Kawasaki is now the first of the big 4 to sell electric bikes

No, no, no... Eff no.  

Garbage. I'm glad my days of riding and driving are done. My sister has a $80,000 Audi Hybrid that has a range of 32 miles after charge, and they got 220v service so it can be charged in only a couple hours vs all night on 120, and don't think of ever using the heat or air conditioning as the 32 mile drops to 20 or so. GARBAGE. Sad times I'm afraid, and will only get worse. I'm done with it and don't care. 

Whatever you do don't park them inside. 

There are also better electric bikes in North America, like Zero.  Harley is also making one now.  The market here is more towards highway touring,, and EB's have too limited a range to compete there.  They can compete in the commuting market but so can electric bicycles, which have the advantage of being able to follow the rider into the building for security purposes.  

They are starting to ban them from coming inside due to fire risk. One huge Ferry sank and one person died due to one car catching fire. 

hardrockminer wrote:

There are also better electric bikes in North America, like Zero.  Harley is also making one now.  The market here is more towards highway touring,, and EB's have too limited a range to compete there.  They can compete in the commuting market but so can electric bicycles, which have the advantage of being able to follow the rider into the building for security purposes.  


 

I agree, electrification works only for bicycles and scooters, What's the point of even having a motorcycle which you can't just randomly start up whenever you want and go on a long ride outside the city

youtube.com/shorts/A0ZJmzSwmvE?si=0M-fM2bRa7T3NwUN  

RonKZ650 wrote:

Garbage. I'm glad my days of riding and driving are done. My sister has a $80,000 Audi Hybrid that has a range of 32 miles after charge, and they got 220v service so it can be charged in only a couple hours vs all night on 120, and don't think of ever using the heat or air conditioning as the 32 mile drops to 20 or so. GARBAGE. Sad times I'm afraid, and will only get worse. I'm done with it and don't care. 


Yeah a hybrid only gets 25 to 30 miles on the battery but it also has an engine so the range is probably more like 400+ miles between fill-ups. We have a 14' Ford Fusion hybrid and it works great. A hybrid is the best of both worlds.
We live out in the country and an all electric car isn't practical but the hybrid works. I'm a total gear head and my newest vehicle is a 93' F-250 diesel, the last year of mechanical injection, no computers. My daily driver is an 85' GMC S-15 hotrod.
The Fusion is the wife's car, she commutes 80+ miles a day and it saves us a bunch of money on gas.
I definitely don't want an electric motorcycle or car. It's weird to drive an electric car fast, there's a bunch of sensory input that's missing making it more difficult. Besides I love the sound of a great motor!
 

I'm also NOT a fan of electric cars or motorcycles.  But if they want us all to convert, wouldn't it make more sense to stick with hybrid ?  Seems like it would be the best compromise of both worlds, and be less of a burden on an already overloaded electricity grid ?  Oh wait a minute, electric only are cheaper to manufacture and not enough tree huggers have ended up stranded 50 miles from home yet. Just my 2 cents.    

I will start by saying I also have no desire to own electric ( certainly not currently) the tech still has a long way to go to be a viable alternative for many. The harsh reality is at some point the options will be very limited and governments all over the world will drive the price of fossil fuel way above the current ridiculous rates. I don't think manufacturers are helping the cause bringing out rubbish like that posted at the top of this thread which will only appeal to tree hungers making a statement about their green credentials. Globally charging infrastructure is expanding daily but there will be those like the OP that are in countries that are way behind the curve with charging infastructure.
Charging times for bigger electric bikes are greatly reduced at charging stations with 7kwh chargers and higher (the 8 hours referenced is from a standard domestic outlet) and with a range of 100 miles from a pure running cost basis a charge would cost approx £5 against a tank of fuel which would also last 100 miles being (in the UK at least) approx £35 so 7x more and also an electric bike with a brushless motor will require less maintenance (until the batteries need replacing)
As I say I'm not a fan (an electric motor has no soul) but at some point alternative fuel will be inevitable, I just hope I'm old enough not to have it shoved down my throat by removing the alternatives. I believe the development needs to be in low friction generators so that an electric vehicle becomes self charging (to at least some degree) but I'm sure the energy companies will try their hardest to prevent it

sf4t7 wrote:

I'm also NOT a fan of electric cars or motorcycles.  But if they want us all to convert, wouldn't it make more sense to stick with hybrid ?  Seems like it would be the best compromise of both worlds, and be less of a burden on an already overloaded electricity grid ?  Oh wait a minute, electric only are cheaper to manufacture and not enough tree huggers have ended up stranded 50 miles from home yet. Just my 2 cents.    

 

 I don't think electric motorcycles will ever catch up in my lifetime (and I'm still in my teenage right now), they at the end of the day are just motorcycle shaped commuting scooters, and I think Kawasaki and the other companies are aware of it too and this bike was just pushed to control the overall emission requirements of their line up, anyways the hybrid is also coming soon and I hope it'll be better




Also they shouldn't have used the river mark again

Unless  you are ok with very limited range  electric is a non starter
But here is a great option  of a practical use of electricity
This is my Action Trackchair. 
Since I got busted up  depending on how you count  at least 3 times, or is it 6 times  ( Fire fighting , dirt bikes , street bikes, construction accidents  etc.. )
Anyway,   I got this  tracked  chair and use it for hunting ,  snow plowing  ,  My legs and back are a joke  which limit my walking range  so I use this to stay in the game
Range is  about 3 miles  at   a pace of a fast walk.  It can plow  1 foot of snow for about 2 hours,  Drag deer out of the woods and serves as a portable hunting  stand.
Charge time is  about 8 hours  , so I can go out every day into the woods  . It will carry me and a boatload of equipment  too    See pictures

 

I'm sure there is scope for a power upgrade there DD