The Pioneer of Electric Superbikes: Interview With Azhar Hussain

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Azhar Hussain is the inventor of the TTXGP, a racing series for electric motorcycles. Last year he managed to astound the racing community with a successful event on the Isle of Man TT - definitely the toughest road racing circuit in the world. Azhar Hussain is also Director of Mavizen Ltd. which produces the TTX02 an electric superbike based on the chassis of the KTM RC8.

Azhar Hussain, pioneer in the field of electric motorsport. Meet him at the 1st International Motorcyclists Conference. Picture: FEMA.

FEMA: Mr. Hussain, you are coming from the electronics and IT sector. In many cases racing teams are founded and run by people who had spent a great part of their life on race tracks as mechanics, engineers or race drivers. The people with petrol in the veins.

A.H.: None of this applies to me. For example my family has absolutely no background in motorsports. I like motorcycles but I hardly ride on race tracks.

FEMA: So how did somebody without any racing experience decide to set up a racing series and to develop own race bikes?

A.H.: We had the lucky enough good timing, good partners, financing, viability and knowledge. All these things together in that one moment created this spark. And I think all became the momentum of the project.

Whenever a new technology, a new way of doing things comes, it means change. And change means there are new winners and new rules. If you don’t change anything, then everything stays the same. We are here saying we took the risk and we faced new challenges and now we see the early fruits of our efforts. Of course some people are not happy with what we are doing.

FEMA: What would you consider the major challenges for installing the TTXGP?

A.H.: The real challenge is actually the motorsport industry. Motorsport has been one way over the last decades. Now somebody is coming and proposing a completely new way. What we face is an institutional inability to cope with that.

FEMA: How do you manage to overcome this inability to adapt?

A.H.: Actually it is all public what I’m doing. I’m engaging with new partners, we move forward step by step. We have been lucky enough to enter the momentum and to have new teams on our side and new manufacturers coming in which is one of the crucial points: established teams and manufacturers tend to cocoon themselves, reaffirming each other that things are running perfectly. It is like an eco chain and they overlook that real innovation also requires input from outside. Voices who love motorsports but who realize that current developments are flowing into a blind alley are not invited.

It’s the new people who collaborate with us. The guys who won the TTXGP on the Isle of Man last year, they were coming from outside. Actually none of the teams who participated were coming from established teams. They were all new people from new places.

FEMA: Do you think you are creating a new audience and a new form of motorsports?

A.H.: I would not say that we are not attractive for the traditional motorsport audience. Take the noise example. At home you regulate the sound with your remote control and most of the attention is given to the commentators. The sound issue is completely overrated. The lower level of noise introduces new experiences. You can hear the announcer clearly now or share the passion for what’s going on the track with your friends. Horse racing is pretty popular and it is not a loud sport either.

FEMA: Is the Mavizen TTX02 already type approved? Can it be used on public roads?

A.H.: What we sell is a race bike. But it can easily be made road legal by the end customer. Additionally our bike is the first bike to have finance, so if you are a UK resident you can now get finance on the Mavizen. Finally we now offer road insurance for our bike courtesy of the Green Insurance company.

FEMA: What do you so far consider your major achievements?

A.H.: We exist for two years now. The fact that we are still in the game is an actual highlight. We are now holding the first world championship and we are very proud about that. Whatever happens in history, we will always be the first successful series in this space.

We have a good grid. Across the world championship we comprise about 40 teams, which is not bad for the first year. The technology is starting to work. We are learning an incredible amount. And one of the real highlights for me has been the tremendously high level of support we had from outside. We could not exist without it. Another highlight is that even from inside the industry there are some people who start to become involved with us.

Of course we have also had some very depressing situations. One of the most disappointing things has been the FIM. Its involvement is damaging our sport. The world, especially at this stage, is just not big enough for two competing championships in electric motorcycle races. The e-cup set up by FIM is a distraction and devalues everybody else involved. What should have been a glorious start of something really brand new has turned into a series of negative headlines.

FEMA: What about the Isle of Man TT. You are not involved this year.

A.H.: No, not this year. That is for a range of reasons which are very local.

FEMA: The motorcycles participating in the TTXGP can not compete with MotoGP bikes. The advantage of less performance could be an incentive to re-enter traditional race tracks which are too dangerous for the performance of MotoGP bikes. Do you consider this as an option?

A.H.: What is going on within TTXGP is very much comparable to the development of early petrol superbikes. At this early stage the steps of evolution are huge. And we all agree that within five years we should be able to compete with current petrol bikes. It might even be less time. We are already realizing 110 to 120 miles per hour and are able to produce an enormous torque. Of course there remain some significant challenges to be fixed. But I am confident that these will be fixed soon.

FEMA: What makes you so confident about these developments?

A.H.: As I said, we are just at the beginning. Doubling the performance on such a low step is easy compared to products that have been on the market for decades. Another important factor is that we do not have to rely exclusively on the development of one single sector like motorsport, or the automobile industry. Anybody who deals with batteries, electric motors and electronics results to be our partner. If you create a new valve or a new injection system for MotoGP bikes, your customers are only motor manufacturers. The guy who builds a better battery for me is capturing anybody who needs affordable, safe, mobile energy solution. This is a much bigger market compared to selling engines. TTXGP is representative of a larger move for convergence and globalization that is happening in the wider world.

