7 Electric Motorcycles You Must See (including 1 that does 0-60 MPH in 0.97 seconds)
Photo: zeromotorcycles.com
Zero X Electric Dirtbike
The Zero X is an electric motorcycle, but it's different from those we've seen above. It's more of a dirtbike.
It accelerates from 0 to 30 MPH in under 2 seconds and its electric motor generates around 20 horsepower and 50 ft-lbs of torque, and similar performance to a 250cc gas powered off-road motorcycle. The official Zero X website claims: "this stealthy motorcycle will send you racing up hills, flying over jumps, and splashing through streams. Best part is, you can do it all without disturbing nature or your neighbors." Below you can see a video of the Zero X at Jay Leno's garage:
The amazing thing about the battery of the Zero X electric motorcycle is that it can store 2 kWh. That's pretty good compared to the 1.31 kWh of the Toyota Prius battery (which is NiMH, not li-ion). It gives the Zero X a 40 miles range (20 if you really push it). The electric motor uses brushed permanent magnets, peaks at 23 hp and 17,400 watts.
And because it's electric, it typically costs less than 1 cent per mile for the electricity to run it.
Photo: zeromotorcycles.com
Photo: enertiabike.com
Enertia Electric Motorcycle by Brammo
The Enertia electric motorcycle by Brammo gets 45 miles per charge, comes with GPS and is WiFi-enabled (?!), with the goal of helping you calculate your carbon savings. At 3.1 kWh, the Enertia's battery contains more than twice as much power as the NiMH battery pack in the Toyota Prius (the first generation, not the redesigned 2010 Prius model).
Photo: enertiabike.com
At it’s quickest setting, the Enertia will sprint from 0 to 30 mph in 3.8 seconds, and 0 to 40 mph in 5.8 seconds. Top speed is 50+ mph, and it takes about 3 hours to recharge the battery.
The cost is about $15k if you want the first batch of bikes (around Q3 2008), or $12k if you can wait until later. Around 100k people have already expressed interest via Brammo’s website. You can see rendering of the insides below. Looks surprisingly clean compared to what we're used to seeing with gas motorcycles.
Photo: enertiabike.com
