It looks like Europe is fully engaging with electric motorcycles. Sales of electric motorcycles, excluding scooters, continue to soar with large year-over-year increases.
According to the business intelligence company IDTechEx, the increase in electric motorcycle sales is startling. In a new press release, the company says that it expects electric motorcycle sales in Europe to grow 50% year-over-year in 2020.
IDTechEX provided a chart showing electric motorcycle sales since 2011, and the increases are indeed impressive. In 2011, the chart shows that approximately 1,000 electric motorcycles were sold in Europe. The sales slowly increase until 2017, and from that time forward, electric motorcycle sales show impressive gains.
By 2018, sales of 7,000 electric machines result in an approximate 75 percent increase from the previous year. That’s quite impressive. But from 2018 to 2019, sales skyrocketed more than 100 percent year over year. And now, with data still being calculated, IDTechEx says that electric motorcycle sales will jump a further 50 percent to about 21,000 bikes.
Electric motorcycles sales still quite small
Still, overall electric motorcycle sales totals are quite small. Particularly when you compare them against their internal combustion engine counterparts. The continuing increase in electric motorcycle sales shows that people are embracing electric machines in Europe.
But they are still outliers in the motorcycle industry. And they face additional burdens that ICE engine motorcycles don’t have to deal with. IDTechEx says that electric motorcycle manufacturers rarely use off-the-shelf components and often design their motors from scratch. They also say the same situation pertains to battery packs which currently take up more space and use unconventional boxy designs.
IDTechEX says that the pricing of electric motorcycles is the biggest hurdle that electric motorcycle manufacturers must overcome. Photo credit: Zero Motorcycles
As an example, IDTechEx points toZero Motorcycleswhich it says produces motorcycles that are more expensive than equivalent ICE engine bikes. As such, they say that price remains the main hurdle for electric motorcycle manufacturers.
Interestingly, they say nothing about issues associated with an electric motorcycle’s range “limitations” and charging times. For many, range and charging are key considerations towards making an electric motorcycle purchase, especially for adventure riders.
Regardless, the continuously growing sales trend for electric motorcycles does show that more and more people are coming to grips with electric motorcycling.
