Honda Unveils Electric Compression V3 Engine At EICMA 2024

If you are one of those who believes that electrics aren’t ready to take over motorcycles yet, well then, there’s good news from Honda as the bike maker has revealed an all-new engine configuration at EICMA, a three-cylinder V-arrangement with forced induction.

Nested in a smooth finished tubular trellis frame, Honda revealed a compact V3 4-stroke engine, featuring two forward-facing cylinder heads and a single rear cylinder head positioned at a 75-degree angle. The configuration is accompanied by an electric compressor that sits above the front cylinder heads directing the compressed air into the cylinders via a centrally-mounted intake manifold. Honda has highlighted the components by painting it in bright red to draw attention. This configuration makes the central portion of the motorcycle slim, barely wider than the forks, and is accompanied by a beautifully crafted exhaust further accentuating the engine design. While the mock up didn’t have a radiator, it is clear that the motor will be liquid-cooled due to the lack of fins.

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Turbochargers are designed to run off exhaust gases while superchargers run off the engine’s output shaft. Over here, the electric compressor runs on battery power and has been used for the first time for this kind of application, designed particularly to boost torque at low and medium revs. Since it is not dependent on the engine for power, it can be tuned separately and spun as required with a command from the ECU to maximise air flow into the engine. This eliminated any kind of lag for the boost to kick in or tuning based on the engine’s rpm. 

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While there is little known on how this engine runs, sounds or how efficient it actually turns out to be at this point in comparison to belt-driven superchargers and turbochargers. It remains to be seen how Honda will manage the high energy output to run the electric supercharger effectively. While it will feature a large battery, the packaging, weight and charging system operation is yet to be revealed. 

Honda claims that the engine is ‘being newly developed for larger displacement machines,’ and one can expect its application varying from street to track to touring applications. The engine configuration is still in concept stage and it will be time before we see a production-ready version of this engine.