In the car world, Tesla is an outlier. The Roadster was the first EV that drew significant attention and admiration from outside the EV enthusiast crowd: it was sexy, it was expensive = exclusive, it had very high performance in street operation, and it was exceptionally capable in comparison to the NEVs that came before and the less expensive mainstream EVs that came afterwards.
Roadster sales were not incredibly high, but neither was the car a one-off vehicle. Tesla sold approximately 2500 Roadsters around the world from 2008 to 2011, initially with a nonexistent dealer/support network and nonexistent public charging infrastructure. J1772 AC had yet to be ratified or widely adopted; Tesla sold the car with a charging cable that would accept various pigtails to plug into dryer outlets or RV outlets for "quick" charging on a trip.
Per wiki, Tesla has sold about 7500 Model S sedans in the first 9 months of sales. The Model S is selling much faster than the Roadster for a number of reasons:
* cheaper at $70-100k versus $120-140k
* more people are interested in five seat sedans than two seat roadster
* higher real-world range
* dealer and support network is growing rapidly, available in most areas
* charging network is starting to grow (should see a big announcement here soon)
* refinement quite a bit higher
The Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt have sold more cars in total, but I think it's reasonable to assert that Tesla is the most successful EV manufacturer in the world. Certainly the most attractive brand.
With all that said .. what's the best analog to Tesla in the electric motorcycle scene?
IMO Tesla can be summed up with a handful of criteria:
* lust-worthy and exclusive
* high street performance
* exceedingly capable - no about-town runabouts here
Brammo often draws comparisons to Tesla, both directly and from third parties. The Empulse R is quite expensive and is fitted with very nice components. The transmission enables performance that is quite good in absolute terms, though perhaps not head and shoulders above even midrange gas bikes. Handling is very very good. The Empulse's onboard charger does allow for limited trips beyond single-charge range, as
FreepZ has shown.
Zero is a somewhat non-obvious candidate. While they have some very attractive components - in particular their new motors and their frames - the overall fitment can best be described as somewhat pedestrian. Cost is still quite high relative to gas bikes, but they're the most affordable of the electric motorcycle options.
However, there are some good considerations as well: Zero's direct-drive operation provides a distinctly novel riding experience versus gas bikes (and the Empulse). Many of the rider comments in the
Motorcyclist Magazine week with the Zero S remarked on the novelty, ease, and performance of the direct drive setup. The Zero S is surely slower than the Empulse in the traditional instrumented tests (0-60 acceleration, top speed, and probably quarter mile times), but it appears to impress butt dynos in street riding.
Finally, the CHAdeMO option for the Zeros should allow relatively convenient trips beyond home base,
provided the charging infrastructure is in place. A 120 mile trip like FreepZ's was possible with 2 hours of charging mid-trip; a similar trip on a 2013 Zero charging on CHAdeMO could be done with about 30 minutes of charging.
Lightning, Mission, Lito, eCRP, Agility, Brutus are other possible candidates. Lightning is perhaps the closest to shipping, but none are shipping in volume yet. Price and performance are higher than offerings from either Brammo or Zero .. and they're not selling bikes .. so the exclusivity is there!
Mission Motors is my favorite for Tesla-equivalent. They've got the price-be-damned specifications and technical development, paired with lust-worthy performance .. and styling that oozes sex. What they don't have is a production bike ..
Everyone wants to be Tesla. I figure that says more about Tesla than about whoever is drawing the comparison : )
