Electric Lightweights at Motorcycle Live

Electric motorcycles are developing all the time, range is improving and; as the new 283mph record set by Max Biaggi on the Voxan Wattman shows, so is performance. Unfortunately, the big electric bikes are expensive, here in the UK a standard Zero SRF is £18,000, Harley Livewire £28,995 and a Energica Eva Ribelle is £25,840 – much more expensive than their petrol counterparts and takes a long time for the fuel savings to reclaim that ground. When it comes to smaller bikes, the price difference between petrol and electric narrows and if you are a learner looking for a 125 or 50cc equivalent, or you just want something eco friendly and cheap to run for the commute they certainly start to stack up. Here we have a whistle stop tour of some of the smaller electric bikes at Motorcycle live 2021.

The Horwin CR6 Pro is unusual for an electric bike in that it has a 5 speed manual transmission, whereas most electric bikes are automatic. It also has a storage space and keyless start. Power is similar to a 125cc petrol at 13.6hp and a claimed 68mph top speed with a range of 88 miles between charges. It`s priced at £6249 and there`s an automatic version with slightly less power that’s £5,795.

Maveing RM1 - This Trendy wee retro bike is hand made in Coventry and comes in two different power modes, one that`s equivalent to a moped at 28mph and a 45 mph version. It has a range of 40 miles but you can buy a second battery that doubles that range for an extra £995. The batteries are removeable so you can easily charge them anywhere. It also has on board storage locker and is Priced at £4995.

Super Soco were also at Motorcycle live, they have been making smaller electric bikes and scooters for a few years and were originally started with a $15 million crowdfunding campaign. Their range includes moped power motorcycles and 125 equivalent bikes. Their TC Max is a good-looking bike that has a top speed of 60mph and 60 miles of range, and the battery is removeable for easy charging. Priced from £5311 (although that drops to £4249 with the UK EV grant).They also have a moped equivalent TC that`s £2995 (pictured). Super Soco also had a couple of concept bikes on display, the great looking minimalist F80 Trail bike that weighs only 75kg and the amusingly named Vmoto Stash which has a range of 137 miles and on-board storage.

Thelmoco were there too with their range of moped and 125 equivalent scoters and bikes. One of their bikes that caught my eye was the  Farsta 6000 (I wonder if it`s called that as it`s the fastest one?!) which has an impressive tested range of 120 miles plus reserve due to its’ large battery and a sports a reverse gear to help with parking. Top speed is 63mph and is priced at £5995 including grant.

With our beloved Internal Combustion Engine being given it`s notice in Europe development of electric bikes will really pick up pace in the next few years. We`ve seen how the small bikes are really coming along, and  It`ll be interesting to see how the medium and high-power electric bikes develop too. Honda, KTM, Piaggio and Yamaha recently signing an agreement to create a `swappable batteries motorcycle consortium'. This means that batteries for their bikes could be easily interchanged between different brands and models, which might mean that in the future we see service stations full of charged batteries ready to be exchanged for a new one (just like India is already doing with their electric tuk tuks). Either way, shared (and therefore cheaper) battery tech means that we will see the cost of the bigger electric bikes dropping in the not too distant future.