Empulse is good for Zero?

[FreepZ]

I wouldn't be surprised if Empulse R causes sales of Zero bikes to increase.

The logic being that folks are lured into considering an electric bike when they see the awesomeness that is the Empulse R, and then once they are giddy with the idea of owning an electric bike, they take a look at the price and take a step back. Then they look around and say "Hey, there's that Zero bike over there. It's not an Empulse, but at least its half the price!"

(Technically, it's not, since the ZF6 is $11.5k, while the ER is $19k. But 11 is close enough to 10, and 19 is close enough to 20, so the ZF6 feels like half the price of the ER.)

The ER is a "Halo vehicle". Sort of like how folks walk into the Chevy dealership to see the Volt, and after seeing the price, often end up buying something cheaper, but still buying.

Perhaps once the E+ becomes available, folks might consider buying that instead.

[protomech]

I agree. The Empulse R is a halo bike .. perhaps primarily for Brammo, but also for EV bikes in general.

In a similar fashion, the Tesla Roadster provides a measure of respectability for the Nissan Leafs of the world. "Electric is slow" "er, have you heard about the Roadster?" "Well, your electric is slow." "Point."

There's nowhere near as much of a price gap between the Empulse and the Zeros - $14k vs $19k is small, and the component quality and performance gap is quite large. E+ at $11k or ZF6 Zero is a larger gap, but the range for the smaller bikes is significantly smaller.

I think if the E+ or ZF6 amply satisfy your range needs then it's unlikely that you would look at the larger battery bikes.