Patents reveal electric Honda Super Cub in the works

ICONIC motorcycles don’t come much bigger, or smaller than the ubiquitous Honda Super Cub. With an estimated 1 million units sold globally since 1958, it really is no surprise Honda has recently revamped the model.

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It is also really no surprise that Big Red is looking at adding an electrically powered Super Cub to the lightweight, urban fleet, as these patents look to confirm. The idea of an electric cub isn’t a new one, Honda first rolled a concept of the machine out at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2009. Although until today the details regarding the machine’s development have remained unknown.

The patent images you can see here do no directly look to outline the bike’s styling – although we expect the finished bike to stay true to the original concept from 2009 (top of page). But in fact, the patent has been filed to cover the removeable battery system that the bike employs.

As with many small capacity electric scooters, having the ability to remove the battery of the bike and take it inside for recharging is a big bonus, especially for those that don’t have an outside hook-up to rejoice the machine. With that in mind, Honda has created a simple system to remove and reinstall the battery, with no need to connect any leads of clip-on any terminals.

While the thought of a new electric urban commuter from Honda is an exciting one, we have to remember that patents are often used by manufacturers to simply pin an idea to a notice board for safekeeping. Although in the case of the electric Super Cub, we’re fairly certain this one is on the way.