First, a disclaimer: The motorcycle in these photos – the X-47 Desert Wing – is priced Rs 4.49 lakh, and not Rs 2.49 lakh, a figure that became so popular on the day of the launch that it got this bike 3,000 bookings in just 24 hours.
There is an entry-level variant priced Rs 2.49 lakh, but this isn’t that.
The bike
Made by Bengaluru-based start-up Ultraviolette, the X-47 is available in four variants: X-47 Original (Rs 2.49 lakh), X-47 Original+ (Rs 2.99 lakh), X-47 Recon (Rs 3.49 lakh), and X-47 Recon+ (Rs 3.99 lakh) – and a fifth special edition Desert Wing (Rs 4.49 lakh) that I tested.
Original variants have a 7.1-kWh battery and claimed riding range of 211 km, and Recon variants have a 10.3-kWh battery and 323 km range. Performance figures are mind-bending (40 bhp power and 610 Nm torque at the rear wheel).
How’s the design?
That’s possibly its biggest strength – it’s got muscular lines, aggressive and angry fascia, 200-mm ground clearance, upside-down front forks in golden colour, and coloured dashboard.
Safety features set it apart – the X-47 gets radar-powered advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), which provides real-time blind spot alerts, lane change warnings, and rear-collision monitoring.
How does it ride?
Riding position is neutral and comfortable, with knees and hips forming 90-degree angles. It’s got three distinct ride modes (Glide, Combat, Ballistic), and in Ballistic, the power delivery is insane. Claimed 0-60 km/h acceleration time is 2.7 seconds – close to some sportbikes – but after that the power delivery seems to taper. It reaches 100 km/h in about 9 seconds, and while I couldn’t test it for top speed on public roads, Ultraviolette said it’s 145 km/h.
An area it impresses is comfort – the suspension is at just the right setting, stiff enough for great handling on a racetrack, and soft enough to glide over broken roads.
What I didn’t like?
At 208 kg, it feels heavy, especially when navigating traffic where you have to constantly put your feet on the ground.
Pricing seems to be a hurdle – while Rs 2.49 lakh got enough tweets and retweets, if you want to get the most out of an electric motorcycle, go for the Recon+ that costs Rs 3.99 lakh. Yes, its running costs are 10 times less than a midsize petrol bike, yet a figure north of Rs 4 lakh seems a lot. But there is EMI to your rescue. The Recon+ can be bought for Rs 6,780 per month (9.9% reducing interest rate for 60 months, with 20% downpayment), which is almost the same amount you would spend on fuel in a petrol bike.
The range is overpromised – 211 km and 323 km range are IDC estimates (Indian Driving Cycle, calculated under controlled, laboratory conditions). My test bike showed a range of 260 km (Glide mode), 200 (Combat), and 180 (Ballistic), but when I pushed it hard in Ballistic mode, the range dropped to 155 km, which is a huge difference from the 323 km promised in company communications.
Lastly, in numbers, electric bikes best most petrol bikes (for instance, 610 Nm is insane), but in terms of everyday usage, they cannot yet match a petrol bike’s go-anywhere capability or the convenience of quick refuelling.
And yet revolutionary
The X-47 shows that a decade of R&D in electric mobility has started to match up to a century of innovation in petrol bikes. In case you want to buy one, go for the fully-loaded variants of either the X-47 Recon+ (EMI of Rs 6,780) or the special edition Desert Wing in these photos (EMI of Rs 7,630).
If you just want to experiment with electric mobility and need a good-looking bike and will mostly ride within the city/town, the entry-level model is a great choice (EMI of Rs 4,231).
