Vehicle transforms from tuk tuk to scooter in 3 minutes
Two wheels or three? Thanks to a project driven by Hero MotoCorp you’ll no longer have to choose.
Should I buy a tuk tuk or a scooter? It’s a dilemma that many of us have faced. Now India-based brand Surge has come up with the answer, borrowing from an old internet meme: Why not both?
An extension of Hero MotoCorp, Surge has developed the S32: a vehicle that can convert from a tuk tuk - or tiny truck, if you so choose - to an electric scooter in as little as 3 minutes.
And it’s a much cleverer set-up than you might think. This isn’t simply a case of hitching something to a scooter. In many ways, we’re talking about two separate vehicles that combine to create an all-in-one product.
Let’s imagine that first vehicle as the rear chassis. Constructed on a “heavy duty” ladder frame, it provides the rear two wheels in three-wheeler configuration. It is equipped with an electric motor capable of delivering up to 13 kW, depending on configuration. For context, the 125cc-equivalent Maeving RM1S has an electric motor that tops out at 10.5 kW.
The scooter slots into this rear section, serving to provide the three-wheeler’s front wheel, steering, and overall control (eg, operation of indicators). In this set-up, the vehicle is intended to carry heavier loads. For example, the proposed S32 PV is the tuk tuk set-up, able to carry two passengers; the S32 FB offers a (very small and very slow) flatbed truck; the S32 LD serves as a light-duty truck; the S32 HD gives you a teeny version of a Luton van.
Once you’re done hauling people or Amazon packages or small bits of wood or the like, you can disengage the scooter to serve as a standalone vehicle. Equipped with its own 6 kW motor, it promises a thrilling 60 km/h top speed (37.2 mph).
The S32 is not yet available to buy. It’s still going through the approval process in India, hindered oh so slightly by the fact that there’s nothing else like it - it doesn’t fit perfectly into existing categories. But Hero is confident that it will be seen on Indian roads soon. After that, it says it intends to bring the vehicle to Europe.
It’s a little bit difficult to picture the use case scenario in Britain for a tiny truck with a 28mph top speed, but not impossible. Imagine someone in London using it to deliver Amazon packages by day and Deliveroo by night. It’s the everything vehicle for a gig economy.
We will probably see more cool ideas like this popping up in the future, as Surge’s parent company, Hero MotoCorp, expands into Europe and the UK.
Despite the fact it may not be a familiar name to most Western riders, Hero is a big player in the motorcycling world.
Primarily a maker of affordable, lower-capacity motorcycles and scooters (ie, less than 250cc), it dispatched 687,220 units last month. In addition to producing its own motorcycles, it has partnerships with a number of other brands, including Harley-Davidson, for which it makes the India-market-only X440.
Until pretty recently, the Harley-Davidson X440 was also known as the Hero Mavrick (sic) 440. This week, it is being launched in the UK as the Hero Hunk 440. Editor Toad Hancocks is test riding it and will be sharing his review of the machine soon. Keep an eye on our motorcycle reviews for the latest.
For more motorcycle news written by human motorcyclists, stick with Visordown.
Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
