I can only speak as someone living on Long Island in New York State but I think this would apply to nearly anyone living in a congested urban/suburban environment.
Zero builds EXACTLY the kind of motorcycle people who live in these areas NEED (although not necessarily what they WANT). Up until recently I owned two ICE motorcycles plus my Zero S (I am now down to one ICE motorcycle and a Zero). I ride every day the weather permits; mostly commuting (I have a 34 mile round trip commute; nearly all highway). Unless I need to carry more than one passenger, or more "luggage" than permitted by the capacity of either of my bikes, my car remains parked at the curbside most of the time. To give an example of how little my car is used, at the time it was traded in this year my 2001 Subaru Outback had JUST topped 100,000 miles. By comparison, my 1999 BMW K1200LT (which has NEVER been the "only motorcycle" in my garage) now has over 214,000 miles.
Since getting the Zero, the ICE bikes have been relegated to multi-day trips, or days where I expect to do over 100 miles (typically on weekends with my riding club). Otherwise, I ride the Zero. I've discovered that 90% of my riding is perfectly fine on the Zero. I have the 13kWh model without the charge tank or the power tank (Level 1 charging only). At the time my 2016 model was totaled in June of this year, it had nearly 17,000 miles on the odometer. In the two months I've had my 2018 model I've already logged more miles on it than I did with the 2016 model over the first six months of this year.
So my conclusion is that MOST of my riding is perfectly suited to the Zero. I rarely exceed 100 miles a day, even when I'm out joy-riding on weekends. The bike has more than enough range to get me to and from work, take a lunch time ride, and run errands after work. Even better, since it doesn't require warm up, and isn't harmed by very short rides (like riding to and from a train station less than a mile away for example) it is actually BETTER than my ICE motorcycles a majority of the time.
The issue is, most people don't look logically at their needs. They WANT the biggest/fastest/shiniest thing they can get their hands on. Most of the suggestions I read on this forum would only make Zeros more expensive (not less) and therefore even LESS desirable to the riding (and non-riding) public. Marketing is the issue; Zero should NOT be trying to reach existing riders; I think Zero would do better targeting NON-RIDERS (kind of like Honda did in the 60s with the Passport).
It wouldn't surprise me to learn a majority of riders have unrealistic ideas of themselves. I can't tell you HOW many times I've spoken to other riders at biker gatherings who claim to be avid riders, yet log less than 3,000 miles a year on their bikes. These are the same people who usually have a dresser style (touring) bike with all the bells and whistles, but they've never gone beyond their own State or maybe the neighboring one. I average about 18,000 miles a year (and that's gone down as I've gotten older and my wife has gotten more and more infirm and unable to ride with me).
I really believe that if people looked realistically at how they use their motorcycles, they would see that a Zero makes perfect sense. Just my $0.02.
Author
Topic: Zero CTO Expects Sales Surge (Motorcycle News article) (Read 2655 times)