Electric Motorcycles
The 7 Best Electric Motorcycles You Can Buy in 2020
You knew this one was coming, didn’t you? All the signs were there. It’s getting dark pretty early, and the air is getting colder. For many, it’s time to put their bikes up for the season. For others, further south, it’s finally cool enough to start putting serious miles on them again. For nearly all motorcyclists, however, the winter is special for another reason: the new bikes are out! With new bikes come new lists. As such, it’s time for Enrg.io to put together our annual list of the best fuel efficient motorcycles the best electric motorcycles you can buy this year! That’s right, gang– after years of doing similar lists like this praising 100 MPG scooters and 60 MPG cruisers, there are finally enough kick-a** electric motorcycles on the market to make (what I th...
State of the Art 2020: Electric Motorcycle Racing
The inaugural season of MotoE just wrapped up a few weeks ago in Valencia, Spain, with the aptly-named Italian Matteo Ferrari taking the widely celebrated first-ever championship in the history of this all-electric racing series. It so very nearly wasn’t so, however– and as such, in this week of Thanksgiving, it seemed like a good time to look back at the state of electric motorcycling in 2019, and take some time, too, to look ahead to 2020 and see what might be looking forward to next year. So with that, here it is: the state of the art of electric motorcycle racing in 2019. 2019 MotoE Season Recap Remember that? The very first season of big-time electric motorcycle racing almost didn’t happen at all due to a massive fire that broke out the series’ pre-season test ...
Rwanda Pushing for 3 Million Electric Motorcycle Taxis
Three million. It’s a big number, but it seems even bigger when we’re talking about three million motorcycles with unregulated emissions crammed together in a tight, hot, densely populated urban space. That’s the reality faced by regulators in Kigali, Rwanda, where the majority of that nation’s three million motorcycle taxi drivers live and work. But the people of Kigali may be breathing easier soon– literally!– thanks to a massive, nationwide shift away from traditional, petroleum-powered ICE motorcycles towards “e-mobility” and electric motorcycle taxis that hopes to see every one of those drivers move towards electrics in the coming years. “This may be the world’s first truly mass-market electric vehicle that’s cheaper and bett...
Fonzarelli NKD – Electric Motorcycle from Down Under
The hottest segment in motorcycling right now isn’t big-bore adventure tourers or over-the-road sofas, it’s mini motos. Small, fun, agile, and lightweight motorcycles like the Honda Grom that don’t require too much investment and don’t themselves too seriously but still deliver in terms of fuel economy and practicality. Following close behind the growing popularity of these bikes, however, is the coming onslaught of electrics– but Australian EV builder Fonzarelli has beaten the big four to the punch with a new, fun, bite-sized electric motorcycle called the NKD. They’re billing it as, “Australia’s first locally designed, manufactured, and retail-ready emission-free motorbike,” and it perfectly captures a sort-of chunky, go-anywhere, urb...
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...