Fox’s Allison Barrie explains the required capabilities of the motorcycle here.
Commercially available motorcycles don’t make sense for the military.
For starters, they tend to use gasoline, and most American and NATO military machines use JP-8, a formulation of jet fuel similar to kerosene and diesel fuel.
DARPA wants the vehicle to be electric-only for short periods of time and to run on JP-8 or diesel when it isn’t.
In addition to being heavy fuel compatible, the hybrid will have more than 10 percent better fuel consumption than the military motorcycles currently in use.
The features that the military would like – heavy fuel capability, two wheel drive and hybrid powertrains – have all been achieved independently, but this will be the first time all these capabilities are combined.
