Just as California upset the auto industry with Tesla becoming the highest valued auto company in the world, it wants to do the same with motorcycles. Two California motorcycle companies hope to bring a quiet revolution to motorbikes, a form of transport nonriders associate with loud noise.
Aerospace engineer Neal Saki’s company, located in Scotts Valley in Northern California, brings us the Zero SR/S electric motorbike. It goes from 0-60 mph in less than four seconds with its 110 HP motor, yet “the birdsong does not pause” as Dan Neil cruises by, as he will later rhapsodize in the Wall Street Journal.
A 0-60 time of four seconds is lose-your-passenger fast, though not as fast as the fastest fuel burners we have heard about. The 2021 mid-engine Corvette gets to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. Motor Trend drivers rocketed the near 5,000-pound Tesla Model S P100D in “ludicrous mode” to 60 mph in 2.28 seconds, making it the fastest accelerating production car ever. On two wheels, at least a dozen superbikes will beat that Vette, but only one will beat the Tesla: the electric-powered Lightning Strike LS-218 (named for its top speed, 218 mph) with a 0-60 time of 2.2 seconds. That’s less time than it takes to read this sentence.
Torque Makes It Quick
As owners of electric vehicles know, the maximum torque of the motor is immediately available, unlike an internal combustion engine where the torque has to build and peaks with RPM. Because of this, a Prius may beat a Porsche off the line—though the Porsche will catch up and pass it. Also, an internal combustion engine vehicle has to be shifted, making the vehicle lose momentum.
This immediate availability of torque can catch some by surprise. A mere flick of the wrist on what might have been his first electric motorbike experience, Neil spins out the rear wheel and finds himself “skittering across the road on my back like a leather starfish.” The model he tested for the Wall Street Journal luckily had “rain mode,” an electronic traction and stability control technology.
Street Legal
The Zero is not made for racing. Though it has some of the styling of a superbike, the motorbike makes allowances for comfort over performance. With relatively high handlebars and a seat low enough to straddle (provided you are 5’10” or taller), it is more suited for standing still and cruising down a straight line than carving a knee-down curve. In addition, all electric motorbikes in this roundup have their wings clipped, so their maximum RPMs and top speed are limited.
Cycle World describes the Zero as a “clean sheet” design no doubt because of the radical substitution of an electric motor for an internal combustion engine. To us it seems the Zero borrows many design elements from gas-fueled café racers—from the fake gas tank (it’s actually a storage container) to the bikini fairing, and is doing all it can to look like the part of “real” motorbike -- maybe because it can’t sound like one.
|
|
0-60 mph Time |
Weight |
Battery Capacity |
Range |
Base Price |
|
Zero SR/S |
Under 4 seconds |
516 lb |
14.4 kWh |
100 miles |
$22,000 |
|
Lightning Strike Carbon Edition |
2.2 seconds |
485 lb |
20 kWh |
200 miles(highway) |
$20,000 |
|
Harley-Davidson LiveWire |
Under 3 seconds |
549 lb |
15.5 kWh |
146 miles |
$29,000 |
|
Arc Vector |
3 seconds |
485 lb |
16.8 kWh |
387 (city) |
$117,000 |
|
Energica Ego |
2.8 seconds |
618 lb |
13.4 kWh |
120 miles (city) 70 miles (highway) |
$23,000 |
To the howling wolves of the racetrack, some of them revving at an ear-piercing 20,000 RPM, this group of electric motorbikes may seem more like quiet, friendly Labradors in the park. There is also none of that bone-shaking vibration the big bore V-twins are famous for. With electric power, electric bike manufacturers are counting on there being more commuters, environmentalists, and ordinary citizens who prefer the sounds of nature over the din of an internal combustion engine—more those who would get a sailboat over a motorboat than those who are enamored of the outlaw biker mystique and bike racers.
And if you know how to ride a pedal bike, you know how to ride an electric motorbike. With an electric motorbike, there is no need to shift, so there’s no clutch lever and no foot shifter to learn.
Is a Lion Without a Roar a Lion?
"And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains
Within the sound of silence" -Simon and Garfunkel
Purists, aficionados, macho men and outlaw gang riders on customized hogs with pudding-bowl helmets may raise an eyebrow or a finger to the electric motorbike and claim that the noise of their loud pipes makes them safe. It’s a common response. And they have a good point. I am reminded of riding a road bike (the kind you pedal) on back roads of Marin County and being thankful for knowing that a Harley was approaching and almost scared off the road when a Gold Wing snuck up on me. I am also reminded of the Stockholm Syndrome, where people learn to love something they shouldn’t.
Most of the motorbike industry concedes that motorcycle noise is a health hazard to the riders and a nuisance to everyone else. A number of municipalities have passed strict ordinances against loud pipes. Even Harley-Davidson, whose riders have made loud bikes infamous, acknowledged the problem over 10 years ago and no longer supports aftermarket alterations to the exhaust system.
Lightning Strikes
Not far from Zero is Lightning Motorcycle in San Jose, Calif., which claims to have the world’s fastest electric motorbike (the LS-218) with its high-end model and perhaps the bargain of the lot with its lowest priced model: the $13,000 10 kWh Strike Standard. The 15 kWh Strike Mid-Range costs $17,000, while the top-of-the-line Strike, the Carbon Edition, costs $20,000.
Harley Does a 180
The electric motorbike revolution is not confined to California. The most unlikely of all companies to have an electric motorbike now has one. Milwaukee-based Harley Davidson’s LiveWire electric bike shares one thing with its fuel-burning counterparts: a high cost. The LiveWire, without any accessories, starts at $30,000.
Arc Vector
If you hate burning fuel but don’t mind burning money, you can pick up an inexplicably priced Arc Vector for $114,000 at the factory in Coventry, UK. You’ll want to take the three-hour ride south to Goodwood, where Rolls-Royce makes its inexplicably priced cars.
In all fairness, the Arc Vector is the most high-tech of the lot. The $114,000 includes a smart helmet with an integrated “head-up display helmet” and a jacket with haptic sensors that give the rider “cues.”
Energica Ego
From Italy comes Energica, which, with no surprise, manages to garner the Most Stylish Electric Motorbike designation. Three models are available: the EVA EsseEsse9 has “classic” styling, the Ribelle is its urban “street fighter,” and the Ego is styled after racing superbikes with low handlebars.