Electric Motorcycles

It’s been a big week for electric two-wheelers in India. First, Ather Energy launched their new 340 and 450 electric scooters yesterday, and now eMotion Motors has unveiled their new electric motorcycle today. 
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San Francisco-based ONYX has launched two new electric mopeds that are advancing small electric motorbikes. With speeds of 30-60 mph (48-96 km/h) and sharp designs, these aren’t your typical mopeds.
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Curtiss Motorcycles presented its new dual motor Zeus electric motorcycle concept for the first time publicly this week at the 2018 Quail Motorcycle Gathering in Carmel, California. In addition to winning the attention of the thousands in attendance at the 10th annual meet, the powerful electric motorcycle quickly secured the coveted “Most Innovative Motorcycle” award as well.

In an Electrek exclusive interview, director of design at Curtiss Motorcycles Jordan Cornille shared more information with us about the impressive new Zeus electric motorcycle concept.
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In one of the most dramatic scenes from the classic 1963 Steve McQueen movie The Great Escape, A USAAF officer steals a German officer’s BMW R71 motorcycle and is chased up and down the sprawling Bavarian hillside before taking his newly acquired motorcycle airborne in an attempt to jump the border fence to Switzerland. An epic performance, no doubt, but I can’t help but wonder if the improved bottom end torque of an electric motorcycle couldn’t have helped McQueen make it to safety.

Apparently I’m not the only one, as a new startup has announced plans to reboot the legendary 1930’s BMW R71 as an all-electric motorcycle, complete with sidecar.
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Harley Davidson’s CEO Matt Levatich just confirmed that the company is on track to meet its goal of releasing a fully electric motorcycle in 2019. According to Levatich, Harley Davidson wants to use the new line of electric motorcycles to help reach a younger audience focused more on utilitarian, urban transportation.
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The world’s first electric motorcycle racing championship has been announced today in partnership with Dorna Sports, which is behind MotoGP, The FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme), and they signed multinational power company Enel as the title sponsor.
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Four years after unveiling the LiveWire project, an all-electric motorcycle prototype used in the Avengers series, Harley-Davidson finally confirms that it is bringing its first electric motorcycle to market.
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The Russian company Kalashnikov, better known from products like the AK-47, unveiled an electric motorbike at the Army 2017 International Military-Technical Forum in Moscow, Russia. Kalashnikov introduced two versions, one for military purposes and one for the police force. If these bikes are anything like their infamous assault rifle, then they will prove to be virtually indestructible and hugely popular among certain demographics.

It’s admittedly a stretch considering the nature of the different products, but most electric bikes, such as the Zero DS, offer high-tech features like the digital dashboard and smartphone app. Kalashnikov does not get into such tech wizardry. Instead, they opt for good old-fashioned flip switches, indicator lights, and a chronological speedometer. Nothing wrong with that.

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California-based Zero Motorcycles, one of the biggest makers of all-electric motorcycles, unveiled its 2018 bike lineup this week.

As usual, the company is introducing some new features and improvements to its electric powertrain technology, which now allows for faster charging and longer range.
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While not as popular as Zero Motorcycle, Alta Motors is an up-and-coming electric motorcycle manufacturer and it unveiled a new version of its flagship Redshift last week that could broaden their market.

Alta’s Redshift was only offered as an all-electric supermoto/motocross, but the latest version of the motorcycle is a new street tracker: Redshift ST.
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A group of engineers in partnership with a few bike shops in Switzerland set out to show that electric motorcycles could be “badass” and have “outrageous performance”. I’d argue that Zero Motorcycles are already pretty badass, but sure let’s see what they got…

They created a company called ‘Zvexx Motorbike’ and came up with Zvexx, a fierce-looking all-electric torque machine.
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Custom motorcycles have long been an important part of the biker community and it recently got a lot of attention after none other than Keanu Reeves announced that he was starting his own custom bike company: Arch Motorcycle Company.

Now the same concept is coming to electric motorcycles and while it’s not accessible to everyone, it’s still interesting to see more options for EVs on two wheels.
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Airbus has a wholly-owned subsidiary called APWorks, which is set up to develop additive manufacturing techniques – especially metallic 3D printing – for the supply chains of Airbus’ main businesses. From time to time, the company releases independent products developed through their manufacturing work for Airbus.

The latest of such product is particularly interesting to us at Electrek: a 3D printed all-electric motorcycle.
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We recently stumbled upon a small Austrian-based company called Johammer. The firm is building an interesting futuristic-looking electric motorcycle: the Johammer J1. They launched the vehicle last year, but they recently ramp-up production and we are now seeing more of the vehicle reminiscent of a Star Wars pod racer with chopper-like handles.
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The new budget bill approved by the US Congress last week included an important extension to the 30% investment tax credit (ITC) for solar, but it also brought back the less popular (but welcomed) tax credits for electric motorcycles.
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Alta Motors, formerly known as BRD Motorcycles, announced having delivered the first all-electric Redshift to customers this week.

The first lucky owners are Eric Gauthier and Jeannine Smith, who own and operate Suspension Performance in Mountain View, CA.
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This week BMW’s Motorrad division unveiled an all-electric concept version of its RR motorcycle called “eRR”. The company didn’t reveal any specific information about the new concept, which it described as an “experimental vehicle” – meaning it isn’t likely to hit the market anytime soon.

But the group released the following pictures:
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The 2015 Tokyo Motor Show is starting next week and several manufacturers already announced the debut of new electric vehicles, including Nissan’s Teatro and Mitsubishi’s eX, now Yamaha says it will unveil 6 new concepts, including a new two-wheel drive all-electric motorcycle and an electric car.
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San Francisco-based Mission Motorcycles, a maker of high-end electric motorcycles, recently filed for bankruptcy amid financial troubles. In the filing, current CEO Mark Seeger said the company is so low on cash that it can’t afford to pay for an attorney for the bankruptcy process, but while recently talking with Reuters, former CEO Derek Kaufman dismissed the company’s lack of money and instead blamed Mission’s demise on Apple’s poaching of top engineers.
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