Unique in the way it holds the batteries and motor, the Enertia chassis also maintains a stiff bridge between the fork and rear suspension pivot. Achieved through rigorous brainstorming, conceptualizing, and iteration, when the dust settled, we looked at it and thought, “Wow!, it looks so obvious and simple!”.
The Enertia chassis is basically an “H” shaped beam visible from the side of the Enertia as the exposed flat surface from the head tube down to the suspension pivot. This “H” beam carries the batteries by forming two opposing trays which hold 3 upward-facing batteries and 3 downward-facing batteries. The head tube area of the chassis provides incredible tracking stiffness through the “box” section and head tube internal gusset. The motor is structurally face-mounted in the motor bay, upon which the rear suspension pivot is located. This ingenious design of structures results in a very compact motorcycle with excellent stiffness and mass centralization, making it easy to handle and maneuver at both slow and high speeds.
The Enertia chassis is similar to a Formula One race car chassis in that it is a carbon fiber monocoque structure*. The term “monocoque” refers to a single load carrying shell, and this construction lends itself perfectly to this application. The chassis is designed to be extremely light and stiff while at the same time being extremely simple. The chassis weighs in at a scant 16 lbs (7.3 kg), making it considerably lighter than chassis structures found on modern production motorcycles.
*Update – While our prototype bikes do, in fact, feature a carbon fiber chassis, production Enertia chassis’ will feature the same monocoque design, but will be built from extruded and forged aluminum. This style of chassis construction is very similar to techniques used on some of the world’s greatest sports cars – the Lotus Elise, Audi R8, and Aston Martin DB9 among others. We are committed to providing the Enertia customer with the best possible chassis construction to ensure their Enertia exceeds expectations of performance, life, and serviceability!