Electric Motorcycles
Zero Motorcycle Designers Build Another Manic Electric Grom
When you look at the motorcycle market these days as a whole, you could argue that there are just two companies who really have a sense of what the future of motorcycling is about: Zero and Honda. The bike you see here, dubbed “the Grom Reaper”, is what happens when one of the guys behind the Zero falls in love with the Honda Grom, and decides to build a manic, Zero-powered electric Grom. “The stock (Honda) Grom has a tiny frame and a low-performance engine,” Zero Motorcycles’ designer Cole Mishler told Bike Exif. “So, I saw the potential (in it) to really showcase the power and quality of the Zero drive train … this thing is a wheelie machine!” The transformation from fun little urban runabout to “wheelie machine” is hardly surpr...
Maniacs Build 50HP Electric Honda Grom
Every once in a great while, someone comes along to challenge the status quo. They’re called geniuses, maniacs, or something more dramatic. And still, sometimes these brave people come up with an idea that is truly transformational– and that’s exactly what the mentalists guys at ElectroBraap have done by building the bike you see here. Meet an electric Honda grom dubbed Project Electrom, and witness its 50 (fifty!) horsepower all-electric motor with a sprocket the size of a pizza. This particular build starts with an ordinary Honda Grom, then stuffs it full of the hugely effective Alta Redshift MX electric power train. Even though that brand is long gone, at this point, a number of its compact and powerful battery and motor combinations are still out there, waiting to be ...
Brandon Nozaki Miller to Attempt Electric Iron Butt
Longtime friend of (and sometimes contributor to) Gas2, Brandon “the Electric Cowboy” Nozaki Miller is attempting to ride his motorcycle 1,000 miles in less than twenty four hours. It’s often called “the Iron Butt challenge” in the motorcycling world, and it’s a daunting challenge– even on a road sofa. Brandon likes to make things even harder than they need to be, apparently, which he’s going to attempt a 100% ELECTRIC Iron Butt challenge. (Kinda.) It’s important to note here that, unlike Brandon’s 2012 world-record run where he topped 100MPH at Bonneville, this one won’t be a “world’s first”. That honor goes to Terry Hershner, who successfully did an Iron Butt run on a Zero S in 2014 that was fitted with s...
Meet the Wiz: CSC’s Newest Electric Scooter
As first reported by Elektrek.com, CSC Motorcycles has introduced the Wiz, its newest offering in the electric scooter market. This new bike can seat two passengers and has a top speed of 43 mph, (although the company claims riders have achieved speeds of up to 50 mph under the right conditions). The Wiz features a 2kWh motor and has a range of 30 to 40 miles on a full charge, making it optimal for short commutes. Retailing for a reasonable $2,495, the Wiz’s price won’t break the bank. The Wiz also features a decent sized trunk and a back rest for the passenger to maximize comfort. CSC Owner Steve Seidner was quoted as saying: “Customers are very excited about the Wiz’s step-through scooter style, and a lot of people who have the City Slicker are now interested in the Wiz...
Untitled UMC-063 ZERO XP One-off Electric Motorcycle
Motorcyclists have been customizing their rides since GIs started coming home from WWII. OK, maybe even before that– but it was those returning GIs who “chopped off” all of their heavy motorcycles’ excess bodywork that created the chopper aesthetic and launched the custom motorcycle art form. As we look forward towards a more inclusive electric future, then, it is heartening to see that a few shops are already out there building the future of custom motorcycles. Shops like Untitled, who are behind the UMC-063 ZERO XP you see here. Built around the bones of one of Zero Motorcycles’ new-for-2019 SR/F, the UMC-063 features slick, hand-formed custom bodywork, CNC-machined controls, and super science-fiction-y lighting. The result is a stunning piece of two-wheeled...
Czech it Out: Classic Čezeta Reborn as an Electric Scooter!
The world of electric vehicles is getting bigger and bigger each day. As an EV enthusiast, that’s pretty exciting– only I’m not exactly an EV enthusiast. Or, maybe a better way of putting that is to say, “I’m not only an EV enthusiast.” I’m interested in almost all mechanical things, and I’m especially excited about weird mechanical things that were/are built in small volumes by clever people with an absolutely bonkers aesthetic. As all those things and (I like to think) more, I love the new Čezeta electric scooter. If you look at this bike and it seems a bit like an old, Cold War-era, communist government moped– well, that just means you’re paying attention. “The Čezeta started life in 1957 at the height of the space age,&#...
