Is the electric motorcycle market about to take off?

Despite our primary focus on cars - due to their ubiquity and popularity as personal vehicles New AutoMotive supports the electrification of all vehicles in the UK, so let’s talk bikes! 

Although the last few years saw many exciting announcements from Alta, Arc, Brammo, Mission Motors, and more - all of those startups have failed. Livewire - a model from Harley Davidson - has also been grounded recently.

Although companies like Zero are still going, and indeed carving out a sizable niche in the realm of EV motorcycles, there are around 1.2 million motorcycles on our roads, and as of the end of 2020, just 0.4% of them were electric.

This could lead one to the conclusion that electric motorcycles are a failure, a niche toy. But don’t be mistaken, the motorcycle market saw its highest electric market share last month. 

This begs the question: what is going on within this market?

Why have electric motorbikes been slow to take off? Let’s talk mechanics

First, gearing. All electric vehicles have a single gear - which can either favour lower, or higher speed efficiency. Having just one gear means that while an electric motorbike would use virtually no energy to sit at the traffic lights, higher speed efficiency is reduced, thus sapping range to accelerate to the necessary speeds. 

Electric cars solve this problem by using a secondary motor, coupled with a low centre of gravity and slippery bodywork. When it comes to motorcycles, a secondary motor would be too heavy. 

The second problem is about aerodynamics - in this case it is the rider. As with most two wheeled vehicles - the rider is a large contributor to the air resistance of the machine. Although this can be mitigated by extra fairings - one must come back to the size and weight issue - notwithstanding the need for an electric battery that must also be housed somewhere underneath the seat.

This means that while electric cars can easily push 300 miles of range, electric bikes struggle to get a third of that. The physical constraints are not even scratching the surface when it comes to the economics and marketing within the bike market - by car standards, even the big bike manufacturers are niche. 

And yet, the electric market is slowly growing - why?

A rider on an electric motorcycle - note how the body impacts the aerodynamics.

The current use case

With prices of around £3k, speeds that are good enough to overtake on the urban A-road, and storage (loads of it) - we are now seeing increasing amounts of electric scooters being used for last-mile deliveries, and urban commutes.

This opens the door to incredibly cheap vehicles that cut congestion, reduce emissions, and are very fun to ride. 

With ranges of less than 100 miles being more than adequate, coupled with low fuel and insurance costs (as well as mostly free parking), we are likely to see more of these vehicles on the road in the coming years - especially as EV infrastructure improves for all road users.

This is an EV scooter specifically adapted for making deliveries.

So, is the electric motorcycle market about to take off?

Yes! And cities will see cleaner, quieter and cheaper scooters on their streets, especially if emissions regulations start to cover motorcyclists. Additionally, as costs of these vehicles inevitably decrease, they will start being the go-to option for urban motorcycling - with the vast majority of sub 125cc machines (look for L-plates)  being readily replaceable with electric options. 

As for larger machines - it is most likely that the maxi-scooter segment would be the next to electrify, due to increased aerodynamic performance, and a frame that is capable of storing substantial batteries. Technological innovation in motorcycles tends to lag behind cars - thus where we have seen the growth of electric cars rapidly increasing in the last few years, electric motorcycles are likely to follow soon after. The difference here is that the EV motorcycle transition has just begun.

BMW C Evolution electric maxi scooter