Honda is already pushing its first-ever electric motorcycle out of the garage, but Yamaha ain’t rushing. It appears to be deliberately calibrating its entry into the electric motorcycle space—less of a sprint, more of a precision climb. But it is not far away because it has this: Proto BEV, a working prototype created around the idea of fun enabled by a large-capacity battery EV.
The Yamaha Proto BEV isn’t just another electric bike with a big battery and no soul. Yamaha’s angle is “fun that can only be experienced with a large-capacity battery EV.” In plain English: they want you to smile, not just save the planet. The engineers decided that if they were going to make an electric supersport, it had to be light, compact, and dead easy to use. The result is a machine with Yamaha’s trademark handling—sharpened on decades of internal combustion screamers—mixed with the smooth, linear surge that only an EV can give.
On the track, it’s all about focus, and Yamaha knows it. So, the Proto BEV puts everything you need at your fingertips. No fiddly menus, no spaceship dashboard. Just simple controls, a display that doubles as a visualizer, and a sound device that lets you hear what the bike is up to. It’s less about beeps and buzzes, and more about creating an audible feedback loop between human and machine.
What you get is a lightweight, compact BEV supersport with a large-capacity battery delivering smooth, powerful acceleration. It retains Yamaha’s legendary handling stability but adds the kind of linear throttle response that only an electric can pull off. In other words, it is Yamaha showing off that it can deliver thrills without the smell of gasoline.
No official price yet, obviously, because it is a prototype. Anyhoo, the Yamaha Motor Proto BEV will make its debut at this year’s Japan Mobility Show, along with the MOTOROiD:Λ, the TRICERA Proto, along with a bunch of other two-wheel BEVs.
Images: Yamaha Motor.
