Pros and Cons of the Electric Motorcycle

Mar. 07, 2024

Love them or loathe them, electric vehicles are here to stay. Electric cars are already highly practical: Tesla’s Model S can go over 300 miles on a charge, and even the subcompact Chevy Bolt EV hatchback is supposedly able to go 238 miles. But those are cars, and the Tesla’s battery weighs 1200 pounds, the Bolt’s 960. Not so practical for a motorcycle, where the whole vehicle needs to weigh about half that.

Motorcycle.com’s 2018 Electric Motorcycle Buyer’s Guide

What’s really needed to make the electric motorcycle really take off, of course, is new battery technology that allows those electricity-storage containers to get lighter and smaller. Rest assured, there are thousands of brilliant minds working on that as we speak. I wouldn’t bet against them, but who knows how long the magnesium-ion battery, or whatever it winds up being, will take? For now, these are the benefits and drawbacks of the electric motorcycle as she stands in the year of our Lord 2018.

Discuss this story more at our Electric Motorcycle Forum

PRO

They’re Electric!
It costs around 2 bucks to fill your motorcycle up with electricity that will propel it 100 miles; it costs $8.75 to go that far on your typical Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) motorcycle with gas around $3.50 per gallon at 40 mpg. If you commute or just ride a lot, that difference will add up fast. You also save time by never having to stop for gas. Oil? Strictly for salads.

Yes, electricity does come from nasty powerplants that pollute, but not nearly as much as an ICE bike and the petroleum industry that feeds it. Also, an increasing number of people derive their juice from the sun and wind, in which case your energy cost approaches zero.

Will you have to replace your battery? Probably not. Zero warranties its batteries for five years, but states: A typical Zero S or Zero DS can travel over 200,000 miles with the batteries retaining 80% of their original maximum capacity.

Only long-distance travelling motorcycles tend to see that kind of mileage – a mission electric bikes aren’t quite ready to take on.

Low maintenance
No battery to maintain, no clutch, no oil to change, no valves to adjust, no throttle bodies to sync, no air filter to replace… you’ll need fresh tires now and then, brake pads and that’s about it.

Instant torque
Most affordable electrics won’t go much faster than about 90 mph, but lots of them have silly amounts of torque, and their acceleration from a standing start can be just as stimulating, if not more, than most ICE bikes. The Zero DSR we just tested claims 116 pound-feet of torque; most of that’s available as soon as you twist the throttle, which can no longer be referred to as “loud handle.”

Stroke my Energica Ego

For those not restrained by mundane financial considerations, bikes like the $35k Italian exotic Energica Evo come with all the performance most of us could ever want, including an electronically limited 150-mph top end. Wait, scratch that! The Evo’s price is down to $24,900 for 2018!

Silent running

Maybe not so good if you think loud pipes save lives, but after you get used to the absence of noise, it really is nice to listen to nothing but the wind whistling past (you still need earplugs though). If you’re on a dirt road or trail out in the boonies, you’ll even sneak up on unsuspecting wildlife – or neighborhood cats, most of which really enjoy being chased no matter what their owners say.

Modern ICE bikes are remarkably quiet at 80 dB, but if you’re on anything older or with a modified exhaust, your neighbors will probably chip in to help you replace it with an electric. Some owners of bikes with open pipes may even be able to crowdsource funds for an electric bike.

Electrics are pricey, but starting to come down: Redshift’s Alta went from $14,995 last year to $10,495 for 2018.

Now that things like the Alta are here, I’m waiting for the first urban MX parks to open, so those of us who enjoy the occasional roost don’t have to drive two hours to do it. How can the neighbors complain when there’s no noise and no fuel being burned? They’ll still find a way, but getting urban youths on small electric bikes could be just the thing to rejuvenate the whole motorcycle industry.

Easy to ride

Without the need to learn how to shift gears, which scares off quite a few wannabe riders, electrics are as easy to ride as a scooter, which is to say no skills required beyond the ability to ride a bicycle: Twist this to go, squeeze this and press that to stop. Rider training will always be important, but the first hurdle is already overcome with electric bikes.

Government subsidies

In addition to the Feds, lots of states encourage you to go green with all kinds of tax incentives.

CON

Initial cost

Electric bikes are still not far past being a cottage industry, and that lack of scale means they can’t compete with ICE bikes pricewise. Zero’s entry-level S model starts at $10,995 – but again, there are tax incentives and rebates, and again, you’re not putting $15 of gas in the fuel tank every week or every few days. You could also spend $24.9k for an Energica Evo, which is billed as the world’s first electric superbike, with performance to back up the claim. That’s about $2.5k less than a Ducati Panigale V4 S, though, so…

Range anxiety

Just like staring at a blinking fuel light on your ICE bike with 20 miles to the next gas station, it can be unsettling to watch your charge meter go from 20% to 10% to 2% when you’ve still got a few miles to cover. Really that’s just a matter of planning, though. Many electric riders use their bikes for commuting a known, fixed distance, and range is never a concern (unless you get halfway to work and look down to realize you forgot to plug in last night). And if you’re mostly zipping around town less than 80 or so miles a day, like the vast majority of motorcyclists, electrics are fantastic.

