Would you consider buying an electric motorcycle? And why?

[1198]

I commute 280 miles twice weekly. My zzr requires just the one stop for fuel, and cruises at '70' all day. I service it myself. Until I can do that with an electric motor, probably not.

[G]

With a slippy fairing on a fairly heavy bike; 280 miles may not be too far out at 70mph! Especially if were to have a half hour 'top up' charge later into the journey.

But this would be very much a DIY job and you'd have a lot of money's worth of batteries tied up - definitely not worth the hassle to my mind!

[Dave....]

If ad is anything to go by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXuqQHPxggA
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Honda Africa Twin

[linuxyeti]

I'm already considering it, but, having seen the 2018 Zero range, the maximum range is just too short, despite the increased speed of charging.

They are getting closer to being perfectly viable for me. I could do it if I decided I wanted to stop at Corley services for a cuppa on the way home from work, but, then, buying a cuppa whilst waiting for an extra 30-40 miles range added isn't so appealing, it is however, doable...

Actually, the Zero S 11KW, does make for a compelling argument for replacing a 125. Alot of 125's are owned by people who have no idea about maintenance, and, have no intention of doing. With the Zero, they don't have to worry about the bulk of the maintenance they have to with a petrol bike, for most, the range of the Zero is ample, and, again, going back to the lack of maintainence, the materials used in the Zero, won't corrode to the same extent as most 125's.

The batteries have a 5 year warranty, which is pretty good going, overall, the batteries are designed to last about 500,000 miles or so, I would imagine, long before that time, the rest of the bikes will have worn out.

So, yes, overall, for me it's the range, I my office was still in Birmingham, I'd have 1 like a shot.

As for Evoke motorcycles, I imagine that their products will come in appreciably cheaper, once available, either later this year, or early next, but then again, the range is a little more of an issue, although, it does look like the battery is removable, or at least I think it is, sure I read it somewhere, so, that could be plugged in at work easier, and, at 11KW, A1 and CBT legal, so, a perfectly viable 125 replacement.
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Beware what photos you upload, or link to on here, especially if you have family members on them

[Rogerborg]

[linuxyeti]

[Polarbear]

[skatefreak]

[Rogerborg]

[linuxyeti]

[Polarbear]

[Tracer1234]

You seem to have jumped from...

[kal9001]

Electric push bikes seem to be the thing at the moment, Super light weight, but can be really powerful.
The legality of them is bollocks though, I can't see it taking too long for a huge crack down on them when people start being killed.

As for electric motorbikes, Sure. I've seen massively positive reviews of the Zero, though they have manufacturing issues, if A properly big player were to jump into this they could have something really decent out.

Some will say they like the gears and the noise, but for those who just like the speed and acceleration, simply the ride or commuting then electric bikes make a lot of sense, and as technology progresses they will get better and better.
You could look at this as the 1920's of electric vehicles (And yes I do know there was a historic attempt at electric vehicles before petrol became dominant...) but... look at a ford model T compared with a car today... Things like the Leaf and Prius are the model-T of our era, The Tesla is the next step. there's like another century of technology to catch up on pretty much.
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Anyone stupid enough to think we will drag a load of wooden horses full of soldiers into our city is certanley stupid enough to drag all of ours into theirs!

[G]

As 'driverless' comes in I can see that being the big game-changer.

When you're not the one putting your foot down, I could see it ending up being a case of renting a charged drive train/battery/etc and having your own personal carriage - which will be the 'status' area people pay for.

[linuxyeti]

[Polarbear]

The reason I said a Chinese bike is that you have immediately saved a couple of grand over a YZF, just about the most expensive 125 going.

You say Chinese bikes can't do the speed of a Zero, yes of course you are right but I bet the Zero can't do the speed a Zero is capable of and still keep the range. If your range on the electric bike was 200 miles I bet the Chinese 125 would have a higher average speed over 200 miles than the electric due to the Zero having to restrict the speed to even get there.

Throw a 300cc bike in the mix - cheaper than a YZF, faster than a Zero and still getting 80mpg.

Of course there are good sides as in no engine maintenance. Still got to do all the rest of the running gear though so really you are saving on an oil change on most services.

Then what if it goes wrong. Burns out an electric motor out of warranty? Fries it's electrical control system? A battery dies? Cheap fix? I very much doubt it.

If it was £3/4000 yes, ok, can understand getting one at that but at £13000? By god I can buy a new Harley for that

The Evoke - Well, with the best will in the world I'll believe that when it happens and I see the cost of ownership/renting.

It is exactly the same problem as car battery exchange in that you will have have say (random figure) 100 stations in a big city, Each station will have to carry a large percentage of the number of Evokes registered in that city in case a whole load come in at the same time wanting exchange.

'I'm sorry Sir, you will have to wait until another bike comes in and we recharge it' isn't going to cut the mustard.

It just isn't going to work.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Rogerborg]

A more reasonable comparison would be something like a Kawasaki J300 at £4500 new (real eBay price, but then we're talking real world) .

A bit more tax, bit more on consumables, bit more on fuel, but better performance I would still be surprised if you'd reach the mileage where the e-bike would pay off.

Obsolete last-generation niche marque electrobikes with unknown battery life will retain how much value in a hypothetical future where prices are coming down and choice is going up?
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[linuxyeti]

If I was to get a Zero, it would probably be ..

The ZERO S ZF14.4 +Power Tank, which is the 45KW version. But, having said that the Zero S 11KW version is perfectly usable.

The J300, is fine, however, if you're restricted to an 11KW bike (cbt or A1 license) it's no good
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Beware what photos you upload, or link to on here, especially if you have family members on them

[G]

There is nothing at all technologically infeasible about having swappable battery packs - especially for bikes, where it should take under a minute for a human to transfer even a larger one in parts.

Whether it's feasible for our society/environment/commercial entities to adopt such a thing is another matter.
And whether that will happen before we're all in self driving cars too; why have a bike when traffic is running at optimal speed and you don't have any input in to controlling the vehicle?

For bikes it would be a lot easier to have a good store of swappable batteries than it would a big store of bikes.
There's also the extra benefit that the batteries can be used as an energy-bank for the power grid too - charge up from renewables when available and restore to the grip when not if that's feasible to do so and still have enough batteries ready.

[Rogerborg]

[thx1138]

KTM electric MX bike, just possibly if I had money to burn.

for actual transport, no, not yet.

[AdamEf]

I've seen more Mountain Bikes with petrol engines bodged onto them than I have electric motorbikes in the wild.

[ScaredyCat]

[G]

[Rogerborg]