Electric Motorcycles - A Review |
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File under Electrical
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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There are more and more electric motorcycle being produced. Battery technology is getting better and better all the time, lighter and more powerful. Within a few years, electric motorcycles will have reached a technology platform whereby their usage will become "the norm". If you can decide between a "normal" motorcycle and an electric one, if both have good performance and range, why go for a polluting one?
Here's a quick overview of the electric motorcycles offered today. I'll be looking only at motorcycles, not three wheelers or scooters. Not all information was available from the manufacturers. If I get them, I'll update this article.
NOTE: Often performance data vary, depending on batteries used, software parameters of the motorcycle and other variants. Data presented below are maximum values. For example, you can not have the maximum range if you're travelling at the maximum speed.
| Company/Model | Speed/
Range/
HP/
Acceleration/
Weight | Price | Comments | | Electric Motorsport / GPR |
Speed:
65 mph
Range:
40 miles
Horsepower:
15 HP
Accel:
?
Weight:
298 lbs | | | | | US$8,200 | A MotoGP style motorcycle. | | Electric Motorsport / Super Motard |
Speed:
62 mph
Range:
60 miles
Horsepower:
15 HP
Accel:
?
Weight:
225 lbs | | | | | US$5,800 (batteries not included) | Super Motard style motorcycle. | | Brammo / Enertia |
Speed:
50 mph
Range:
45 miles
Horsepower:
? HP
Accel:
0-30 @ 3 sec
Weight:
275 lbs | | | | | US$11,995 | Our Article: {link} | | Zero / MX |
Speed:
44 mph
Range:
40 miles
Horsepower:
19 HP
Accel:
?
Weight:
110-140 lbs | | | | | US$5,500 | Our Article: {link}
Weight depends on options | | Quantya Rent |
Speed:
37.3 mph
Range:
180 mins
Horsepower:
12.3 HP
Accel:
?
Weight:
196 lbs | | | | | €7,050 | Our Article: {link} | | Quantya EVO1 |
Speed:
?
Range:
?
Horsepower:
40.76 HP
Accel:
?
Weight:
187 lbs | | | | | ? | Our Article: {link}
SuperMotard style prototype | | Electric Moto Corp / Blade T-6 |
Speed:
40 mph
Range:
?
Horsepower:
18.2 HP
Accel:
0-30@4.1sec
Weight:
178 lbs | | | | | US$4,699 | Our Article: {link}
Not street legal in most areas
Price is dated year 2004 |
We're not there yet. There's still much more technology advances coming. Notice that most electric motorcycle are off-road motorcycles. It's one of the current best applications of electrical motorcycles. No one can complain when you take an electrical motorcycle off-road.
The Brammo Enertia is one of the first street legal promising bikes. As long as you don't want to ride an Iron Butt on it, you'll be fine.
Price are still too high, and only those that really want to be the first kid on the block to own one, will buy one. But with prices decreasing, and performance increasing, within the next few years, we'll see more and more. And that's a good thing!
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