Last year, Honda excited the motorcycling world when it announced something that none of us had seen before. Team Red unveiled that it was working on a weird V3 engine. This engine promises to give big engine power but in a smaller package. How does it do it? It has a compressor that boosts like a turbocharger or supercharger, but is entirely electric. Honda has finally unveiled what the bike looks like, and now it’s time to get excited.
Much of the world of motorcycle development has revolved around electric motorcycles. Manufacturers are racing each other to produce faster electric bikes with crazier features, tons of automation, and alien looks. So, it was a little bit of a shocker last year when, at the 2024 International Motorcycle and Accessories Exhibition (EICMA) show, Honda said it wasn’t just working on a new internal combustion engine, but that it was going into production.
Back then, Honda displayed its unique 75-degree V3 engine inside of a bare motorcycle frame. The headlining part of the engine was its all-electric compressor, but Honda didn’t have any real details about the engine to share at that time.
This year, Honda is back at EICMA, and it hauled in its latest development on this project. Meet the V3R 900 E-Compressor Prototype, the electrically boosted 900cc motorcycle that’s supposed to perform like a 1200cc. Oh, and Honda says it’s putting this tech into mass production!
A Two-Wheel Rollercoaster
Honda says that this project came from its 2030 Vision strategy, which Honda says is built on this idea:
“Serve people worldwide with the ‘joy of expanding their life’s potential’— Lead the advancement of mobility and enable people everywhere in the world to improve their daily lives—.”
This strategy has three pillars: “Creating the Joys,” “Expanding the Joys,” and “Ensuring the Joys for the Next Generation.” Put into plain English, Honda wants to make vehicles that give people joy, make vehicles that are more accessible, and make vehicles that come as close to carbon-free as possible.
The V3R 900 E-Compressor Prototype is built to satisfy all three pillars. Specifically, Honda says, the design brief for this motorcycle was to make a “non-rail rollercoaster,” a motorcycle that provides thrills at all times. At the same time, Honda is building this machine as a technology demonstration. Honda says it’s going to use the latest technologies to give riders a “reassuring peace of mind.” Finally, this three-cylinder engine is supposed to be cleaner than a larger four-cylinder one.
As I have covered several times in the past, Honda has a knack for doing crazy engineering projects and then putting them into production. The V3R 900 E-Compressor appears to be a continuation of that madness, and I’m here for it.
More Details
The V3R engine has a 900cc displacement and a 75-degree bank angle. The engine’s cylinders are arranged with two cylinders taking the lead, and a single cylinder bringing up the rear.
That alone is weird and awesome, but Honda pumps it up, literally, with what it calls the E-Compressor. Now, back in 2024, the motorcycle press, myself included, weren’t exactly sure what to make of this thing. Some people called it a turbocharger. But that’s not right. A traditional turbocharger is driven by exhaust gases. Meanwhile, a supercharger is driven mechanically by the engine. Historically, both turbochargers and superchargers were considered to be types of superchargers, devices that compressed gases. Back in the 20th century, turbochargers were often called “turbo-superchargers.”
Most recently, the motorcycle press has been calling it a supercharger thanks to the compressor’s design.
Honda avoids the subject entirely by just calling it the “E-Compressor,” and that’s fair, because that’s exactly what the compressor is. We put supercharger in quotes in the headline as that’s a more recognizable term for more people than compressor. Anyway, Honda says:
It features the world’s first electrical compressor for motorcycles, which is able to control compression of the intake air irrespective of engine rpm, meaning that high-response torque can be delivered even from lower rpm.
In addition, the electrical compressor allows a high degree of freedom of layout of all components in the limited space available on a motorcycle, and an efficient centralization of mass. It also does not require an intercooler.
The brilliance of this tech, Honda says, is that unlike traditional forms of forced induction, the E-Compressor does not have to worry about exhaust gases or crankshaft speed. The E-Compressor uses electricity to spin its impeller and can boost up or down whenever it wants to.
