Bike makers from around the world seem set to come up with their electric bikes very soon. During last year, major players like BMW, Triumph, Suzuki, Yamaha delivered somewhere around 561,000 motorcycles in the US market, more from 557,000 sold in the year 2012, but an extreme low from 1.2 million being delivered in 2006. This year, the sales of bikes remained relatively unaffected, as per the data provided by Motorcycle Industry Council, which reported 139,922 new bikes being sold in the first quarter, posing just 17 units more than the corresponding period of last year.
The Editor in Chief at Cycle World, Mark Hoyer believes that while no individual is of a view that the electric bikes will save the environment and auto industry, it could be a main factor in luring the next generation enthusiasts. He says, “Everybody is very concerned with getting this new young rider. And younger people are realizing these electric bikes are genuinely fast. In fact, with the kind of performance electric motorcycles have these days, anybody who rides would be impressed.”
On this, industry experts stated that in the league of electric bikes, it was only Harley-Davidson LiveWire prototype, which truly escalated the battle of electric bikes. Equipped with a 74 bhp engine, the bike can cover a distance of 85 km between charges and takes about less than 4 hours to recharge completely. However, this motorcycle will not be put to sale as the auto maker was testing the response of its customer base.
Scot Harden, Vice President of Global Marketing for Zero Motorcycles, was quoted as saying, “I like to say the electric bike does all of the things I ride for without any of the drama. I ride a motorcycle for the excitement, the thrill, the acceleration, the sense of control, the sense of freedom. The Zero Streetï¬ghter gives me all of that. What it doesn’t give me is loud noise, vibration, heat, exhaust fumes, oil stains in the garage. Plus I don’t have any routine maintenance on the power train. I don’t have to work on it. I just basically ride it.”
