Honda’s hydrogen motorcycle: More patents appear – this time pointing towards production

Here’s the latest patent drawings from Honda’s R&D office giving us more detail about the company’s upcoming hydrogen motorcycle.

In the designs the bike’s rear wheel electric motor is shown in detail, as is the single-sided swingarm.

There is no indication on the physical size of the bike, but given the outline drawing’s proportions this doesn’t look like something small. At the very least, this hydrogen/electric motorcycle appears to be a 500cc sized equivalent bike or possibly larger. The outline of the bike bears more than a passing resemblance to a current Honda Grom, and at the moment that’s a 125cc – so this motorcycle could actually be a small hydrogen motorcycle from Honda. Imagine that.

That description of the drawings goes into some detail about Honda upping the structural strength of the bike’s swingarm. Previous designs have been found to be too weak to carry the usual forces of the motorcycle’s weight and chassis passing through the unit, plus the electric motor and internal braking system – this latest design concentrates on strengthening the cast parts which make up the external walls of the swingarm.