Sadly, Honda still isn’t saying exactly how the compressor works, aside from just saying that the impeller is electrically-controlled. However, Team Red did release a video of it running, and oh my, I love the sound:
For this year’s EICMA, Honda also fitted the V3R 900 E-Compressor’s trellis frame and single-sided swingarm in some snazzy bodywork. It gives off the alien sort of streetfighter motorcycle look that seems befitting a project like this. The body itself isn’t really amazing at all, except for maybe the sight of Honda’s new ‘Flagship Wing’ logo. The best part is just seeing this engine in a complete and running motorcycle.
What’s Old Is New Again
Of course, as I’ve written about before, this isn’t even Honda’s first rodeo with V3s, from my previous story:
Yamaha gave Grand Prix fans the RZ/RD500LC, a motorcycle using a 90 HP two-stroke V4 engine. Suzuki fired its salvo with the RG500 Gamma, itself a bike powered by a two-stroke square four, but this one squeezing out 95 HP.
Honda didn’t participate in this particular horsepower arms race. Instead, it launched the NS400R in 1985. This bike made all of 72 HP, putting it at a penalty compared to the other two. However, it was plenty weird for its day. The NS400R was powered by a 90-degree two-stroke V3. This whole thing was an oddball. Honda didn’t like putting two-strokes in road machines but did see success in two-stroke motocross bikes. The company’s NS500 racer built in 1983 had a 113-degree V3 with technology derived from motocross bikes. Then there was the rare street-legal 1983 MVX250F, which had a 249cc 90-degree V3 two-stroke.
The Honda NS400R became known for new technology, from its hydraulic anti-dive fork development to exhaust pipes that altered the engine’s resonant frequency. Going with a weirdo three rather than a four also meant the Honda was exceptionally light back then, being close to 100 pounds down compared to its rivals. So, while Honda may not be known for its triples like Triumph, it did have some success. But that was 40 years ago.
There seems to be a trend in the motorcycling world right now of manufacturers digging into bags of past ideas to refine them with modern technology. Chinese motorcycle brands are building motorcycles with wild flat eights, V4s, inline-sixes, and old-timey suspensions. Now, Honda’s playing the hits with this V3, but is also adding some modern zest to it.
What Honda is doing isn’t unheard of. Japanese motorcycle manufacturers played around with forced induction back in the 1980s. Today, car manufacturers get smaller engines to make big power using forced induction. What’s novel is how Honda is doing it. Honda could have just slapped a turbo on this engine and called it a day. But this is wild.
Perhaps even wilder is how, per Honda’s own press release, it’s developing this thing into a mass-production bike. Sadly, we don’t have any other information, including when such a thing could go on sale. But you bet I’m going to be watching and begging for a ride.
Top photo: Honda
Details will come with time.
I am probably not as big of a fan of the exhaust note as you are, but that’s a wild looking header!
I had a couple of Suzuki 4-cylinders, a V-Strom 1000 and a Goldwing 1800. I liked them all but loved how the GW sounded like a Porsche when romped on. The ~6,200 rpm fuel cutoff was the only bummer on that bike.
I’m not an electrician and certainly don’t understand how this actually works, but i suspect it’s a massive draw on the bike’s electrical system to compress enough air for even a 900cc engine. Maybe Honda has found another way to power it, other than off the bike’s stator.
There’d have to be a battery, at the very least to supplement the alternator, if it’s not supplying all the juice. And that’d be extra weight. A car can afford to carry a chunky battery around…a bike, not so much. A traditional supercharger would have to be simpler and lighter…unless Honda’s doing something really tricky, which is entirely possible.
I too am curious about how they plan to push the current for this. The commonly used “electric motor :: engine || battery :: fuel tank” analogy shows its limitations here because in EVs the motor is almost more like a transmission between the battery and the wheels as there is one less conversion of energy taking place (chemical –> electrical –> rotational mechanical, vs. chemical –> thermal –> reciprocating mechanical –> rotational mechanical).
So just stating the output of the electric motor on this compressor / supercharger wouldn’t tell the whole story. You’d need either a beefier battery that could withstand more frequent charge/discharge requests, or something like a capacitor that could store a burst of energy for your motor to call upon when it’s boost o’clock.