Harley-Davidson LiveWire Buyers to Get Free Charging
Harley-Davidson is betting big on a future beyond the Baby Boomers, and its new LiveWire electric motorcycle is leading the charge (see what I did there?). Whether or not the bike will be a commercial success is something that remains to be seen, of course– but it just got a big boost in the form of a partnership with Electrify America that will give electric Harley buyers something pretty cool: free charging. “At Harley-Davidson, we are taking significant steps to lead in the electrification of motorcycling, including supporting the development of global charging infrastructure … including having access to complimentary charging on Electrify America’s growing network.” says Luke Mansfield, vice president and chief strategy officer for Harley-Davidson. That “g...
Curtiss Zeus is a Stunning, V8 Electric Motorcycle
If you haven’t heard of Curtiss Motorcycles before, get wise– because these guys are building custom electric motorcycles that are the spiritual successors to choppers and cafe racers, but with (what I’ll call) a greater respect for technology. They are every bit the real deal, and their latest blood, sweat, and gears-based proof of that fact is the bike you see here: Zeus. Curtiss Motorcycles has been working closely with Zero motorcycles to build this stunning machine and put it into limited production, and is currently taking $1000 deposits on the Zeus. The hope is that the bike’s unique styling and high-quality materials will help the company pursue its stated mission to “create sustainable, desirable, intergenerational, mean, clean, and green future-proof...
Indian Motorcycle Company ReVolt Reveals new 150cc Class Electric Motorcycle
Rahul Sharma is a busy man. When he’s not serving as the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Product Strategy and Channel Sales for Micromax, the tenth-largest cellphone company in the world, he is hard at work bringing the latest in electric motorcycle technology to the masses. According to Sharma, ReVolt Motorbikes aims “to make personal mobility practical, affordable, and sustainable.” ReVolt’s latest offering, the RV400, appears to do exactly that. The 150cc class electric motorcycle features a top speed of about 53 mph, making it perfect for urban travel and trips on smaller highways. This compact electric powerhouse can also achieve a distance of up to 97 miles on a single charge, and offers other exciting features such as keyless startup and GPS...
Video: Harley LiveWire and the Sound of Silence
The embattled Harley-Davidson motorcycle company has been pushing hard to reinvent itself in recent years, with sporty new products and new marketing campaigns that target a younger, more more modern, more genteel demographic. Its most publicized and expensive attempt to get people to think of Harley as a modern company, though, is undoubtedly the LiveWire electric motorcycle. It is massively important, and its success represents nothing less than the survival of an independent HD– which begs the important question: how does the LiveWire sound? Yes, I know it’s silly to talk about how important an electric motorcycle’s sound is. Still, this is Harley-Davidson we’re talking about. Remember that, “for decades, the sound of a Harley-Davidson was at least as impor...
Husqvarna Releases its First-ever Electric Motorcycle
It may not be setting the world on fire with a high-output, super go-fast electric motor like Honda Mugen or Zero, but Swedish motorcycle builder Husqvarna has just launched its first all-electric motorcycle. It’s called the Husqvarna EE 5, and it’s designed for young riders taking their first steps rides into an electrified, two-wheeled future that, Husqvarna hopes, will have them coming back to the brand for a lifetime of purchases. Husqvarna is targeting the 50cc class of bikes currently dominated by Honda’s CRF50F and Yamaha’s TTR50– but the Swedish bike is very much targeting the high end of that class with 35 mm WP XACT forks that offer 205 mm of travel up front paired to a single, fully-adjustable rear shock (also from WP) to ensure exceptional damping ...
FutureVision: BMW Reveals Vision DC Roadster Concept
“The boxer engine is the heart of BMW Motorrad,” explains Edgar Heinrich, head of design at BMW Motorrad. “But BMW Motorrad stands for visionary zero-emissions vehicle concepts, too. In view of this, one question that arises is: what would happen if we were to replace the boxer engine with an electric motor and the required battery?” The end result of that thought exercise the bike you see here. Meet the BMW Vision DC Roadster Concept. BMW has been pushing its electric “i” brand of cars with great success in recent years, and their big C electric scooter is among the best bikes in the business. It’s still a scooter-style riding position, though, and some people just have to have that “motorcycle feel”, whether that’s born of mecha...