ON YOUR ELECTRIC BIKE
NEVER MIND ELON MUSK AND TESLA, THE FUTURE OF ECO TRANSPORT IS HERE ALREADY – AND IT’S ON TWO WHEELS, WRITES JUSTIN CONNOLLY
EVERYONE has probably realised it by now – the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered. We have, somewhat belatedly it appears to me, realised that burning things – a lot of things – is not a very good idea.
So, all eyes turn to the magic that is electricity.
While everyone has been blindsided by Elon Musk’s evermore eccentric circus at Tesla – including me – a quiet revolution has been taking place, not on four wheels, but on two.
In short – the makers of motorcycles seem to be embracing the future a lot faster than their automobile counterparts.
From the small to the big, motorcycle manufacturers are getting in on the act.
Vespa is shortly to bring its stylish Elettrica to market (boasting a 62mile range and a top speed of 30mph for the basic model), and even the mighty Harley-Davidson is planning to bring an electric HOG to the game. Look out for the LiveWire some time next year.
There are bikes out there, though, that you can get your hands on right now.
Here are five of them, but this is just the tip of an ever-growing iceberg. There are plenty more out there, and plenty more to come…
SUPER SOCO (£2,936.50)
THE cheapest of the bunch, and for good reason – it’s underpowered and has a short range.
But that’s the point – it’s a commuter bike that will do no more than 30mph and has range of 30 miles (you can have two batteries installed that’ll double that).
But the point of this bike, which actually looks pretty cool (and comes in five colours), is it is very cheap, and even cheaper to run.
Sure, you can get a 50cc scooter for less that £3k, but can you run it for less than 1p per mile, with no road tax, no congestion charge in London, and zero emissions.
No. No, you cannot. With a Super Soco, you can.
ENERGICA EGO (around £50,000)
A BEAST of a machine with a beast of a price. It’s the very opposite of the Super Soco. It can do 0-60 in three seconds and has a top speed of 150mph (it could go faster, but is deliberately limited). It is every inch a superbike.
Obviously, with performance like that, you would not expect an enormous range – yet at a constant 50mph the Ego returns a respectable 93-mile range, and can fully recharge in three and a half hours. Did we say it is made in Italy? Obviously.
ZERO S (£9,000)
THIS is another budget ride – the base model in a range of six bikes produced by a Californian company which, encouragingly, keeps building on its success.
The best configuration of the S returns a range of over 200 miles in the city – perhaps the best range available from any electric motorcycle anywhere. And there are other models build for other kinds of riding – even trail touring.
An app allows you to configure the bike’s performance to your taste, too. A bike that is going places in more ways than one.
EVOKE URBAN S (£7,000)
ANOTHER cheap-ish bike that rewards with excellent range on a single charge – close to 125m, in fact. There’s a five-inch touch screen on the front to display all the info you need, and the twist-and-go throttle is so simple, you likely won’t need any lessons to learn how to ride it.
Evoke is a Chinese company, and given the state of the air quality in their biggest city’s, China has more to gain than most from cracking the electric motorcycle market.
LIGHTNING LS-218 (£28,000-£34,000)
THE LS-218 is the fastest production motorcycle on the market – and note we didn’t say fastest electric motorcycle. It can travel at an astounding 218mph (so they say). This American bike is pricey, to be sure. But I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be travelling that fast on a bike.
I can tell you one thing right now – I will never find out.