Major motorcycle manufacturers giving electrics a try

[Richard230]

One little toe at a time:  https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/motorcycle-manufacturers-testing-electric-market

[Ultratoad]

Nice article....  Thanks for posting....  Yeah, love the Alta....  If it were $10K I'd have one....  The KTM....  Too limited....  Still love my Empulse TT....  To bad Polaris didn't !!!!

[HadesOmega]

Nice article.  I am surprised Honda hasn't come out with anything yet or any of the big four.  Japan has a pretty good EV infrastructure from what I heard.  Also Honda has competed in the Isle of Man TT Zero with their race bike, so they have the tech I guess they just need to get the costs down.  Cost is always the big issue.  If Victory had continue to sell the Empulse TT with that 20k price tag I wouldn't be riding one right now.  =/

I think once the prices come down and battery tech gets better or level 3 chargers become more common and easily available more people will adopt them.

[shayan]

Speaking of a drop in price, what made Energica drop their prices? I didnt understand that..

[Richard230]

Speaking of a drop in price, what made Energica drop their prices? I didnt understand that..

I hadn't heard that.  What is the price now?  If the price has dropped, it is likely due to a lack of sales (one of my reasons for me not buying one). Energica is a big company so they can probably subsidize their motorcycles in an attempt to get them into the marketplace.  That appears to be what BMW is doing with the long-range version of the C-Evolution scooter that will be sold in California for around $14K USD. They have got to be loosing their shirt on every sale at that price. 

[shayan]

I dont know what made them drop the prices. It could very well be sales figures or some improvements in their manufacturing pipeline? Here's the link to an article:

https://rideapart.com/articles/energica-lowers-prices-u-s

This article might be wrong about prices though. Both Eva and Ego are at 29,700$ in here: http://www.energicamotorusa.com/

Why in the world would both bikes be at the same price when the specs on both are clearly different? 

[Shinysideup]

After the Brammo/Polaris tanking experience, I too am shy to buy another boutique bike. And then there's the price.

I found this range claim in the article astonishing (for lead-acid), until I saw the operating speeds:

"Battery-powered motorcycles are nothing new though, as indicated by this notation from Wikipedia: “The October 1911 issue of Popular Mechanics mentioned the introduction of an electric motorcycle. It claimed to have a range of 75 miles (121 km) to 100 miles (160 km) per charge. The motorcycle had a three-speed controller, with speeds of 4 miles (6.4 km), 15 miles (24 km) and 35 miles (56 km) per hour.”"

[shayan]

Ha yes, but looks like they (Energica) have an old style bike in the pipeline?
And the DC fast charge is really tempting. They do have a good warranty/buy-back option if i'm not wrong. Right?

[HadesOmega]

Yeah I like having the level 3 charge option, you can literally watch the bike charge.  Still too pricey.  Wish someone came out with a level 3 upgrade kit for the Empulse.  Off course level 3 charging stations are harder to find where I live =/

[shayan]

Like i pointed out in one of the other threads, the Diginow Supercharger is supposed to work on an Empulse (needs a bit of work to get it done). There's another charger from Evtricity designed for a Zero but which supposedly works for an Empulse. Check in the threads here: http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?board=35.0

I asked Evtricity for more details and he's yet to get back to me.