Buying an electric motorcycle is all about battery life. If it isn’t the charging cycles, it is the rare minerals that are used in manufacturing a battery. Electric motorcycles are all about the battery, or that is what we are being told.
I have to admit to having started out thinking the same thing. How many charging cycles is a battery good for? When does the battery degrade? Isn’t it true that the batteries have a short life?
I sound like a political hack badly reframing a statement as a question.
Digging deeper into electric motorcycles has been a fascinating experience. I’ve talked to people at motorcycle shows, to manufacturers, and to the helpful people at Pidcock Motorcycles in Nottingham who sell Zero Electric Motorcycles.
What better way to find out about buying an electric motorcycle than to talk to someone who hears all the questions about buying, riding and owning electric motorcycles every day?
Do I Want an Electric Motorcycle?
It turns out I might not. For the type of riding that I do, an electric motorcycle might not be the answer. Most of my riding is at least 100 miles. I can’t test something by riding a few miles, and if I’m riding for pleasure, I’m more likely to spend all day going nowhere in particular.
An average ride for me would involve a couple of charge ups, and sadly recharging stations haven’t been installed at my preferred tea stops … Yet.
But if I’m not me, then an electric motorcycle could make perfect sense. The maintenance is lower than on a petrol engine motorcycle. Charging points at offices and in town centres are becoming ever more abundant, and faster charging is reducing the refill time
You get all the advantages of cutting through the traffic with the extra bonuses of cheap to run, no vehicle excise duty (aka Road Tax), and next to no maintenance. Electric motorcycles are perfect for the 100 miles a day rider.
It is all about Batteries
It turns out that this isn’t as much of a factor as we are all being told it is. Zero gives a five-year warranty on their batteries, and there isn’t a limitation on the number of recharges the battery goes through in those five years.
The warranty isn’t just for the battery but also covers the associated components. Precisely what is and isn’t included is something you can read in the warranty paperwork. It is the five years that is important.
We all have a rough idea of what to look for when we buy a motorcycle. We look at the mileage, if it is second-hand, and the service history. We check to see when the major service intervals are about to come due. These are measures we are all familiar with.
As an electric motorcycle doesn’t have these restrictions, we try to draw a parallel, and we are being told that recharge cycles are the closest available comparison.
So, make the comparison the other way around. What if your petrol motorcycle manufacturer said they would give you unlimited mileage, and a five-year warranty on the engine? Would you be tempted?
And what if this mystical manufacturer offered you lower cost maintenance and no major service intervals? Would you be even more tempted? I am starting to be.
Five years of motorcycling for me is somewhere between 40 and 50,000 miles, and whereas a lot of the motorcycle manufacturers offer unlimited mileage, only BMW offers five years as standard.
The warranty terms do require that you have to have the motorcycle serviced in line with the manufacturer’s schedule and by one of the manufacturers’ dealers.
If we are looking at the total cost of ownership, then 40,000 miles on a BMW GS requires three major (valve clearance) services and three minor services. What do we think? £1,500 – £2,000 in servicing bills?
Range Must Be the Issue
Fun Fact: There are more charging stations on the North Coast 500 than there are petrol stations. Even so, I can’t escape the fact that electric motorcycle battery technology isn’t where I want it to be.
I want 200 miles of spirited riding from a single charge. After that, I would be more than happy to stop for 30 minutes while the high-capacity fast charger refills the battery.
The electric motorcycle industry is getting close to this, but it isn’t there just yet.
The top of the range electric motorcycle from both Energica and Zero have circa 21kWH batteries, and both suggest a 200-mile range for those bikes, even if that range is established in perfectly optimised conditions.
In the real world, getting into triple digits from a full charge is always going to be possible.
Charging the big capacity electric motorcycles costs around £3.50 while a tank of petrol for my KTM cost – at the moment – about £23.
For £23 worth of petrol, I get 220 miles. For £23 in recharge costs, I get a range of 600 miles. I just need to “fill up” more often.
Electric Motorcycles are Expensive
The argument for electric motorcycles is that although they are more expensive to buy, they are cheaper to run day to day and also cheaper to maintain. Significantly cheaper.
A quick bash with a calculator suggests that a BMW R1250GS TE will cost me £18,000. Add in the servicing costs for 40,000 miles of riding, and I’m looking at £21,000
Assuming £23 for a tank of petrol and 200 miles range that is £4,600 in petrol costs. All up, 40,000 miles of riding will cost £26,000
With 120 miles worth of electricity costing £3.50, covering the same 40,000 miles will cost me £1,200. Add in the cost of a top of the line Zero SR/S – the one with the big battery – at £24,500 and £800 in servicing costs gives me a total of £26,500.
With only a £500 difference over 40,000 miles, I’d argue that is going to come down to how you ride.
You said you didn’t want one
Not quite. I said an electric motorcycle doesn’t match the sort of riding I like doing. That said, the argument isn’t as black and white as I thought it would be.
With a bit of a nudge and when a second hand Zero SR/S becomes available in my price bracket, I could be very tempted. Perhaps that is why I’m walking towards the second-hand Zero SR/F that Pidcocks have for sale. It is time to find out what an electric motorcycle is like to live with.
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