Category: Electric

Are These Onyx Electric Mopeds the Perfect Urban Commuter Bikes?

Post author By Wade Thiel
Post date February 11, 2019

Pedals and Electric Power

Mopeds were popular machines in the 1970s and 80s, but over time the bicycle/motorcycle bike fell out of style. Now, they’re quite uncommon. You see either scooters or motorcycles, but the pedal moped is a rarity on the road. That may change in the future thanks to ONYX Motorbikes.

ONYX Motorbikes got its start where many good ideas go, Indigogo. After raising about $1 million, Tim Seward, the founder of the company, and his team have delivered on some truly attractive little electric bikes. According to electrek, the company recently started delivering bikes to customers.

The company has two models: the RCR and CTY. Both keep with the classic Moped aesthetic but add in modern technology like regenerative braking. They charge via a regular wall outlet. They both feature pedals like the good mopeds of old in case you run out of battery juice.

If you’re looking for a bike that’s similar in performance to the mopeds of old, then the CTY is for you. As the name implies, it’s built for low-speed commuting duties. It features a 2.5-kilowatt motor (3.35 horsepower) and a removable 48-volt 768-watt-hour battery. It has a top speed of about 30 mph and a range of 40 miles if you cruise at 20 mph. If you’re going flat out all the time, expect about 25 miles to a charge. Recharging the battery takes about two hours.

The RCR packs a bit more of a punch. It can travel up to 60 mph and go 75 miles if you cruise at 20 mph. Obviously, if you’re going faster than that all the time, you’re looking at about half that amount of range. The bike can do this thanks to its power powerful 5.4-kilowatt motor (7.2 horsepower), and its 72-volt 23-amp-hour battery. Recharging the battery takes about four hours.

While that might not seem like crazy performance numbers, they are super reasonably priced. The CTY costs $2,500 (though it is sold out for 2019), and the RCR costs $3,500, according to the company’s website. electrek noted a sale going on right now, which means you can get the RCR for $3,250. I’m a sucker for mopeds (I own a 1987 Tomos Golden Bullet), but now I’m thinking of trading up.

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Ducati’s MIG-RR Electric Mountain Bike Hits European Dealers

Post author By Wade Thiel
Post date January 29, 2019

A Different Kind of Ducati

I used to think Ducati and mountain bikes didn’t go together, but like many other times in my life, I’ve been proven wrong. Apparently, you can buy a Ducati electric mountain bike. The company calls its new pedal and battery-powered bike the MIG-RR E-mtb. You can buy it for a little over $7,100 if you’re in Europe.

Ducati partnered with Thok Ebikes to make the bike a reality. It was first shown off at EICMA in 2018, and now it will officially be for sale. Thok is no newbie to the mountain biking scene. It has extensive experience in the downhill mountain biking world and BMX. If Ducati wanted to do a mountain e-bike correctly, it looks like the company went with the right partner.

According to Motorcycle News, Ducati’s Design Centre and Aldo Drudi’s D-Perf worked closely with Thok Ebikes to ensure the finished product was worthy of the brand’s name.

To be clear, this is no twist-and-go electric bike. The MIG-RR E-mtb is a pedal-assist bike. This means you need to pedal the bike to move it. However, the assist of the electric motor makes pedaling so easy you won’t even break a sweat. I rode a pedal assist bike in the mountains of Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. I found it to be an exhilarating experience. You feel like you kind of feel like you have super-human strength on a bicycle.

The Specs

The bike weighs roughly 50 pounds, has FOX Factory Kashima suspension with tons of travel, Shimano Saint brakes, Shimano XT gear set with 11 speeds, and Renthal handlebars made with carbon fiber. The power unit is a 250 Watt Shimano Steps E8000 motor. The motor weighs just over six pounds, and it can produce an insane 51.6 lb-ft of torque.

The battery is a 504 watt-power unit. Both the electric motor and the battery are snuggled right up next to and basically integrated with the frame of the bike. It uses a regular chain drive like any other mountain bike. The aluminum frame itself looks like any other mountain bike. It comes with a small display showing vital info like charge and the power mode (eco, trail, boost, and powerwalk).

Top speed and range can vary depending on how you ride. If you suck all the juice out of the battery you just pedal home like any other bicycle.

The Ducati MIG-RR E-mtb is interesting because it seems far from what the company usually does. However, with Harley showing off a similar bike—albeit not pedal assist, but a real-deal twist-and-go electric bike—it would seem to me that the motorcycle industry is shifting.

The future might bring motorcycles and regular bicycles closer together. I’ll take a high-speed motorcycle over a pedal-assist or low-speed e-bike any day, but there’s no denying we’ll probably see more of these bikes coming down the pike.

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Harley-Davidson Announces LiveWire Pricing and Two New Electric Concepts

Post author By Wade Thiel
Post date January 7, 2019

The LiveWire is Now Truly Alive

Harley-Davidson is in the process of turning a new leaf, and the company made a big statement at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The company announced pricing and pre-order availability for its LiveWire motorcycle as well as two new concepts.

First, the important stuff. The Harley LiveWire has a U.S. MSRP of $29,799. Harley-Davidson is now taking pre-orders at dealerships. If you want to stay in the loop on all things LiveWire, you can sign up for email updates on Harley’s website.

