Urban policing – three wheels to be the future?

Northamptonshire Police is looking to the future with the help of White Motorcycle Concepts’ WMC300FR three-wheeler.

The WMC300FR from White Motorcycle Concepts is a hybrid electric scooter that’s been specially designed as a first-aid vehicle for rescue workers and the Police – and it claims to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50 per cent compared to comparable conventional motorcycles and scooters.

The three-wheel hybrid scooter concept being used by Northamptonshire Police has been built from the bones of Yamaha’s innovative Tricity 300 (which can be ridden by car licence holders). It uses the same 292cc single-cylinder engine as the Tricity, but gets an additional 5kW electric motor which works as
a booster at low speeds. The electric motor gets its energy from two removable 56V 12Ah lithium-ion batteries (which can be topped up using a quick charger if necessary).

But what’s seriously clever stuff is how it reduces aerodynamic drag. The WMC300FR relies on flow through, rather than around the body (in contrast to many other motorcycles and scooters). The clad front wheels guide the air into a Venturi duct through the centre of the vehicle to reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency, and the higher the speed the greater the effect. Interestingly, WMC uses a similar system for its electric world record concept motorcycle WMC250EV (which it claims will deliver twice the mileage
of a more conventional electric motorcycle from the same charge).

At this stage WMC hasn’t provided any further information about the scooter, but with Northamptonshire
Police trailing the concept, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine a production version making its way to
market in the future.

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