Manufacturers are scrambling to make bikes more efficient, as lowering emissions while pumping out more performance is the name of the game. This is especially true now, given the rising cost of fuel and stricter emissions regulations pretty much all over the world. At least, everywhere else apart from the United States...
And while electric motorcycles are indeed gaining traction, hybrids, on the other hand, are not. In the car world, hybrids have become ubiquitous, from family hatchbacks to fancy plug-in hybrid supercars. But in the two-wheeled world, hybrid machines remain far and few in between.
Sure, Kawasaki has dabbled with hybrid tech, rolling out the Ninja 7 Hybrid. Yamaha, too, has rolled out several hybrid machines, including the retro-inspired Fazzio scooter which I reviewed not too long ago.
But now, Yamaha has taken its hybrid tech a step further, introducing the FZ-S Hybrid to the Indian market. And while it’s by no means a sporty, high-performance machine, it could signal some pretty big things when it comes to Team Blue’s hybrid tech.
The FZ-S has been a strong-selling commuter model in India and other parts of Asia for more than a decade now. Think of it as a smaller, mass-market-focused iteration of the brand’s MT series. Bikes in the FZ range typically get sporty, angular styling similar to earlier generation MT-07s and MT-09s, but are powered by fuel-sipping, small-displacement engines. The FZ-S Hybrid is pretty much the same…except for the whole “Hybrid” part.
The way it works is pretty cool, really. Instead of being a full-on hybrid like your Toyota Prius, the FZ-S is a mild hybrid. This means it doesn’t have an all-electric mode, but rather, the electric motor gives it some extra boost when accelerating and overtaking. My personal experience with this tech in my Fazzio scooter is that it makes it feel like it has the acceleration of a 150cc scoot, while in reality, it’s just rocking a 125cc engine. Marginal performance gains, but gains nonetheless.
And so in the case of the FZ-S Hybrid, it’s rocking a 150cc single-cylinder, but will most likely feel more like a 200cc thumper when overtaking or accelerating.
Yamaha’s hybrid tech makes use of a so-called Smart Motor Generator. This thing acts as the starter motor, and is connected to the engine’s crankshaft. When overtaking or accelerating, it provides additional mechanical force to the engine, making it produce extra power momentarily. Oh, it also starts the engine up extremely silently—no loud cranking sounds whatsoever. Perfect for sneaking out in the middle of the night or in the wee hours of the morning.
Performance-wise, the FZ-S Hybrid isn’t really all that impressive, with 12.4 horsepower and less than 10 pound-feet of torque. But it’s in the efficiency department where this thing really shines. Yamaha says that the FZ-S averages around 109 miles per gallon. Plus, its start-stop system will help you add some extra miles to your gallon of fuel, especially if you find yourself in stop-and-go traffic.
Technically speaking, we’re looking at north of 300 miles of range on a full 12-liter tank of gas for this thing. It’s pretty wild, really—a bike that looks this sporty and so unmistakably Yamaha, all while having this much range.
And then comes the price. For the equivalent of about $1,500 USD, you can buy yourself this small-displacement, sporty-looking commuter. And depending on how you use it, the amount of money you save on gas versus using your car will pay you back the value of the motorcycle in no time at all.
For now, however, Yamaha’s hybrid initiatives seem to be focused solely on the small-displacement segment in the Asian market. But who’s to say that they won’t start rolling out the tech on some of their bigger bikes in the near future? I mean, a hybrid Tenere 700 seems like it’d have some serious performance potential, particularly off road where the extra torque and power boost could come in handy. And don’t get me started with a hybrid MT-07—imagine the wheelies you’d pull with that thing.
Sources: New Atlas, Yamaha Motor India
