Your numbers are completely wrong. Zero has a bike for $12k https://zeromotorcycles.com/model/zero-fx and BMW sells bikes that go well into the $20k ranges. You can get a Surron for under $4k, but it's more like a cross between a bicycle and motorcycle.
I do agree with the general premise, that electric is more expensive. There needs to be more competition to drive prices down like is happening for cars.
>but it's more like a cross between a bicycle and motorcycle.
and that's kinda the reason that the value proposition for electric motorbikes isn't very good. if you can give up the requirement of "i want to drive on the highway", an electric bicycle is going to do what you need for a fraction of the cost.
electric motorbikes lean more towards toys than practical tools, so they're priced like toys.
Maybe more like a cross between a motocross bike and a street bike— it's a dual sport like the Honda CRF450. I wouldn't take it on a road trip but I'll bet it would handle an average highway commute just fine.
yeah, that's what i'm saying. an FXE is an e-motorbike, not an e-bicycle. if you didn't need highway speed, you could have got a top-tier commuter-style ebike for $3k instead of the $12k an FXE costs.
You can get a "deathwish" scooter from Alibaba that can go 55mph for $3000 also.
The problem is that the electric motorcycle market isn't big enough to enjoy efficiencies of scale, so the only ones that exist cater to the wealthy/luxury clients.
The value proposition for motorcycles is really not as impressive either. The instant electric torque is more of a safety issue on bikes, because you can already trivially pop wheelies on regular gas-powered motorcycles.
On top of that, they have better range, because the battery capacity on a motorbike is limited by the width of the human hip, not highway lane.
The best use case for that is probably the thing you linked, Surron, which is an e-MTB essentially, where high torque is really nice for going up hills (and isn't really required for 60mph+ cruising on freeways)
I think the biggest issue with electric motorbikes is infrastructure because, at least from what I see, motorbikes aren't used the same way cars are.
I think they should work great for commuting, if you don't live too far away. But then, people would want to use the bike for other things, too, like going on road trips.
And that's where it hurts. You usually don't take road trips on the main highways because it's boring as hell. You'll take smaller roads, which often don't yet have any reasonable charging infrastructure. Combined with the shorter ranges, nobody is really going to risk it, so they'll just buy a gas bike. Hell, even with my gas bike's tank which is on larger side (19.5 liters), I sometimes have to cart around "safety gas", which I've had to use once. And no, it's not a dirt bike or anything, the only time it went off the asphalt was to go inside a hotel yard.
I think this is the reason why, at least where I live in Europe, you see next to no "serious" electric bikes, but practically all smaller ones are now electric: these bikes don't do anything apart commuting anyway, so electric is great for that.
> But then, people would want to use the bike for other things, too, like going on road trips.
I have an e-bike, I can take it on the train, go to some random town and explore. You can buy 'S-pedelecs" which are basically mopeds in bicycle form-factor - they have powerfull motors and go 45 km/h.
Then high-end electric motorcycles make sence
But lower end electric motorbikes, I dont get. You camt tale them on oiblic transport, they need a socket to charge, they cant use car-standarss for charging, and they dont have the range. So they seem to be in purgatory.
I agree with your point about taking the bike (bicycle) on a train and whatnot.
My point was about motorbikes. Which, as you say, have all the inconveniences of a full-blown motorbike, without the nice things, and the smaller ones aren't materially better than a souped-up e-bike.
I love my Eva Ribelle as well! I'm envious that you get to ride it around in the mountains in CA. I'm thinking about hauling mine out to the tail of the dragon at some point, but that's a still a long journey for me.
I'm a little jealous you have that bike. I did a test ride of it about a year ago and loved it. Sadly, as I said in another comment, I don't want a chain or belt drive bike. But, the EVA Ribelle is almost perfect.
Motorbikes in general are a toy in the west and a cost efficient tool in all of Asia. Electric motorbikes are not any special. Electrics seem more rare in Taiwan now compared to China a few years ago but they are catching up I guess.
My 22 Zero FXE was $13k. My Energica was more than double that, but what you get for that is range and 40mph higher top speed. If you're looking for a commuter bike, you don't need to kill yourself on price. If you're looking to scare the shit out of yourself every time you send it, you'll pay Ducati prices.
The range is also typically laughably bad also. I just can't justify having to perfectly calculate a trip, or ending up stuck on the side of the road with no quick ability to just gas it back up.
For $25k I would buy an Arcimoto Roadster (3 wheels), which unfortunately isn't available in the EU, and there are no similar equivalents (2 spaced front wheels, electric, not bicycle sized) over here. Patiently waiting for a EU distributor to appear.
I disagree, the 1250RS is basically a redesign of the K1200S (my current bike). Just swapping out the inline-v for the BMW boxer motor.
Top of the line, in it's class. A sports bike, with shaft drive, linked brakes, traction control, and heated grips.
Find me an electric bike with those features for anywhere near a comparable price. Specifically, I will not even consider a bike without a shaft drive (or in the case of an electric, a hub drive would be acceptable.) I am done maintaining chains and belts.
Sorry, but R1250RT is NOT a sports bike. It redlines at 8K rpm, compared to S1000RR that redlines at 14600 rpm, delivers 136 horses at 7750 rpm compared to 205 horses at 13000 rpm, does 105 lbs-ft. at 6,250 rpm compared to 83 lb-ft at 11,000 rpm.
Now if you look at K16 specs, 160 horses at 6750 rpm with 123.7 lbs-ft at 5250 rpm. And it DOES have linked brakes, traction control, ABS and heated grips.
Both R1250RT and K16 are marketed in the sports tourer segment.
So NO, R1250RT is no where near top of line sports tourer and definitely not a sports bike.
Belts are less maintenance intensive than shaft drives. A shaft drive needs an oil change every 10,000 miles. A belt needs a change every 60,000 miles or so, depending on storage condtions.
The disadvantages of belts are efficiency (especially compared to chains), off road durability and trailside serviceability.
I might just be a bad bike parent, but, my current shaft drive bike has ~42,000 miles on it. It had the shaft-oil replaced once at 800 miles (per manual, break in period).
My bike has been rock-fucking-solid. Its been in the shop once for a real break in 16 years for a busted fuel line. (not including tires and engine oil changes). Its really hard for me to believe another bike could be as reliable.
I'm too lazy to grab my Honda's manual to check, but I'm pretty sure the recommended shaft oil change interval is way more than 10k miles. I'm thinking 48k km, which something like 30k mi.
In my experience most Suzukis other than the 2000s GSXRs have superior reliability to BMW at the tradeoff of lower sophistication. Though the new VStroms and Hayabusa are competitive with BMW on rider aids. Certain Kawasakis are uo there too, like the Versys and KLR.
No market for electric motorbikes. Based on my experience the reason for buying a motorbike is to be obnoxiously loud and disturb your whole city block. Can't do that with electric.
An entry level electric bike for $25k or a top of the line BMW for $18k. It’s just not even a comparison.