Table of Contents
The new TS Ultra is the bet of Verge Motorcycles in the electric motorcycle market, with a bold and visual design that reminds us of the vehicles in the game Cyberpunk 2077.
An innovative design combined with a lot of power
Although it is not a big news when we talk about cars, the inclusion of sensors in motorcycles is a new reality that is being presented to the market, bringing the same safety systems that have long been implemented in four-wheeled vehicles to motorcyclists.
The Finnish manufacturer Verge Motorcycles intends to revolutionize the world of electric motorcycles with its new motorcycle TS Ultra, which in addition to the futuristic design, offers several means of protection for the user. When compared even to electric cars like the Corvette E-Ray, the TS Ultra appears to be much more powerful, thanks to its 201 horsepower and 1.200 Nm of torque, twice that of the E-Ray.
The motorcycle project began in 2018, when the company's chief technology researcher was dissatisfied with the few electric motorcycle options available at the time. The big issue presented by Marko Lehtimaki was that the designs of those motorcycles simply replaced a combustion engine with an electric one, placing a battery in place of the gas tank.
Thinking that such a solution was “not ideal”, Lehtimaki was also concerned, for example, with the placement of the batteries and how this was done in a way that hindered the handling and control of the electric motorcycles that preceded the TS Ultra. With this in mind, Verge designers chose to place the battery at the bottom of the structure of their new bike, so that the center of gravity would not be compromised.
When it came time to deal with the TS's electric motor, Lehtimaki and his team had to innovate, removing it from the chassis and opting for positioning it inside the motorcycle's rear wheel. Even though it is not necessarily an innovative choice, as other electric motorcycle models do the same, it was in the engine design that there was a crucial change in the TS Ultra project, as the wheel does not have a hubcap, meaning it is possible to pass your hand inside it, giving the new motorcycle a very futuristic look.
However, there is a downside to this radical choice, because the weight on the rear suspension becomes greater than usual; but for Verge's CTO, the practical advantages more than compensate for this problem. He commented that during the testing phase, many were skeptical about the manufacturer's choices, but the team did not give up on the idea, convinced that this was the future and if they managed to make it work, they would change the course of the electric motorcycle market forever.
“We didn't start this project with the goal of creating a bike that looked like the light-up motorcycles from the movie Tron, but rather thinking about ways to build a better product, with an electrically powered two-wheeler of an entirely new design. The answer to that was this ring-shaped engine in the front wheel,” said Lehtimaki, CTO of Verge Motorcycles.
Special sensors come with the TS Ultra
It's not just the look that the new TS Ultra impresses, but also in how she handles the environment involving her and her passenger. The sensor system called Starmatter Vision, which the manufacturer presented at this year's CES, has six cameras capable of capturing images from all directions, covering a 360-degree field around the bike.
Along with the cameras, the motorcycle also has two high-resolution radar units, one facing forward and the other facing backwards. Lehtimaki, despite not disclosing the name of the equipment manufacturer, assured the portal The Verge – by the way, unrelated to the company that manufactures the motorcycle – which are “of the best quality available on the market”.
These devices are used to recognize obstacles ahead or vehicles approaching the rear of the TS at speed, while the cameras look for any element on both sides of the motorcycle. The way in which possible dangers are communicated to the user through a display above the motorcycle's handlebars, while more detailed information is shared on a screen on top of the tank.
The most interesting of all is the system used to present this information, relying on the Unreal Engine to generate 3D polygonal graphics, the same used by many game developers and in television series productions such as The Mandalorian. To top it off, the Starmatter Vision can be kept up to date via the motorcycle's integrated wireless connection.
All these futuristic features are pretty cool, but you may have wondered how looking at a dashboard instead of paying attention while riding your new bike at high speeds could be dangerous. This is where the helmet's internal sound system comes in, presenting a spatial environment for the audible warnings of danger, which indicates that there is some new technology involved; Lehtimaki declined to elaborate on this.
Price and availability
All this technology and innovation has a price and it is very high. The input value of TS Ultra is 44.900 dollars, which is equivalent to R$218.663 at today's exchange rate. In this price range, the motorcycle comes with all sensors, with a range of up to 373 km.
For those who found the more powerful and trinket-filled option a bit salty, there is hope. A TS Pro it will be priced at 29.900 dollars, or R$143.520. This model will have 137 horsepower and 347 km of range, while the base model, the TS, with 107 horsepower and 248 km of range, will cost 26.900 dollars (R$ 131.441).
Unfortunately, in addition to the drop in performance of the more affordable models, the cutting-edge sensor system is not included in the base models, as they are still too expensive to do so, according to Lehtimaki.
Even so, he points out, all TS models can be updated via OTA, that is, without the need to connect to any network, and have the same internal sensors, which include GPS, the accelerometer and a gyroscope, without talk about stabilization and traction systems.
This means that all TS bikes will follow the same evolutionary trajectory in their systems, regardless of the model, and, as a result, will become increasingly better at helping their users deal with unfavorable riding conditions and even keeping the most excited riders on the line. .
Verge Motorcycles expects its new motorcycles to hit the United States market in the summer, around the middle of the year, and sales will initially be made directly to interested customers. This forecast is a little different from the one announced last year, but it is worth mentioning that some buyers in Europe have already received their TS, so the future is not that far away from reaching the hands of a larger public.
Watch the video summarizing the event on our YouTube channel:
SEE MORE FROM CES 2024!
Source: The Verge
reviewed by Glaucon Vital in 8 / 1 / 24.
Discover more about Showmetech
Sign up to receive our latest news via email.
