Did Honda Just Make A Motorcycle Engine With A Turbo?

Honda has just taken the wraps off its newest addition to the motorcycle world — a new and exciting motorcycle engine. It uses a three-cylinder engine in a 75-degree V3 configuration and what they call the world’s first electrical compressor for motorcycles. The V-shaped engine has two cylinders up front and one in the rear, as indicated by the exhaust piping on both sides of the engine. The compressor is promising the addition of power and torque at low RPM, but it doesn’t use exhaust gases like a turbocharger, nor does it use pulleys like a typical supercharger. Instead, it’s powered by electricity — so it’s more technically correct to call it an electric supercharger than a turbocharger — but Honda is simply calling it a compressor, so that’s what we’ll go with too.
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The compressor is compact and placed above the engine and below where the fuel tank would be. It also doesn’t require any form of intercooler. Intercoolers are typically used to reduce the temperature of air being pushed into the engine by a turbocharger or supercharger, but Honda says its compressor doesn’t need one. This means bulky parts like intercooler piping and the large intercooler itself are unnecessary. So technically, no, it’s not a turbocharger, but this is the kind of development that could change the game for Honda motorcycles.