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[Richard230]

A little something different from Husqvarna. An electric E-Pilen: 
https://www.motorcycle.com/mini-features/electric-husqvarna-e-pilen-planned-for-2022.html

[Crissa]

Where is the battery supposed to go?

The Svartpilen have gotten good reviews,

-Crissa

[NEW2elec]

So 13HP.

Companies making weak junk that takes a major step backwards deserve the money pit they make for themselves.

[TheRan]

It will probably have a similar capacity to the Freeride-E, around 4kW/h. If they can make it lighter than the 125 Duke it could be good, the Freeride-E is 108kg. It would also give an A1 friendly option for those that prefer Husky styling over KTM. The big decider is going to be the price because if it's too much people will choose an 11kW Zero that has a lot more performance and nearly double the range, or save a load of money and go with a 125.

[princec]

So 13HP.

Companies making weak junk that takes a major step backwards deserve the money pit they make for themselves.

This is not necessarily the case... there is an entire and huge underserved market in the 17-19 age bracket that has stagnated and dwindled terribly over the last 30 years. These riders became us. No-one replaced them. With electric almost certainly being the actual future of transport these bikes will be aimed at stoking the imaginations of the younger generation of would-be riders, and wooo boy I'd have wet my pants to have a bike that looked (or even went) like the E-Pilen when I was 17.

Cas

[gregj]

13hp is EXACTLY the area I want for a supercommuter. Something that will do a bit over 100kph to use on a motorway and not need a battery the size of Belgium to get range.
Not everyone wants a superbike and scooters are for in town only. I suspect the mid ground, rather than being a money pit, will be the goldylocks zone for mass manufacture.

[princec]

Aye, a commuter that costs under £10k that can do 70 miles of A and B roads would be right up my street.
Also the older I get the more and more I appreciate that riding little bikes like a nutter is way more fun than constantly restraining big bikes...

Cas

[TheRan]

Aye, a commuter that costs under £10k that can do 70 miles of A and B roads would be right up my street.
Also the older I get the more and more I appreciate that riding little bikes like a nutter is way more fun than constantly restraining big bikes...

Cas

A 7.2kW/h Zero would get you that as long as you're not absolutely caning it down the country lanes. The Husky needs to come in at most £6k, £5k would be ideal but perhaps too close to the retail price of a 125 Duke at £4.3k. And at that price they're going to have to cut the range.

[princec]

I'd love the Zero except for the woeful reliability of all of its major components and the ensuing customer service tales. I can afford to have a bike off the road for exactly 1 day before a bike loses its entire financial advantage over a nice reliable car...

Pricing wise you're dead right; I think an electric bike needs to be - at this point - approximately 50% more than an equivalent ICE, no more, no less; just enough to differentiate it, just enough to not be ridiculously overpriced.

Cas

[TheRan]

Pricing wise you're dead right; I think an electric bike needs to be - at this point - approximately 50% more than an equivalent ICE

The thing with electric bikes is the battery is a significant portion of the cost, and it has a direct effect on one of the important factors of whether it's a viable choice for the customer, range. A gas bike with a short range doesn't really matter when there are gas stations everywhere and filling up takes minutes, it's just a minor inconvenience. They could probably get the price of the E-Pilen down to match a 125 Duke if they really wanted, it would just do 20 miles to a charge and few people would buy it. They could also give it 100 miles of range but it would end up costing as much as an 890 which would perform significantly better.

It's a hard balance to get right, my opinion is that range should be proportional to the performance (power basically) due to the increased cost of that range, so if they did go with anything greater than 4kW/h they'd need to up the performance to 390 Duke levels (so similar to a Zero S) to go with it.

[Richard230]

Pricing wise you're dead right; I think an electric bike needs to be - at this point - approximately 50% more than an equivalent ICE

The thing with electric bikes is the battery is a significant portion of the cost, and it has a direct effect on one of the important factors of whether it's a viable choice for the customer, range. A gas bike with a short range doesn't really matter when there are gas stations everywhere and filling up takes minutes, it's just a minor inconvenience. They could probably get the price of the E-Pilen down to match a 125 Duke if they really wanted, it would just do 20 miles to a charge and few people would buy it. They could also give it 100 miles of range but it would end up costing as much as an 890 which would perform significantly better.

It's a hard balance to get right, my opinion is that range should be proportional to the performance (power basically) due to the increased cost of that range, so if they did go with anything greater than 4kW/h they'd need to up the performance to 390 Duke levels (so similar to a Zero S) to go with it.

Since I own both a Zero S (with the heavy PT) and also a 390 Duke, I can confirm that the Zero would leave the Duke in the dust any any speed, although they both have the same top speed - at least for a short while. 

[gregj]

No Zeros in Australia. They withdrew a few months ago, leaving any owners in the lurch.
They were insanely expensive in Australia ( not entirely their fault. Don't get me started on Aussie ADR testing BS)

[gregj]

"It's a hard balance to get right, my opinion is that range should be proportional to the performance "
Although perhaps not a complete rule, overall I can agree with that ( eg  an offroad bike could be good with long range and less power. A race bike could have big power , less range).
A commuter or supercommuter doesn't need giant range . There is rarely a practical use for it. On the other hand a power bike needs plenty of reserve usually.

[TheRan]

"It's a hard balance to get right, my opinion is that range should be proportional to the performance "
Although perhaps not a complete rule, overall I can agree with that ( eg  an offroad bike could be good with long range and less power. A race bike could have big power , less range).
A commuter or supercommuter doesn't need giant range . There is rarely a practical use for it. On the other hand a power bike needs plenty of reserve usually.

That's a good point, at some point adding range isn't going to be a good idea because of the weight and space needed and if fast DC charging could be added instead that could be the better option. My point was more about the cost of the increased range, like you wouldn't want to spend 15 grand for a bike with a 14.4kW/h battery but Super Soco performance. Likewise with the E-Pilen, 150 mile range sounds great but it would cost a lot and paying that much for 125cc performance is going to be a hard sell. It's not that it's a necessity, a lot of people could make good use of a 125 tier bike with that much range, it's just that we expect bikes to increase in performance as price goes up.

[NEW2elec]

Their small gas bike in this form is 44hp.
So they feel that is as low as "real bikers" will go.
Putting out such a weak toy is an insult to those who want to ride electric.  Just 13hp and a 4kWh battery.  Better not be more than $1000.

Husqvarna: Put a couple of kids hover boards together, that's good enough for electric riders.