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Yamaha is working on a futuristic water-powered motorcycle
A water-powered dirt bike is Yamaha’s wave of the future.
Year after year, it gets a little bit more difficult for major motorcycle brands to keep its range of models updated and within environmental standards. With emission standards getting tighter every year and with dwindling oil reserves, motorcycle companies are starting to look for alternative means of propulsion for their machines. We’ve seen a lot of motorcycles making the shift into electric motors and batteries with examples such as the Harley-Davidson Livewire. However, Yamaha chooses to do things differently. They’re now looking at water as a means to power their bikes of the future.
Maxime Lefebvre, an industrial engineer envisioned and designed a futuristic dirtbike inspired by the classic Yamaha XT 500 from the 1970s that comes with a surprising source of propulsion. Rather than being powered by an electric motor and batteries like what the other brands are doing now, the motorcycle will be powered by water. The project was in fact commissioned by Yamaha to Lefebre who have been in constant contact with each other for regular revisions on the actual design. One look at the concept and you’ll see how it’s designed around the lightweight, reliable, and easy to maintain qualities of the original XT 500.
The concept will be powered by a closed-loop H2O engine, but how it would actually work is still a mystery at this point as the engine itself is still also in its conceptual stages. The design is certainly out of this world. It’s unclear where the water pump central to the H2O engine’s operation will get its power. Even more baffling is how it will drive the rear wheel without the use of gears or a drive chain which seems to be the goal for the concept.
Yamaha seems confident that this little project of theirs will see it through. The motorcycle manufacturer is hoping that by the year 2025, a remake of the legendary dirtbike from the 1970s will be then powered by water. Who would have thought that combining dirt and water would actually result in a futuristic-looking motorcycle concept?
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