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[valnar]

I respect FortNine's opinion because his videos are so good, and I'm sure his data is spot on.  But the tone of the content concerns me.  He has a lot of subscribers.  If half of them write off electric, it's only going to get worse.

He did touch upon something I surmised long ago.  E-bicycles are popular because they increase the range of a regular bike.  City E-Scooters do as well.  E-motorcycles however have less range then their counterpart, and everybody knows that.  It's the first concern brought up.

[NEW2elec]

This isn't his first electric motorcycle video.  The first one was pretty negative too.  To me he's in a bit of a Canadian bubble and that's not a great place for electric motorcycles.

For his numbers on Zero sales, I find it very hard to believe.  In 2014 more were likely sold to Police and Military but I don't think that's the case now.  I can base this solely on the fact the SRS isn't offered as a Police model yet.  Wouldn't a company throw some lights and siren and radio on it already if Police were your top customers?  It would be great for that job with full 12kw charging, but not my call.

I do agree with the realistic city use being best suited by Ebikes not "urban electric motorcycles".  If it's too big to fit in an elevator and too limited to escape the city it's useless.

[Crissa]

It's not too limited to escape the city.

But my view is this:

So far, batteries were expensive.  Which makes electrics more expensive.

And most motorcycles are purchased as aspirational, not utilitarian purchases.

Electrics shine when ridden every day, but few motorcycles are ridden every week, let alone every day.

-Crissa

[NEW2elec]

The big 3 can escape the city aka Zero Energica and LW, it's all these little bikes with 6kWh batteries and 40HP that I'm talking about.

No offense to Richard but the ones he loves to post about.  They aren't a good fit anywhere and they take up those limited attery cell and EV component resources that could be used for better motorcycles or small ebikes.

[Crissa]

The big 3 can escape the city aka Zero Energica and LW, it's all these little bikes with 6kWh batteries and 40HP that I'm talking about.

No offense to Richard but the ones he loves to post about.  They aren't a good fit anywhere and they take up those limited attery cell and EV component resources that could be used for better motorcycles or small ebikes.

Most cities have a much smaller footprint than those in the Americas, so shorter ranges work fine.  And not everyone can pedal.

-Crissa

[Eicas]

When I first looked at electric motorcycles I rejected them as not meeting my needs.  Then I plotted my actual riding against my dream rides and found that a carefully chosen electric bike would easily meet most if not all of my needs.  After 2 months and some 1,000 miles of riding I am convinced  my electric bike is well suited for me.

I needed something that could run up to 80 miles in mixed city & freeway riding and be capable of 80 mph to safely blend with the fastest traffic and I have that and more.

It is all about matching the bike to your rides, and I think electric motorcycles will do that in many cases once riders analyze their needs.  I think that electric motorcycles sales will continue to grow at a slow but steady pace as more and more EV stations and quick chargers become available.

[NEW2elec]

I'm glad you're enjoying your SRS Eicas.
I think a Zero or Energica's range and charging speeds meet most suburb rider's needs really well.  With only very long touring being a challenge best suited for gas touring bikes for now.

[valnar]

It's not just touring.  I have friends who simply want to take a couple hour ride through the rural areas (at country highway speeds) for an hour or two, and an electric cannot even do that.  A lot of "fun" bike riding isn't going from state-to-state, but spending an afternoon riding.

[Richard230]

And of course, prices need to drop if new customers are going to be attracted to electric motorcycles. But right now I believe that city-bikes are where the market is at the moment, with regard to price and practical needs of the general public.

[NEW2elec]

It's not just touring.  I have friends who simply want to take a couple hour ride through the rural areas (at country highway speeds) for an hour or two, and an electric cannot even do that.  A lot of "fun" bike riding isn't going from state-to-state, but spending an afternoon riding.

That's what I do most weekends.  It's more on the 1 hour side than 2 but take a morning ride and then an evening ride.
The smooth relaxing ease of electric makes for a higher quality ride just a bit less quantity but a lot more frequent.
I see hundreds of gas bikes for sale 6 or more years old with less than 10k miles, while my DS has over 41k.  There are reasons for both.

Richard I agree price needs to come down but on top quality bikes not these cheap little thrown together bikes that won't last 2 years.
These bikes are taking market share away form good companies that are trying to improve the state of the art.
They will leave a very sour taste in people's mouths when it's garage art.

[ultratoad]

I am a huge fan of the FortNine....  His stuff is generally filled with science, funny and spot on....  I find his latest video on electric motorcycles to be exceedingly accurate too....  AND I am a huge fan of the electric motorcycle....  Tesla made the world believe, Live Wire has not....

[princec]

I agree, he's spot on. I'd go so far to say that if Musk wasn't frightened of bikes he'd have made a Tesla bike by now and created the market for them out of thin air. But alas, he won't.

Cas

[Crissa]

It's not just touring.  I have friends who simply want to take a couple hour ride through the rural areas (at country highway speeds) for an hour or two, and...

...If I can do that on mine, then certainly the newer ones can, too.

-Crissa

[princec]

I can "tour" on my SRF, but it's not touring like I used to do. I can't just bugger off to North Wales or Durham on a whim. It will take me literally 3x as long to get there (250-350 miles away). There is a significant market segment for whom touring is the primary reason they've bought a bike - which is why the R1250GS and its friends have dominated sales for the last decade - and they're not going to be fooled by promises of it "not being that inconvenient" to charge up every hour etc. Range must double, charge time must be 30 minutes or less, for these people to make a shift (and chargers will need to be literally everywhere, in large numbers, because they tend to travel in groups...)

Cas

[Richard230]

I can "tour" on my SRF, but it's not touring like I used to do. I can't just bugger off to North Wales or Durham on a whim. It will take me literally 3x as long to get there (250-350 miles away). There is a significant market segment for whom touring is the primary reason they've bought a bike - which is why the R1250GS and its friends have dominated sales for the last decade - and they're not going to be fooled by promises of it "not being that inconvenient" to charge up every hour etc. Range must double, charge time must be 30 minutes or less, for these people to make a shift (and chargers will need to be literally everywhere, in large numbers, because they tend to travel in groups...)

Cas

An article in my newspaper the other day mentioned that California is going to need 1.5 million charging stations to accommodate the influx of new EVs after 2030. Right now there are something like 150K stations, so they have a long way to go before there will be enough charging stations to keep EV owners happy. What no one mentions is who will install these stations, who will own them, who will maintain them and where they will be located (no doubt in a group near heavily traveled routes). Details, details, that neither the news media nor the politicians like to think about much.