The Harley-Davidson LiveWire may soon have a direct competitor as Indian Motorcycle has filed a trademark application for “EFTR” for use on a future electric motorcycle.
The application, filed with both the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the European Union Intellectual Property Office, specifies the EFTR name is intended for “Electric motorcycles and structural parts therefor”, leaving little doubt that Indian is working on an electric version of the FTR 1200.
An EFTR would be the first electric motorcycle from Indian, but also the first from Polaris Industries since the 2016 Victory Empulse TT. The Empulse was shelved alongside the Victory brand in 2017, leaving the future of Polaris’ electric two-wheelers (and the technology it acquired from Brammo) in doubt. The new trademark suggests Polaris is preparing for an electric Indian, but it’s not clear whether it will share any technology with the Empulse TT.
Four years is a long time in the electric vehicle space, and the specs for the Empulse (which claimed 54 hp, 61 lb-ft. and a range of 140 miles) do not stand up against the competition today. The LiveWire claims an output of 105 hp and 86 lb-ft. with a range of 146 miles of city riding while the Zero SR/F claims 110 hp, 140 lb-ft. and 161 miles. Polaris must surely have made progress in the last four years, but the EFTR will need to claim comparable numbers to be competitive.
Unlike most electric motorcycles, the Empulse TT used a six-speed manual transmission. It’ll be interesting to see if the Indian EFTR will have a manual transmission as well.
We know from patent filings that the FTR was designed to be modular, and the new EFTR trademark suggests it will share some elements with the flat track-inspired roadster, though it will likely be more complicated than plopping an electric motor in the FTR 1200’s frame.
As with most trademark applications, there’s no indication on when we might expect to see the Indian EFTR. We’ll have more information here on Motorcycle.com as it becomes available.