But then that would come with its own issues, and the bottleneck would shift to whatever was supplying the system with power – which would be the alternator.
So yeah. To tl;dr this I see:
(shrug emoji)
I find it funny that Honda is looking at boosting a motorcycle just as hybrids are picking up steam and displacing turbos in the car world.
Would make more sense just to jump to the 2-motor hybrid setup just highlighted in the Prelude article. Kawasaki beat them to a hybrid motorcycle but botched the execution.
Having spent today twating around the countryside as fast as I dare on my 600cc Honda I definitely don’t want a 900cc and certainly not with the power of a 1200cc.
Call me when it’s a gear driven cam 400cc V4 with the power of a 600cc. The noise is most of what I miss from my RVF. And the luggage space.
I remember we used to laugh at people who put cheap Ebay electric turbos on their engines 20 years ago. Turns out the idiots were right and we were wrong.
Those electric turbos were a failure since it was impossible to sustain the current they consumed. I suspect that an e-turbo bike would only be able to sustain the current during passing and not in the mountains when it’s really needed…
Those are some Diavel-esque air intakes. I really dig the look, the sound was a little weird in the video, but it’s a triple and I’ve liked them enough to own two, so I have faith. If there is any motorcycle mfr I trust to do something weird like this, it’s Honda.
The resemblance to my wife’s 2019 CB1000R is immense, and that is a good thing.
I really like when Honda gets a bit unhinged.
This sounds promising even if I think the styling is hideous, and would look better with clipons.
Hideous is being polite. I’ve never embraced the insect-looking-for-a-mate look.
My VFR sounds better.
Also not a fan of this new trend of tiny headlights. I’m sure they’re bright enough, but large headlights are easier for car drivers to notice.
That’s only because the gear whine giving it character.
VFR750/800s are beautiful do-all bikes.
Mine is the 800, and they lost the gear driven cams, unfortunately. But it’s still that uneven firing V4 that sounds like a big block V8.
I like that this is an electric compressor so less dealing with belts and corrosive exhaust gasses. It does sound like the old time weird dudes that tried to use a 12v air compressor to get more power out of their cars because they were cheap, overconfident, and optimistic.
1) that’s a beautiful bike
2) I’m not sure I understand “doesn’t need an intercooler”. Compressed air is hot regardless of the source of compression, though obviously turbochargers also have to deal with the heat of the exhaust gasses. As with most mechanical superchargers, perhaps the pressure is low enough that the the engine can deal with increased heat with timing?
3) normal size battery?
Yes, I found this odd as well regarding the lack of intercooler, although maybe the added weight, complexity, and cost didn’t add enough power. I can’t wait to see graphics that show the boost levels given it’s fully variable.
My guess is the boost is not going to exceed 4 or 5psi.
That didn’t used to be uncommon in diesel engines and even cars like the Esprit V8 Turbo don’t have any form of intercooling.
If it’s low boost then the heat increase is minimal and you can balance it with retarded spark timing. Given the size of the plenum I do wonder if the volume expansion in to that provides some level of cooling as well.
I will assume Honda has done its homework, and the electric motor used to run the compressor is smaller/lighter/more efficient than a battery-operated propulsion motor would be. If this works out, it could have much wider applications in vehicle propulsion.
Hot Rod magazine had a article several years ago about electric superchargers and how it was expected to them on many vehicles to come. This is the first actual production use I’ve seen.
If memory serves me right, Honda also made a larger V3 for Moto GP racing.
Not sure about that but I know they ran a V5 as well.
With MotoGP’s switch to four strokes back in 2002, Honda moved to a V5 through 2006, followed by a V4 when capacity was reduced to 800cc.
That camo works well, I know it’s a Goldwing though.
I found out about this bike last night via TikTok, and “Honda unveiling a V3 E-Supercharged Motorcycle with BigXThaPlug as the sound track” was certainly not on my bingo card.
These guys would like to have a word with Honda regarding the “Worlds First” claim in the title…. https://duryeatechnologies.com/duryea-electric-supercharger/
That’s an aftermarket unit though, I don’t recall any OEMs offering electric supercharging yet.