As electric cars become more common, charging stations are springing up like proverbial wildflowers, and are easy to find with a phone app or two.

Charging time

You can get a quick top-up charge to get where you need to be most of the time in half an hour, but a full charge is going to take from two to ten hours, depending. Charge rate remains a problem for current lithium ion batteries. Along with greater storage capacity and therefore greater range, new battery technology will also offer much faster recharging times. We’re not there yet. Some say we won’t be anytime soon. Choose your pundit.

Weight

The aforementioned Evo weighs about 570 pounds to the Panigale’s 386-pound dry weight. There’s just no getting around the fact that batteries are heavy, and weight is a major component of how a motorcycle handles and feels.

The Tesla Model S’s entire floorpan is batteries, and weighs 1200 pounds.

On the other hand, though it offers far less performance than the Evo, Zero says its base model Zero S weighs just 313 pounds, and the DSR we just tested weighs 419. Not bad at all. Zippy, even.

No more mechanicing in the garage

If you liked to play with your tools while listening to your Zamfir CDs and tuning out the world, electric motorcycles will give you less opportunity to do that, but then they’re great for running to the Harbor Freight yet again while you work on the old Triumph. For the vast majority of people interested in electrics, the lack of maintenance is a selling point, not a detractor.

Fewer funny Youtube crashes

With no need to learn to use a clutch, there will be far fewer people launching themselves through fences and parking lots. We’ll miss that.

The Electric Motorcycle is the newest innovation in the Motorcycle industry since just about ever. Motorbikes haven’t changed much in a long time. Of course, technology has improved, but rarely have motorcycles innovated, until now.

The newest eco-bikes deliver a vast range of benefits and convenience, but there are some drawbacks due to technological limitations, that in turn, do inhibit consumer prices. They are well on their way to leaving gas-powered bikes in the dust.

The pros and cons of electric Motorcycles differ depending on who you are. If you’re a hardcore Motorcyclist who spends his time tinkering away in the workshop, you might not agree with everything here. For the majority of riders, electric motorcycles are a no-brainer.

Gas Powered Bikes are huge Environmental Polluters

It’s common sense to think most motorcycles are good for the environment. Having excellent fuel efficiency must translate into a significant cut in pollutants from the engine, right?

Well, not exactly. They do produce less CO2 than cars, but on the same token, motorcycles produce 13 percent of California’s vehicle emissions, yet make up less than one percent of total drivers in California.

Electric Saves You Time and Money in the Long Run

The time and money saved going electric compounds the longer you own it. On average, you will save $300 per 5000 miles on an electric motorcycle. Batteries last for 570,000 KM’S and maintenance is almost nonexistent. You’ll never have to visit a gas station since you can charge your bike in the comfort of your own home.

Parts that need replacing are the drive belt and brake pads that cost about $120 every 25,000 miles. Just like cars, gas-powered motorcycles need to be taken in for a service job once a year. For any electric motorcycle, engine problems are a thing of the past.

To sweeten the pot, all-electric motorcycles are under a tax incentive by Uncle Sam. This means that you receive 10 percent cash back on any purchase for up to $2500.

Battery Technology hasn’t caught up just yet

The one factor that holds back so many would-be eco-riders is the range of most electric Motorbikes right now.

Lithium-Ion Batteries need to be quite small to fit on a Motorcycle. So small that doing a whole day trip can’t happen. The top electric motorcycles right now hit about 200 miles as their maximum distance.

If you charge from home, it will take 10 hours to charge from a power outlet. They’re great for city riding and joyriding for a day, but any long-distance motorcycle tours are out of the question.

Anything Electric Is Considered a Stain on Motorcycle Culture

Many motorcyclists have some gripes on the way these new bikes work. This might be an exaggeration, but when you think of motorcycles, what pops in your mind, big loud exhausts? Speedy gear changes? Doing maintenance and making repairs yourself?

Electric motorcycles embody many aspects that people enjoy about scooters and vice versa. This causes some riders to view electric motorcycles more like scooters than motorcycles.

Scooters and motorcycles serve the same purpose, yet are so different. Speeding around bends without lighting fast gear changes just wouldn’t be the same.

Globalization Fuels Technological Advancement

Heavy hitters, such as Harley and Kawasaki, are beginning to enter this niche. There have been many motorcycle startups popping up over the years, digging for gold, but none have succeeded in gaining real traction.

Technology continues to hold it back until now. If the titans of the industry see an opportunity, they’ll put everything behind it.

Furthermore, the rest of the world is slowly but surely transitioning to electricity. The convenience of owning an electric motorcycle or electric car will only improve as more people, and subsequently, more innovation gets behind this green revolution.

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