Main issue is having a parking space with a charger and/or having to pay for it, and price of the new e-motorcycles.
Charging on the side of the road is a no go with motorcycles. I can fill my tank in a few seconds, I wouldn't want to wait more. Until I had a way to charge in an indoor space the only e-motorcycle I considered was the Silence S02 which has a removable battery that you can move as a trolley luggage. But it is still heavy, if you have stairs to climb which was my case until very recently: game over.
I looked at the market to replace my motorcycle, a 300cc scooter, now that I have an indoor parking space where I could in theory install a charger. Most japanese brands are very timid, honda only produces a 50cc equivalent. BMW and Kawasaki are expensive as is Zero motorcycle. To my knowledge Suzuki or Yamaha do not produce any.The rest are mostly chinese brands and many of them are using pretty much scaled up e-bicycle technology with motor in the hub and more importantly zero reliability/service record. And you pay the price of a 125 to get the performance and size of a 50cc moped.
So basically you have the choice between trusted brands and reliable gas powered bikes or do a leap of faith with no insurance that it won't be a shitshow like the aliexpress/amazon e-bike batteries that randomly catch fire. On paper electric stuff should be more reliable but well maintained 125cc bikes tend to be rock solid.
Price seems to be a pretty big factor, as well as the lack of any charging infrastructure. There’s also the fact that a lot of scooter owning families don’t have dedicated parking spaces in/outside their homes - not even enough to put up a charging point
The other problem is that the pricing for any decent eScooter starts hitting the same price range as a mid-range (for India) bike
The Ola S1 Pro has the same price as Bajaj NS200.
In the Indian context, bikes have way more street appeal. Even a cursory glance would tell you that the Bajaj NS200 looks way cooler than Ola S1.
So at that price range, a consumer essentially has to decide between a cool 150-200cc motorcycle from a trusted manufacturer, or a rather uncool electric scooter from a brand new manufacturer with reports of unreliability, poor charging infrastructure and unknown long term longevity
Range is frequently noted as a limitation for these vehicles, which is understandable.
In NYC there's a (somewhat informal) swapping economy where riders exchange their dead battery for a charged one. There are city run programs and under-the-table ones which are cheaper and less guaranteed. This is how people will do 12h DoorDash shifts without stopping to charge.
Curious how this impact air pollution? My understanding is that the largest contributor of air pollution in cities is vehicles. And if predominantly the vehicles are cars and 2 wheelers and of that the higher percentage is 2 wheelers and if those are changing from petrol to electric then it should make a dent in pollution. As such air pollution could be a proxy of how e-2w benefit the country…
2 stroke engines on new vehicles were banned in India 20 years ago and there have also been some restrictions on re-registering old 2 stroke vehicles as well
you're not wrong they just solved that part of the problem already
Well let's face it, not on the same level but even four-stroke tend to annoyingly noise, saying this as an owner. A screaming 2 stroke engine is super annoying but the bass of say, a Yamaha T-Max is also super annoying and will transmit accross walls even better. And so many people run noisy aftermarket exhausts.
Yes. This has long being the case. Cities with national monuments used to enforce "only eletrical taxis" rule near the monuments to protect them from pollution and this was successful.
China's EV-2W sales graph shows a peak in 2021 and then a declining trend in past few years. Curious to know what's happening there. I couldn't find any explanation in the article (admittedly I just skimmed).
We have an e-assist bicycle, so not quite the same as an e-scooter (moto-style, not kick). But, it's great. It doesn't have a throttle, so no pedal-free mode, but with assist on full setting, it'll go 18mph with very little effort. Great for the 8 mile ride to my wife's office (minimal sweat, she does shower there) and she can turn down the assist on the way home for a cardio workout.
Here in the US, most of the e-scooters (moto-style) are range-limited (battery size/tech) and overpriced (north of $5K) for what you get. Not when a 150cc scooter is <$5000 and will go >100 miles on a ~1 gallon tank.
I've heard from friends who are into electrical vehicles that electrical motorcycles aren't a good option economically, because the gas savings are offset by the cost of battery wear and battery replacement.
A gas powered motorbike in comparison will run for decades without having to do any expensive engine maintenance.
Main issue is having a parking space with a charger and/or having to pay for it, and price of the new e-motorcycles.
Charging on the side of the road is a no go with motorcycles. I can fill my tank in a few seconds, I wouldn't want to wait more. Until I had a way to charge in an indoor space the only e-motorcycle I considered was the Silence S02 which has a removable battery that you can move as a trolley luggage. But it is still heavy, if you have stairs to climb which was my case until very recently: game over.
I looked at the market to replace my motorcycle, a 300cc scooter, now that I have an indoor parking space where I could in theory install a charger. Most japanese brands are very timid, honda only produces a 50cc equivalent. BMW and Kawasaki are expensive as is Zero motorcycle. To my knowledge Suzuki or Yamaha do not produce any.The rest are mostly chinese brands and many of them are using pretty much scaled up e-bicycle technology with motor in the hub and more importantly zero reliability/service record. And you pay the price of a 125 to get the performance and size of a 50cc moped.
