The growth of interest in electric motorcycles in the last year or so has been nothing short of spectacular. Both independent and large well-known motorcycle manufacturers have entered the market.
The in-production Zero SR. Photo credit: Zero
We’ve covered several of them in recent months. We’ve covered electric motorcycles from builders/manufacturers such as:
- Alternet
- Arc
- Curtis
- Druid
- Energica
- Fuell
- Greenger
- Harley-Davidson
- Honda
- Husqvarna
- Kawasaki
- Kymco
- Lightning
- Sun Mountain
- Triumph
- UBCO
- Ural
- Vespa
- Zapp
- Zero
It seems some of the builders/manufacturers may only have “vaporware offerings”. But others have concept/prototype models, and several major manufacturers have developed or are already producing electric motorcycles/scooters. No matter how you look at it, it’s clear that motorcycle manufacturers see electric motorcycles/scooters in our future.
Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire will be available this summer. Photo credit: Harely-Davidson
Just look at the list of manufacturers that we’ve covered. That list doesn’t take into consideration how many other manufacturers have or are developing electric motorcycles. With so many manufacturers entering the electric motorcycle market, it makes me wonder whether internal combustion engines are on the same path as the dinosaurs. Extinction.
KTM’s electric dirtbike, the Freeride is in production now. Photo credit: KTM
Listing all the manufacturers that are participating in electric motorcycle development and production is outside the scope of this article. But if you want to see at least a partial list,Wikipedia lists quite a few.
With several new electric motorcycles recently released, it’s an exciting time.We’ve test ridden the Zero SR/Fand it’s an interesting ride.
But in the interim, what do you think about the immediate and long term future of the internal combustion engine in motorcycling?
