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[BigPoppa]

Fun little read even if I am biased due to all of the Energica photos: https://www.motorcycle.com/features/electric-motorcycles-5-myths-you-shouldnt-believe.html

[Crissa]

Seems like both of you were looking at the same magazine

https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=10345.msg84469

-Crissa

[Richard230]

Seems like both of you were looking at the same magazine

https://www.electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=10345.msg84469

-Crissa

I guess we are both on the same Motorcycle.com feed and received the article at the same time.

[DonTom]

IMO, they are not being all that honest.

1. Electric motorcycles are only good for commuters.
(ICE Bikes can go to  MANY  more places).

2.Electric motorcycles take too long to recoup cost.
(Most ICE bikes are cheaper--and even a full  CCS  charge costs more per mile than on an ICE bike).

3. Are the batteries built to last?
(My DS battery lasted less than three years. I still have my original 12 volt  battery in my 2013 TTSE).

4. There aren’t enough chargers available.  (very true!!!! As they are not where needed the most. They are all in the same areas, especially in mid and southwestern  CA.  ICE bikes don't have this problem. I can get to Salt Lake City on any of my seven ICE motorcycles from here in Reno.  I cannot do that on  any of my three electrics.

5. But what about the range? 
(Any of my ice bikes can got MUCH farther, especially my 8.5 gallon Moto Guzzi).


Now that I have said all that, I have put more miles on my three electric motorcycles  than my seven gas bikes combined for the time I have owned them. I like electrics the best of all.  There are many disadvantages of electric motorcycles, but a fun enjoyable ride is NOT one of them.

So IMO, all five "myths" are at least somewhat true.

FWIW, I have NOT found any disadvantage over my Tesla M3, AWD, LR over my ICE cars. At least not yet. But I have discovered several advantages. Advantages that we don't get with electric motorcycles.

IMO, HoodRichOG was more correct and more honest than that article with what he says here.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Crissa]

IMO, they are not being all that honest.

If you want to contradict them, it would be better to throw some actual numbers at it.

-Crissa

[DonTom]

If you want to contradict them, it would be better to throw some actual numbers at it.-Crissa

You mean like for range?

At 75 MPH, none of my three electric bikes can go 100 miles on level ground.

But I own several ICE bikes can do more than 300 miles at that same speed.

Are those the type of numbers you're asking for?

-Don-  Reno, NV

[shayan]

IMO, they are not being all that honest.

1. Electric motorcycles are only good for commuters.
(ICE Bikes can go to  MANY  more places).

2.Electric motorcycles take too long to recoup cost.
(Most ICE bikes are cheaper--and even a full  CCS  charge costs more per mile than on an ICE bike).

3. Are the batteries built to last?
(My DS battery lasted less than three years. I still have my original 12 volt  battery in my 2013 TTSE).

4. There aren’t enough chargers available.  (very true!!!! As they are not where needed the most. They are all in the same areas, especially in mid and southwestern  CA.  ICE bikes don't have this problem. I can get to Salt Lake City on any of my seven ICE motorcycles from here in Reno.  I cannot do that on  any of my three electrics.

5. But what about the range? 
(Any of my ice bikes can got MUCH farther, especially my 8.5 gallon Moto Guzzi).


Now that I have said all that, I have put more miles on my three electric motorcycles  than my seven gas bikes combined for the time I have owned them. I like electrics the best of all.  There are many disadvantages of electric motorcycles, but a fun enjoyable ride is NOT one of them.

So IMO, all five "myths" are at least somewhat true.

FWIW, I have NOT found any disadvantage over my Tesla M3, AWD, LR over my ICE cars. At least not yet. But I have discovered several advantages. Advantages that we don't get with electric motorcycles.

IMO, HoodRichOG was more correct and more honest than that article with what he says here.

-Don-  Reno, NV

I disagree for a couple of points here:

For point number 1: I do not think a weekend canyon carving would count as commuting and electric bikes can do that, in some cases better than gas bikes too maybe.

For point number 3: i think we need to consider the percentage of all the electric bikes whose batteries failed. If that is taken i'm sure the numbers would indicate great reliability overall. As i'm sure not all ICE engines are reliable either (car or bike). My Mini Cooper's engine could not last 90k miles with normal road usage

[Crissa]

You have several ICE bikes that can do 75mph for 300 miles on a single tank?

Several?

That sounds more like the exception than the rule.

And where do you ride that's 150 miles from fuel/electricity?

-Crissa

PS, all you need to do is find an outlet in Lovelock to make that first leap.  I'm pretty sure you can find one...

[DonTom]

You have several ICE bikes that can do 75mph for 300 miles on a single tank?

Several?

That sounds more like the exception than the rule.

And where do you ride that's 150 miles from fuel/electricity?

-Crissa

PS, all you need to do is find an outlet in Lovelock to make that first leap.  I'm pretty sure you can find one...

Even though every little town probably has thousands of 120 VAC outlets (which are rather useless for a long trip, <unless staying over night> IMO, as I normally  want to charge at 6.3 KW and need 240 VAC if not CCS), it's usually not that easy to find one we can use.

I ride many places that's  even far from gas stations. For one example, I normally do a ride with a group every September to Denio, NV.  We start out by going on the Eastern side of Pyramid  Lake. Not much out there. In LakeVew, Oregon we get gas and from there, no gas stations at all, not even at our destination, so we have to make it from Lakeview, Oregon to Winnamucca, NV on a single tank of gas. That's 210 miles without even a gas station or RV park or anything. The motel at Denio Junction has electricity, of course, but not a single outlet from Lakeview until there.

