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[Sydney99]

I have a land rover which is a necessity for work-28m.p.g :-(  I would like to mount an EV bike on the back when I just need to get about. I figure the lightness of the bikes will make this possible. It would be good to get a range of plus 50 miles and my budget will only stretch to £3,000. Highly reliable is a must. Is there a bike on the market that will do this- if not how many years am I going to have to wait for the technology to catch up?
   On a side note why don't manufacturers just mount a YASA motors....motor straight on to the wheel? I think the same motor can regen as well as far as i'm aware and their lightweight philosophy seems to fir with an EV bike well.

Ryan

[gasdive]

No, not light, reliable, 50+ miles and under 3000 pounds (not that I know of anyway).

If you can relax on a few of those...  closest would be a Zero XU at 6500 pounds, would probably do 50 miles in a tail wind at 15 mph.

As for when the price will drop that far, crystal ball is on the fritz at the moment but I wouldn't be holding my breath.

[Richard230]

Your best bet would be to wait a while and then buy used. The way the technology is moving ahead by leaps and bounds, using Zero as an example, a year old bike would likely meet your price point. But range will still be a problem. The 2011 Zero has been tested to run just over 20 miles at 65 mph.  You might get 40 to 50 miles out of the bike if you kept it down to 25-35 mph on level ground.  However, the 2012 Zero claims over a 100 mile range and a top speed of over 80 mph (but not at the same time). Unfortunately, its price has increased to $14,000 USD.  But that does nothing to help out resale values of the older models and that is where you need to look - if there is anything to actually see.

Frankly, I doubt that you could build your own electric motorcycle with your performance requirements within your budget at this time.  Just the required batteries would set you back most of that and the motor and electronics would take up the rest (as least).  The donor bike and all of your labor would have to be on you.

[Sydney99]

Thanks for the replies; I thought I was missing something........ you can buy a polaris utility vehicle for £12,000. I would expect these to be at least double the price of a two wheeler!??? These can go 50 miles (tops!) and motor at 50 m.p.h. seat two people side by side etc. etc. It seems like the world of electric motor bikes is a little overpriced for what they can do. Maybe I'll wait a year for a manufacturer to put out a competitive model.

[manlytom]

hi
have u done 50 miles at 50mph ? reckon that this is just top speed and doing that will deplete range. check out Quantya or Zero X bikes as it sounds you might run about offroad or so. speed and total range on the lower end but weight and price might work out for you. with a Zero X you can put the battery out of the bike (that takes of 20kg), put it in the boot and the rest of the bike onto the tow bar holder or so...
my 2c to this.
T