ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
General Category => Electric Motorcycle News => Topic started by: Richard230 on June 01, 2025, 07:29:26 PM
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It looks like Honda has finally decided to market an electric motorcycle. It looks nice, just don't expect it to show up in your U.S. or EU showroom any time soon.
https://electrek.co/2025/05/31/first-production-electric-honda-motorcycle-debuts-in-beijing-and-its-a-cafe-racer/
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2 thoughts:
1. I wish - really wish - that they would stop using EVs as a carte blanche for experimental styling ideas, because it just turns people off of wanting them.
2. Does the world really need another bike that can barely compete with a 125 on performance but at a bargain triple price point
Cas :)
Bonus 3rd thought:
3. Battery swapping will never be a thing outside of East Asian cities.
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Price is decent. Battery capacity is decent. If it can really get up to 75 MPH, then it becomes useful for North American cities (if it ever comes here). Should have plenty of range to get from one side of a metro area to the other, but not so useful for extra-urban trips. I think most people would still buy a PCX 150, but this is getting closer to the mark. I can see it being a hit in certain European city centers where ICE vehicles are banned or heavily-restricted. Overall, seems like a better buy than the Kawasaki battery-electric models.
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It will be competing shortly with a bunch of Chinese bikes that cost half as much...
Cas :)
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I don't think it's a bad try at all. The styling is a bit much and it's a miss for the enthusiast market as it's laser focused on the mobility market. That said a lot of 125 riders I talk to haven't even been 100 miles from home because they think they can't.
It's definitely a step up on the Kawasaki and I'm gonna say I welcome it.
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The design of that nose fairing seems a little odd to me. I think it would look better painted a solid color instead of it being clear. ???
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It will be competing shortly with a bunch of Chinese bikes that cost half as much...
Cas :)
It is a chinese bike.... honda in name only
Per the article - Chinese-market bike built by Honda’s Chinese Wuyang venture
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1. I wish - really wish - that they would stop using EVs as a carte blanche for experimental styling ideas, because it just turns people off of wanting them.
You say this and I kinda agree, however my wife may be a better indicator of the broader market than you or I. Her comment on getting another bike was "I'm not interested unless its something really different (futuristic) or old school (retro style)" This is reflected in a massive preference for something like a BMW CE 02 or Royal enfield flying flea over a "normal" looking super soco TCmax or Ultravioletta F77.
Further to this it made me think of the path Honda took to popularising themselves to the western world, they pointedly did not target 'motorcycle' people
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You say this and I kinda agree, however my wife may be a better indicator of the broader market than you or I. Her comment on getting another bike was "I'm not interested unless its something really different (futuristic) or old school (retro style)" This is reflected in a massive preference for something like a BMW CE 02 or Royal enfield flying flea over a "normal" looking super soco TCmax or Ultravioletta F77.
Further to this it made me think of the path Honda took to popularising themselves to the western world, they pointedly did not target 'motorcycle' people
I think you're onto something. It wasn't that long ago that I believed all the nasty things my family said about motorcycling and motorcyclists, hook line and sinker. I wouldn't have considered getting into gas bikes any sooner than I'd have considered taking up smoking. But I got my M1 working at Scoot so I could legally ride the faster-than-30 MPH mopeds that sometimes made their way into our HQ for study. Once I had the designation, I thought "why not rent a Zero and see what motorcycles are all about?" One twist of the throttle in sport mode, and I was a motorcyclist for life. At that point in 2019, you still couldn't get a decent Zero for less than $9 or $10k, so I bought an FZ6R and have been riding both gas and electric bikes ever since.
I was having a discussion recently with another electric motorbike enthusiast about the difference between gas and electric, and this is what I came up with (crossposted from my comment on ADVrider a few weeks ago): "Riding a powerful gas bike is like trying to stay on a fast, wild horse. It’s all about having the skill and grit to tame the beast, and then to achieve communion and understanding with that beast while respecting that it’s still a wild and powerful animal. By contrast, riding a powerful electric is like suddenly being granted superpowers. It’s not a wild beast, because it does exactly what you want, when you want it. You yourself become the thing that hurtles through the air, one with the road and the environment with no roaring engine, gear changes, or throttle lag to occupy your attention. Some people will always prefer one over the other, but each offers a different experience for a different kind of rider. That freedom of choice is what motorcycling has always been about, and it’s why there will always be a market for electrics, even if it goes through rough patches like the last couple of years."
Trying to market electrics to people who love gas bikes can only get you so far. They want that wild sense of untamed danger and skill, and electrics just don't deliver that. They deliver something else, and there are a lot of non-motorcyclists who would want that "something else" if they only knew what it was. I know I did, and I never would have become a rider without it.
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NewZeroland had a great observation on this: people are going straight to electric motorcycles from their electric bicycles, bypassing ICE altogether.
Cas :)
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Damn :'( flynnstig82r, that was beautiful.
I do miss Sam's (newzeroland) posts, I genuinely hope he is doing well and is happy. He's the prick that got me onto Energica!
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I am even following the NewZeroLand Honda/Energica conversion. He seems to be off doing other things instead of feeding my electro-passions.
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I'm in my third month of riding my E-VO, no problems so far.. Here a video visiting my local Honda dealership to check out their inventory a couple of weeks ago. I was also testing out the built in interface for the DJI Action 5 camera. The camera is controlled by a switch on the left handlebar:
https://youtu.be/ICe2dkwlTrc (https://youtu.be/ICe2dkwlTrc)