Earlier this year, we revealed how Kymco plans to include an electronically simulated clutch and gearbox in its upcoming electric motorcycles. Now, it seems that Zero Motorcycles is thinking along similar lines, filing its own patent application for a dummy clutch lever that regulates torque and regenerative braking to simulate the feel and control of an internal combustion engine bike’s clutch.
Although it’s easy to see this fake clutch as a trick to please riders of the past who were brought up with a real clutch, that would be an injustice to the idea. After all, the clutch on an ICE motorcycle is much more than just an on/off device to switch the rear wheel drive on or off. It’s also a tool that we all tend to use to increase elegance while riding, promoting an extra dimension of control. Whether it’s to regulate torque when starting from a standstill or to work in harmony with gear changes to add a variable level of engine brake, the clutch is an integral part of riding and, for those sitting on an electric bike for the first time, it’s a control that is particularly noticeable by its absence.
Zero, like Kymco, seems to recognize the subtle control that a clutch offers and this new patent shows how the company intends to use the fingers of the left hand as a constant control of the adjustable torque and regenerative braking of its electric motors. The company’s new patent application shows a completely normal-looking “clutch” lever and explains how it would be connected to the engine’s control electronics, while giving familiar feedback to drivers.
In operation, too, the results of using the lever will be familiar, even if you’re not actually switching the transmission on or off via a set of clutch plates. The patent explains that: “By reducing the torque output of the engine, the control lever on the left-hand side mimics the operation and feel, for example slippage, of a clutch of a multi-speed transmission present in motorcycles and other vehicles that are powered by internal combustion engines.”