Banatti Bamboo Electric Bike Unveiled

A Philippines-based little known brand called Banatti has unveiled its first offering, in prototype form, called The Green Falcon. The bike is an electric motorcycle with a bamboo body shell that weighs just 6.5 kg and can reach a maximum speed of 120 kmph, although it's designed for city use and speed is limited to 96.5 kmph. Banatti is owned by Meep Inc. (short for Modular Energy Efficient Portage) and according to Meep CEO and Design Director Christopher Paris Lacson, the weight of The Green Falcon is markedly less than what it would weigh if made of fibreglass.

The Green Falcon has a bamboo body and weighs only 6.5 kg

Lacson says the Philippines government has mandated the planting of 10 million hectares of bamboo by 2020. Bamboo apparently takes around three years before it can be harvested, and Lacson wanted to use the time till 2020 to come up with a use and application for the organic material that has the strength 'similar to steel', but he does point out that when composited, bamboo becomes incredibly strong. The Bamboo Extreme Program was set up, which challenged engineers and designers to come up with interesting and innovative uses for bamboo which was then unveiled at the Manila Fame Show held in October 2017. This is where Banatti debuted the electric, bamboo motorcycle.

The Green Falcon has a top speed limited to 96.5 kmph and a claimed range of 49 km on a single charge

The two-layer bamboo structure of The Green Falcon is laminated with marine epoxy and hides the bike's batteries and electric motor. Lacson says the bike has a range of around 43-49 km on a single charge. As of now, the Green Falcon is still a concept, and Lacson says it's more about finding new ways to use local resources and inspiring others, rather than make a commercially viable product in the The Green Falcon bamboo electric motorcycle. It's highly unlikely that the Green Falcon concept will be made into a full-fledged production model.