The electric motorcycle industry always seems to fuck it up a little, often by aiming at the way top end of price, and putting in a motor that’s way too big, and yet limiting the top speed. It can accelerate from a stop to 80 miles per hour in 5 seconds flat, and then that’s it, that’s all it can do. For about an hour, using up its 80 mile highway range before it needs to be charged for an hour and a half.
My Ninja 250 cost $4000, weighed about 300 pounds, had a top speed of 130, performed like a hot hatchback or Mazda Miata, held just under 5 gallons of gas and made just about 70 miles per gallon, for an effective range of about 300 miles on a tank.
I’ve gone on road trips that outright wouldn’t have been possible on this thing, and many more that would have added days to the trip having to wait for the bike to recharge 50% of the time.
I’ve also seen very little in the way of electric scooters, the 30mph moped Vespa style. Perfect machine for electrification, it needs to go 30 miles per hour and make 100 miles on a charge. This should be doable.
Why do all electric motorcycles look like an ‘80s idea of the future or a dirt bike? Why can’t we get a touring / cruiser style bike? I can deal with a 100 mile range, but I won’t be riding one till they look like a normal bike.
You can deal with 100 mile range on a touring bike? Sounds like you need a moped, not a goldwing.
What one needs is usually a lot less than what one wants. I honestly could get by with a pedal assist bicycle. And yes 100 miles is passable because isn’t far off what my Valkyrie (same engine as a Goldwing ) gets on a full tank.
Is it suitable for an all day ride? No, but it still wouldn’t be if it had a 200 mile range. But it would suit all my regular needs and look like what I want it to look like.
True battery tech is not there yet. Even with the new sodium batteries, it’s still not good enough for a motorcycle
These do look interesting! I’ve been considering an electric motorcycle as a second vehicle to use for commutingand those prices are comparable to their gasoline counterparts.
There are some cheaper options, like getting a used Zero e moto
I mean… you can get a gas motorcycle with those specs for less than 2k in good condition used (I did exactly that in college). I still think it’s a fair price for a new EV motorcycle though.
