied by Zero, the world's number-one E-motorcycle manufac- turer, came to naught exactly one month before the Quail launch of the Curtiss E-bike. "We'd been working with the guys at Zero on the basis of a fixed agree- ment, and we were just finalizing our order for the Zeus powertrain kit, when they told us they were unable to work with the E-Twin format the way that we had it set up," says Chambers. "Our design consists of two electric motors coupled together with a single output shaft, capable of putting out double the power and torque of a single motor. Our minimalist approach to design meant we couldn't run two shafts, when one shaft can do the job. Zero had given us a thumbs-up on it, and we'd sent all our drawings to them, and ordered all the parts, which were to be made for this specific type of powertrain that had the two motors on a single crank. But then right at the end of the trail, just as our parts were coming in, and we had already assembled the motor packages, around 30 days before launching the Zeus at Quail we got word from Zero that we could not do that." It's a tribute to Cham- bers' perseverance and the determination of the Curtiss R&D team that they didn't let this devas- tating blow divert them from being present at the Quail with an E-motorcy- cle in functioning order. "At first I was very hurt, and sad, that this should happen," says Chambers. "But then I realized it was much better to find this out now before pre-selling one hundred of these bikes, and… then what? It was very beautiful to watch the Curtiss team in action the next day, after we all woke up ready to fight back. What we've discovered is something that I indeed imagined all along, and that is that there are very many smart young men dedicating themselves to this new EV technology. This is a very fertile field, and the tech- nology is moving on very fast. I don't doubt we'll end up with a much better package at much better pricing, by just managing the situation ourselves in our newly formed Curtiss Advanced Powertrain Technology Division. "Since getting kissed off by Zero, we've un- covered several battery suppliers, and a couple of controller companies with programmers, as well as sourcing the motors the way we wanted them from a supplier in Wisconsin. I don't think we'll have any problems without Zero— quite the reverse, in fact. There are many excellent suppliers that are dying to work with us, that love the idea of being teamed up with Curtiss. So right now, I'd say the Curtiss electric powertrain is going to be the very best, just like everything else we do." Sam Paschel, CEO of Zero Motorcycles, explains the reason for his company's pullback deci- sion. "Curtiss is an incred- ibly well respected brand, and I think they made a beautiful motorcycle. But although we sold them a powertrain, for us at Zero to feel comfortable with any powertrain customer, they have to use all of our components exclusively in that powertrain. It isn't about picking control- lers and batteries from here, and a harness from there, and a motor from someone else; it's a package. That's because we've now spent almost 12 years doing this, and our powertrain has a unified system, so we don't piece things out. I think on the timeline that Curtiss wanted to hit, they needed to use non-Zero components in a couple of places to put the motorcycle together. And that's a no-no for us." But was the essential disagreement between the two companies, in- deed, that Curtiss wanted to have a single shaft join- ing two motors together, whereas Zero wanted to have two separate mo- tors, each driving the rear wheel independently? "Yes—correct. The intent was always that we'd use two motors to drive the rear wheel, and we're fa- miliar with that configura- tion. But when push came to shove, with the timing they had, you couldn't make that work without some different non-Zero components. So that's why we declined to be involved further – but we still wish them the best." Sam Paschel, CEO of Zero Motorcycles, was not happy that the Curtiss design would use various powertrain parts from different suppliers.