Because the space for innovations is so incredibly huge, we also decided to rely on a Wiki to come up with the rules for the TTXGP 2011.

FEMA: Who makes the rules for the TTXGP races?

A.H.: Usually within a racing organization there is a committee setting the rules. In popular racing series, like MotoGP and Formula 1 the rules serve to keep the races exciting but also to tap development costs. The more sophisticated the rules, the smaller the space for innovation. A small space for innovation in turn leads to a reduced risk of spending money for research and development as well as reducing the goals for wider applicability.

High recognition within the racing community is usually an important condition to become part of the rule setting committing. The result is insiders making the rules for insiders, output from outside is not captured and new ideas can hardly take form and the series becomes remote from wider social, commercial and technical objectives. In order to avoid such phenomena we came up with the idea to create a Wiki to decide on the rules for the TTXGP in 2011. We invite contributions at wiki.egrandprix.com.

FEMA: A Wiki is an online platform that allows people to post and to edit and to comment texts or ideas on certain topics, just like Wikipedia. Does that mean that the rules for the TTXGP next year will be decided upon by whoever gives his or her input?

A.H.: In our sector, development and innovation takes place incredibly fast. In order to not miss anything, we invite everybody to participate setting the rules for the TTXGP 2011. Everybody who is interested in motorcycles, battery technology, electronics and mechanics is invited to join. We think this is the best way to keep track with recent developments. Finally a committee of experts will evaluate all the suggestions made and tailor manageable rules and standards. That’s how we try to keep our room for innovation as open as possible.

FEMA: Do you think that electric motorcycles tend to be forgotten in comparison to the support that is expected to be or that is already been dedicated to electric cars?

A.H.: Well, avoiding this must apparently be an essential task for FEMA. Making a split between four wheelers and two-wheelers would be absolutely misleading. In the previous world it was historic and sensible to have different manufacturers for cars and for motorcycles because the technology was somehow different. The engine of a motorcycle was not designed to fit into a car and the other way round.

With electric drive trains none of that applies. The differences between cars and motorcycles become very blurred. The engine we’re using for the Mavizen TTX02 could easily be fitted into a boat. And it would be the best boat engine. The same way you can take the engine and put it into a car and it would be the engine you would build for a car. Electric engines simplify everything.

But what I see as well is that in future bikes will have a higher utility. Take the Tata Nano which is a very cheap car. In a country like India with about 300 million people defined as middle class who could buy such a car without even thinking about it. Imagine what it would mean if everybody who can afford it actually bought it. How much of India would you need to tarmac to make that work?

Actually it is not the cost of the car which is holding people back anymore. It’s the fact that you need to live, you need to get around, you need to park. In that environment the two-wheeler makes much more sense. Even more electric two-wheelers, as they are way cheaper and less resource consuming than electric cars.

Regarding this I am very sorry that there is not a better representation at Europe for two-wheelers since there are some incomprehensible laws coming out of Brussels. And I don’t really understand why.

FEMA: What exactly are you referring to?

A.H.: Looking at the UK there will be changes for the motorcycle licence which, as far as I understand, are European led. It is already hard to get a motorcycle licence in the UK and it seems to become more complicated. It’s incredible and I have no idea what’s the reason behind this. I can only assume that people making the laws don’t ride bikes! I have just seen that so many times. On the other hand the people riding bikes, they don’t like to waste their time with politics. It becomes some sort of self selecting concept.

Another example is how we have started introducing parking charges in London for bikes. We should be encouraging 2 wheels but instead they are getting marginalized.

FEMA: That is exactly the reason why FEMA is organizing the MEP-Ride. That way we try to get in touch with the small number of parliamentarians who are riders themselves and at the same time we invite the others to show them how it feels like to ride a bike.

A.H.: The idea is great. But you as FEMA have to make sure that the licence requirements will change. At the moment they represent an entrance barrier which is just bizarre. Actually we are killing the next generation of motorcyclists. Who is supposed to ride electric bikes if there are no new people coming in?

FEMA: You will be present as a speaker at the International Motorcyclists Conference organized by FEMA at the end of June. What should attendees be looking forward to?

A.H.: Until the end of June we will have done 2 championship rounds. You will have seen about 20 bikes go racing and we will be able to share all that experience with the panel, especially with regard to technology. On May 5^th we shipped our first bike to our first ever customer. And by the time of the conference that number should have been increased.

What I am specially looking forward to, since influential decision-makers will be present at your conference, is presenting facts on the ground to them. It is not only some report or some theoretical concepts, it is something they can look at and touch.

And of course I will complain about missing support. I get no subsidies for example. Car companies in turn get a lot of subsidies. Why is that? Even though I can offer you better return on investment for R&D! Our vehicles are cheaper and we can actually make the real world difference now, today, not ten years down the line. The Tesla Roadster is a 100.000 Euro vehicle. How many people will ever drive such a car?

I think the main problem is that many politicians see motorcycles as a luxury for leisure and not as part of the core solution for transportation systems.

FEMA: Will you bring a Mavizen Superbike to Brussels?

A.H.: Bet on it!

The interview with Azhar Hussain was held during the Green Week at Zolder Circuit, May 6, 2010 by Philip Vogt, FEMA Policy and Communication Assistant. Original article first appeared on the FEMA website 1 June 2010.