So basically you have the choice between trusted brands and reliable gas powered bikes or do a leap of faith with no insurance that it won't be a shitshow like the aliexpress/amazon e-bike batteries that randomly catch fire. On paper electric stuff should be more reliable but well maintained 125cc bikes tend to be rock solid.
Price seems to be a pretty big factor, as well as the lack of any charging infrastructure. There’s also the fact that a lot of scooter owning families don’t have dedicated parking spaces in/outside their homes - not even enough to put up a charging point
The other problem is that the pricing for any decent eScooter starts hitting the same price range as a mid-range (for India) bike
The Ola S1 Pro has the same price as Bajaj NS200.
In the Indian context, bikes have way more street appeal. Even a cursory glance would tell you that the Bajaj NS200 looks way cooler than Ola S1.
So at that price range, a consumer essentially has to decide between a cool 150-200cc motorcycle from a trusted manufacturer, or a rather uncool electric scooter from a brand new manufacturer with reports of unreliability, poor charging infrastructure and unknown long term longevity
Range is frequently noted as a limitation for these vehicles, which is understandable.
In NYC there's a (somewhat informal) swapping economy where riders exchange their dead battery for a charged one. There are city run programs and under-the-table ones which are cheaper and less guaranteed. This is how people will do 12h DoorDash shifts without stopping to charge.
I think it's a pretty interesting idea.
Gogoro might be useful
Do you know where I can read more about the battery swapping program? I knew china had some sort of program for EVs but this is news to me.
These[1] are the "official" ones which are actually just in the midst of rollout.
The informal ones don't seem to have much web presence, IIRC they were mostly setup in and around the e-bike shops in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Running the same setup with EVs is a fascinating angle!
[1] https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/pr2025/install-public-e-bi...
Honda and few other have launched swapable battery vehicles in India too
Curious how this impact air pollution? My understanding is that the largest contributor of air pollution in cities is vehicles. And if predominantly the vehicles are cars and 2 wheelers and of that the higher percentage is 2 wheelers and if those are changing from petrol to electric then it should make a dent in pollution. As such air pollution could be a proxy of how e-2w benefit the country…
Not only air pollution - if I think about the two-stroke engines that typically power cheap two-wheel vehicles, noise pollution also comes to mind...
2 stroke engines on new vehicles were banned in India 20 years ago and there have also been some restrictions on re-registering old 2 stroke vehicles as well
you're not wrong they just solved that part of the problem already
Even the smallest motorcycles are four-stroke, unless we're talking about hobbyist stuff like dirt bikes.
Well let's face it, not on the same level but even four-stroke tend to annoyingly noise, saying this as an owner. A screaming 2 stroke engine is super annoying but the bass of say, a Yamaha T-Max is also super annoying and will transmit accross walls even better. And so many people run noisy aftermarket exhausts.
Yes. This has long being the case. Cities with national monuments used to enforce "only eletrical taxis" rule near the monuments to protect them from pollution and this was successful.
I imagine if the 2-wheelers have those awful 2-cycle engines this would be a slam dunk
China's EV-2W sales graph shows a peak in 2021 and then a declining trend in past few years. Curious to know what's happening there. I couldn't find any explanation in the article (admittedly I just skimmed).
Might have been the bike share bubble? Asianometry - China's Bonkers Bike-share Bubble https://youtu.be/FQrEDq8KPiU and China Observer - bike graveyard https://youtu.be/49xQ2sTkjwM
During: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2020/07/4-big-bike-sharing-t...
After: https://www.news8000.com/lifestyle/money/china-s-bike-sharin...
My theory: China became richer and more developed. So:
(1) Public transport became better and some people shifted to it
(2) Some people upgraded to cars
Anybody own an electric Two-Wheeler ? What has your experience been ? Pros and Cons ?
We have an e-assist bicycle, so not quite the same as an e-scooter (moto-style, not kick). But, it's great. It doesn't have a throttle, so no pedal-free mode, but with assist on full setting, it'll go 18mph with very little effort. Great for the 8 mile ride to my wife's office (minimal sweat, she does shower there) and she can turn down the assist on the way home for a cardio workout.
Here in the US, most of the e-scooters (moto-style) are range-limited (battery size/tech) and overpriced (north of $5K) for what you get. Not when a 150cc scooter is <$5000 and will go >100 miles on a ~1 gallon tank.
Yep. Bought first one in 2019. Hero electric. Unon-registration one. Brilliant.
In 2023 bought one cheap lead acid battery one for ₹40k. Best cheap decision ever. Takes me around the city. Replaced batteries last month for ₹13k.
I went with cheap ones because they are Low tech. Its simpler to service. Simpler to fix and diy.
My daily run is around 10km so i don't care for anything mileage. In cities, its perfect, even the heavy duty tech loaded ones.
model name?
I've heard from friends who are into electrical vehicles that electrical motorcycles aren't a good option economically, because the gas savings are offset by the cost of battery wear and battery replacement.
A gas powered motorbike in comparison will run for decades without having to do any expensive engine maintenance.