Yamaha Motor Co is officially entering the electric motorbike arena. The Japanese manufacture is selling $812 million worth of shares to finance the research and development of both higher-efficiency engines and electric motorbikes. The decision comes after the company took a net loss of $2.3 billion last year due to a demand slump in both the United States and Europe.

This is the largest equity-based fund raising the industry has seen since Mazda's deal last October, and the largest for Yamaha since 2007. Automakers are being hard hit by the dwindling United State's market and a recent shift in demand for eco-friendly options.

The company's focus will be primarily on electrical products like hybrids in the ASEAN region where it plans to increase fuel-efficiency by 50-percent in 2015 when compared to conventional models from 2008. Abroad, the company will focus on 4-stroke, lightweight models with an increase of 30-percent.

While the bikes won't resemble the Light Cycle featured above, one geek can hope!