[dharmab]

There are other companies targeting other areas of the market.

Ultra high end: Harley Davidson Livewire, Zero SR/F

High end: Fuell, Cake

Mid range: Zero S/DS/FX

Low end: Sur-on Light Bee, CSC City Slicker

The biggest problem for electric bikes is recharge time. Motorcycle batteries are physically small and have low range, and take hours to recharge compared to 1-2 minutes to refuel at a gas station. That makes them unusable for anything except city commuting or tossing in the back of a truck on the way to the OHV area. Meanwhile the fastest growing segment in motorcycling is adventure riding, which is for bikes that can be ridden thousands of miles at a time both on and off road (sometimes 50-100 miles away from paved roads or services of any kind).

[leggomylibro]

Wow, what kind of adventure bikes can be ridden for thousands of miles at a time? I only get about 200-250 miles on dirt, and that's with an extra tank of gas strapped to the back.

Are they like 650cc+ with huge fuel tanks? I shudder to think of trying to pick one of those up on a muddy slope...

Anyways, an electric bike that could do ~200 miles seems like it could do well as a replacement for smaller engines, but I haven't seen any dual-sports that realistically claim a range of over 100 miles with normal use, and you're right that that would barely get you away from the major highways in most places.

[peatmoss]

I assume they mean with periodic stops for gasoline, which is a lot more common than a quick charge station.

That said, it’s an interesting thought exercise to go unsupported and make your own (solar) fuel via motorcycle. Of course to maximize charging / travel you’d have to ride at night, which would sort of suck.

[dharmab]

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman just completed a ride from South America to Alaska on electric motorcycles. They had some Rivian electric support vehicles carrying charged batteries, and also people along their route often let them top off their bikes while hosting them. They'll be making their trip into a web series called Long Way Up (the third in a series of trip blogs they've done over the past 15 years)

[dharmab]

Thousands of miles with refueling- mine gets 200-220 miles out of a single tank. There are aftermarket DRZ tanks that can get 500 miles of range, they essentially replace both your tank and some of your body panels.

They're not that hard to pick up with the right technique/leverage. YouTube has tutorials showing tiny women pick up 800lb bikes, and MOTOTREK has a good video on how to pick up a big bike off of dirt or mud.