That is only one example of many that I could give. Getting to Rachel, NV could be another such place where there is nothing for many miles. And no gas station in Rachel. At least not the last time I was there.

Nevada has countless places that are from from much of anything.

My three bikes that can do better than 300 miles are my Moto Guzzi (8.5 gallon tank), TTSE (6.6 gallons) and even my Harley (6.0 gallons). The Harley and TTSE normally get above 50 MPG on the freeway. A little less (45 MPG) with the Moto-Guzzi). Those three bikes  I have taken to Denio on different years.

BTW, last year, for the first time, they had a gas station at Denio Junction. And I now see they have a couple of CCS chargers listed on Plugshare on US95 in NV, near Denio. So it is improving. BTW, they recently added a few CCS chargers on Hwy 50 as well in NV.

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Crissa]

There's a gas station at Pyramid Lake, and one in Gerlach.

And there are RV camps, too.

-Crissa

[DonTom]

There's a gas station at Pyramid Lake, and one in Gerlach.

And there are RV camps, too.

-Crissa

Yes, I know. The long run is after Lakeview, OR.   We start from Exit 23 in Mustang at the Chevron gas station and the next gas stop for us is in LakeView, Oregon. But there are a few places to get gas on that part of the route. It's 251 miles from Exit 23 on I-80 to LakeView Oregon. We can all do that on one tank of gas.

It's only 203 miles from LakeView, OR to Winnemucca, NV  via Denio but with no gas stations,  RV parks or anything else until Winnamucca. Oregon SR 140. All of my ICE bikes can make that, but  none of my electrics can. No cell coverage out there or anything. So I always bring satellite communications (both a Spot Messenger and an inReach).

Or . . . .

Perhaps my 2017 Zero SR with Powertank could make that if I don't ride faster than about  20 MPH. 

-Don-  Reno, NV

[Crissa]

First off, that's a single leg that's that distance.  You don't need a range of 300 miles to make it.

Secondly, Gerlach is 148 miles from Lakeview, so you could get to Winnemucca if you went that way... that would be the max range of our Scrambler.  And there's RV slots at Denio Junction so you could totally charge there.

You said you had multiple bikes with 300 range at 75mph and you still haven't explained that one.

[TheRan]

The whole point of the article is to explain that the bikes aren't just suited to commuting, the range isn't short enough that they're not good enough for anyone, the charging isn't too slow for everyone, not all batteries don't last long enough. Sure there are exceptions (like DonTom who lives in the middle of a desert, most people don't, and had a faulty battery) and they're not suitable for everyone, but that doesn't mean they're not suitable for anyone. Many people think they're not suitable for them for the very reasons that the articles mentions, some of those people are wrong.

[Shadow]

There's a gas station at Pyramid Lake, and one in Gerlach.

And there are RV camps, too.

-Crissa

  My Zero DSR experience in the Black Rock Desert mirrors what Don is saying. I'd went up Jungo Rd from Empire NV and to the Black Rock "without electricity" successfully only because I knew the property owners here and there or had a friendly run-in with some rental RV travelers to use a generator for charging. Power in those towns and service stations is usually a hard "no". As ranches change hands and ownership over the years, I do not think I could access the desert anymore now as I once did with an EV of less than 200mi range.

Note it is horrendously difficult to transport oil fuels deep into the desert. The conversation goes sour if trying to ask to buy some gasoline. Deliveries happen once or twice a year or sometimes not at all depending on weather and how many delivery trucks break down and fail to reach the destination.

If the generator is already running at a stranger's property and you are asking to charge then it's only a question of how long are you going to linger for?  More than 2-3 hours stay is uncomfortable for a property owner to have some random person hanging about where there is access to power. Everything they need to survive is rooted in that part of their property, and sabotage is common. There were through-and-through knife slashes in the door of guest quarters where I stayed as a hired hand on a ranch... and those were actually the nicer quarters. Two destroyed generators from some earlier "inccident" with hired help. Stories from passers through of similar troubles finding good help. Everywhere you look in the hills deep in the NV mountains is someone living there. It is not just uninhabited wilderness. Motives out there are different and not conforming to your expectations.

EV adventure moto has improved only incrementally in the 4-5 years since my last moto adventures. In some ways it has actually regressed since the dismantling of Alta Motors. I too think the Tesla Model 3 LR AWD is acceptable as long distance transportation (with some simple wheel and suspension modifications) though I would go for a Model Y now that is a possibility to have higher ground clearance on a stock mass-market EV. Moto EV just isn't what I would think of for a cross country off-highway trip in 2020... the car does it better. Before the Tesla Model 3 was a thing however there was only a Nissan Leaf which was objectively worse efficiency and charging times than the Zero DSR. Even though I commuted exclusively on the Zero DSR for years I am not a moto purist. I would take whatever vehicle is EV and doesn't suck. Getting run through by some idiot's car while riding that bike doesn't change my enjoyment of bikes and I'd still like to get on two wheels again (but I'm glad to be in a cage for a few years so my brain can heal).

Anxiously looking forward to Cybertruck as a battery-on-wheels support vehicle, maybe some Sur Ron's for the ranch in Palomino Valley (N. Reno NV). I don't see why we all need to dress this pig up anymore. Zero is making a faired bike and the cheap eBike segment has shown us that the cart is before the horse on EV dirt bikes without some kind of shift in our thinking about adventure and competitive riding. Be the change you want to see! Buy some property and build a charging network for bikes. Get an EV tow vehicle and make some mobile charging station, I think it can be done with a 20ft trailer of today's high efficiency PV solar panels same as what I have for the home in 40ft of last-generation panels.

Y'all are welcome to charge at my place on the way up to Gerlach if you like, daytime though and not for more than a few hours of course.