British two-speed electric motorcycle to break cover at EICMA

A British engineering firm is taking on one of the quiet assumptions of electric motorcycling — that one gear is enough. E-Motiv Shift Systems will pull the wraps off a demonstrator bike at EICMA in Milan, and its party trick is a two-speed transmission that changes ratios without cutting torque.

The machine, called Demo 1, is a retro-styled development project rather than a showroom-ready product. It was conceived by design consultancy Envisage and is being assembled by the Institute of Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS).

Why a second gear at all?

Electric motors deliver strong pull across a wide rev band, which is why nearly every e-motorcycle on sale today runs a single-speed drive — fewer parts, less weight, nothing to service. E-Motiv’s argument is that a short first gear could sharpen standing acceleration while a taller second lets the motor spin more relaxed at highway pace.

Keeping the motor in a happier efficiency window at speed is the other half of the pitch. Real-world testing on the demonstrator is pencilled in for early 2027, so hard range and performance numbers don’t exist yet.

What makes the seamless shift notable is that conventional motorcycle gearboxes briefly drop power between ratios. E-Motiv says its system holds torque all the way through the change, which matters far more on an electric bike where the rider expects instant response.

Roots in racing hardware

The technology has a long tail. Its lineage runs back roughly 25 years to the Zeroshift system, which later appeared on Aprilia’s MotoGP machines in 2015. The electric version was funded through a £1 million UK government-backed project bringing together motorcycle manufacturer BSA, the University of Bath and IAAPS.

Demo 1 at a glance: two-speed seamless powershift · retro design by Envisage · built by IAAPS · £1M UK government funding · track testing from early 2027 · public debut at EICMA, November 3–8

That BSA is attached to the programme is worth flagging. The historic British marque has been edging back toward modern production, and gearbox work of this kind usually signals where a future road model might draw its hardware.

The weight-and-cost question

Extra ratios sound free until you add up what they bring: another gearset, actuators, control software and the mass that comes with all of it. On a machine where dropping kilos is the whole game, engineers will want a clear efficiency dividend before committing to production.

• Acceleration: a low first gear for harder launches
• Cruising: a tall second to keep motor rpm down
• Thermals: lower sustained load at highway speeds
• Trade-off: added mass, cost and complexity

None of that is settled. The EICMA stand will show a working concept, not a bike you can order.

Still, the idea is hard to dismiss outright. If E-Motiv can prove the gains outweigh the penalty on the scales, multi-speed drives could stop being a curiosity in electric motorcycling and start looking like a legitimate option for heavier tourers and performance models.