Tork Kratos Electric Motorcycle Launched

Kratos is a name you might be familiar with if you’ve played Santa Monica Studios’ famous video game ‘God of War’ but the name Tork might not be as quick to ring a bell. So before I get into this new Indian electric bike and its details let me tell you why this brand could be onto something here, because there’s evidence to suggest that Tork Motors really knows what they’re doing.

 

 

It started in 2009 when Kapil Shelke, the founder and current CEO of Tork motors, along with a handful of engineers decided to build an electric bike that could race on one of the trickiest and most dangerous tracks in the world; The Isle of Man TT. Tork motors built Asia’s first electric bike, the TIX which secured an astonishing 3rd place in the Isle of Man Electric GP. This was followed by the Tork T2X securing an outstanding 1st place in the TTXGP race held at the Isle of Man TT in 2010.

 

Fuelled by the desire to build accessible electric motorcycles for his own country and equipped with funding from Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, the Tork T6X Prototype was developed but was unfortunately never put on sale at the time.

 

 

This brings us to the present. It’s 2022 and Tork motors have unveiled their fully production ready electric motorcycles; the Kratos and Kratos R whose bookings have begun and deliveries are scheduled for as early as April of this year. So given that Tork motors have a high amount of experience in the EV space, expectations from these new bikes are quite high.

 

 

Being an electric bike the Kratos has a single speed transmission i.e. there is no gear shifting involved like there is in a conventional ICE bike since the motor produces all its torque and power instantly. If you’re questioning the Kratos’s credibility as a bike because of the absence of gears don’t worry because the frame, chassis, ergonomics, appearance and everything else about it makes it very much a motorcycle. Also since EVs are progressing so rapidly because of fossil fuel shortage we as humans are going to have to rethink all the stereotypes that are associated with the conventional idea of a motorcycle fairly quickly because sustainable energy is indeed the way forward.

 

Getting back to the Kratos, both the standard bike as well as the R version use the same steel trellis frame developed in-house by Tork for these bikes. There’s a telescopic fork up front to handle suspension duties and a monoshock at the back. There are disc brakes at both ends equipped with regenerative braking which means energy usually wasted during the braking process is fed back into the bike’s batteries for some extra juice. The battery pack itself is also built in-house and is an IP67 rated 4kWh aluminium unit. The Kratos is rated at 4kW output and peaks at 7.5kW whereas the quicker R is rated at 4.5kW and peaks at 9kW. The IP67 rating means it is highly waterproof and resistant to water damage or water ingress of any sort. As I mentioned in my electric scooters article performance of an electric motor can fluctuate hugely depending on how much it’s heating up during its working. An overheated motor means it isn’t producing optimum performance. To try and combat this issue as much as possible the Kratos is equipped with a force air cooled motor so that you can run the bike harder for a longer time.

 

 

EVs produce huge amounts of torque from the moment you twist the throttle which leads to amazing acceleration figures and the Kratos doesn’t disappoint here. The Kratos makes 28Nm of torque which is very impressive but the R does one better, or should I say 10 better with a colossal 38Nm of torque on offer. The Kratos can reach 40kmph in 4 seconds and keep going till 100kmph and the Kratos R can do the same in 3.5 seconds and onwards to a claimed top speed of 105kmph. One of the most important things to consider if not the most important thing to consider while buying an EV these days is its real world range. Range figures for the standard Kratos and the R are identical since they share the same battery back and sit at 120km in eco mode and 70km in the quicker sport mode. One of the main reasons a person is inclined to buy a bike over a scooter is to ride outside the city limits and this is why the 70km range in sport mode is still a bit concerning for me since you’re going to need that extra oomph for highway rides but with that kind of range, you’re probably not going to get very far in one go. That said, Tork Motors has said they will be installing fast chargers in and around Pune city (to begin with, the network will expand in the future) as well as at popular ride locations from Pune such as Lonavala. Should be interesting to see how that comes out.

 

Showrooms owned by Tork themselves will be opened in 6 main cities to begin with and after the franchise model is introduced the dealership network will expand further to as much as 100 new locations.

 

 

Both the Kratos variants come with a reverse gear to help back out of tricky spots as well as a certain degree of post ride telemetry. The R however comes with a whole array of extra goodies that the standard bike doesn’t get. These include but aren’t limited to fast charging capability which can tank up 80% of the battery in an hour, free charging network access for 2 years, geofencing, find my vehicle function, improved analytics, crash mode as well as 3 additional colour options of the bike to choose from in addition to the standard white paint.

 

 

The original ex-showroom prices of the Kratos and Kratos R are Rs.1,92,499 and Rs.2,07,499 respectively but thankfully because of FAME II subsidies both these prices have dropped by Rs.60,000 and state subsidies have reduced the price by a further Rs.24,500 for both bikes (this is applicable for Pune, state subsidies vary from state to state; visit booking.torkmotors.com to get an estimated quote of the ex-showroom price in your city)

What this means is that the effective prices that customers will have to pay (in Pune) for the Kratos and Kratos R are Rs.1,07,999 and Rs.1,22,999 respectively which is very competitive pricing indeed.

 

All in all the new Tork bikes are looking like extremely promising propositions in the E-bike space and will surely spark interest in the minds of those looking for an affordable bike with low running costs and all the benefits of electric power.

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