LiveWire 2018. Spain — Image from Harley-Davidson

The LiveWire is genuinely an impressive machine. It’s supposed to provide some true performance. The bike does come with a good list of features and equipment, including H-D connect, which is an LTE system that gives basic electric bike stuff like battery range, charge status, service alerts, and more. You can view this information remotely, too, so you don’t have to go out and see how long until your bike’s fully charged.

Livewire 2018 — Image from Harley-Davidson

Additionally, the bike gets GPS tracking in the event of theft, ABS, regenerative braking, traction control, clutchless power, and a range of 110 miles. That seems a bit short, but it’s not horrible. The bike can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.

Despite the somewhat promising list of features of the LiveWire and its good looks, I’m not sure it’s what Harley needs. It is a move in the right direction, though, and shows how serious the company is about shaking things up.

Killer Concept Bikes

I was a little skeptical that Harley could think outside the box until I saw the two concept bikes it showed off at CES. They’re way different from what the brand is known for, and while they are right in line with what a lot of other motorcycle manufacturers are experimenting with.

Harley-Davidson concept — Image from Harley-Davidson

The first looks like a lightweight electric dirtbike or mountain bike and the second one looks like a mashup of a scooter and a minibike. Harley did not provide names for the concepts.

Let’s take a look at the electric mountain bike concept first. It has a thin and sleek design that’s more like a bicycle than a motorcycle. That’s not a bad thing though. What I assume is the battery is in a vertical orientation and integrated well into the design.

Mounted to a swingarm, the rear wheel comes with suspension thanks to a single shock. Up front, there’s a triple tree front end and inverted forks. The front wheel is thinner than the rear. Power goes to the rear wheel from the electric motor via a belt drive. The bike looks pretty minimalistic from a design standpoint. It offers some insight into what Harley sees the future of mobility being.

The second concept is a true departure for the brand. It has a frame that reminds me of an old minibike but with running boards down either side. The running boards look like Harley cut a skateboard in half. The electric drivetrain sits at the lowest point in the frame and basically runs the length of it. Again, the bike uses a belt drive.

It has some cool looking handlebars and a unique circular ring, which I assume is a headlight with the HD logo in the center of it. The tires look to be the same size and feature spoked wheels.

A Different Harley-Davidson

The second concept might be the most unconventional of the three bikes discussed in this article. I think it’s my favorite. Call me crazy. Harley didn’t include specs for either bike. However, if they’re anywhere near as respectable as the LiveWire’s I’ll be thoroughly impressed.

These two bikes are concepts. With that said, Harley does plan to make more electric bikes in the future and this is a clear indication of what they’re expecting to produce. Other models will accompany the LiveWire in 2020 or 2021.

The company’s website doesn’t offer too many details but it does say “production model features may vary.” I’m going to take that to mean that there will actually be production models of these bikes. If Harley does produce production models, it will mean the company has truly changed its ways.

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Harley Davidson Reveals Investment in Electric Motorcycle Company Alta Motors

Post author By Paul Crowe
Post date March 1, 2018

A few weeks ago Harley Davidson said they were about 18 months from a production ready electric motorcycle. Today, they announced an investment in Alta Motors for the purpose of collaborating on electric technology and new product development. Alta Motors’ current products are nothing like the LiveWire prototype Harley introduced earlier, so it will be […]

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Rungu Juggernaut 3 Wheel Electric Reverse Trike Leans with a Difference

Post author By Paul Crowe
Post date October 30, 2017

There are so many new electric bicycles coming out it’s hard to keep up, but this one is different with the addition of twin front tires on a bike that is designed to lean in the turns, but I guess the Rungu guys didn’t get the memo about leaning multi wheelers because the front wheels […]

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Autonomous Electric Vehicles Will Be Here Gradually, Then Suddenly

Post author By Paul Crowe
Post date October 5, 2017

It’s becoming more apparent every day, the motorcycle parked in your garage is nothing more than a fossil fuel recreational vehicle, along with the internal combustion powered car, truck or boat. Even airplanes are getting into the act, though I think that transition will take longer. With automation removing the driver from practically every self […]

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Building Your Own Battery Packs for Your DIY Electric Vehicle Project

Post author By Paul Crowe
Post date June 9, 2017

A couple of readers of our post about the home built electric trike commented about the batteries. As I noted in the post, that particular build was completed in 2013 using battery technology available then, but the whole field is advancing pretty fast, so you could design a better solution if you decided to build […]

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Electric Reverse Trike Offers Custom Builders Another Option

Post author By Paul Crowe
Post date June 8, 2017

This home built electric reverse trike (electrike?) showed up for sale and at first I passed it right by, but then I stopped, thought about it for a bit and took another look. As I kept going over the photos, I was more and more impressed by how well it was done while at the […]

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Motochimp defines electric bike coolness

Post author By Sameer Kumar
Post date November 9, 2016

The Motochimp is the coolest little bike we've seen in a long time… 🙂

So what is this thing anyway? Well, Motochimp is a tiny electric bike that was launched at the Shenzhen International Industrial Design Fair this week, and will soon go on sale in Japan, followed by other Asian markets, the UK and parts of Europe. Designed by Singapore’s Vanda Electrics, the Motochimp will be priced from US$2,000. The bike's lithium-ion batteries can be charged in 60 minutes and provides a range of up to 60kph.

Despite its diminutive size, the Motochimp may be stronger than it looks – it's made of extruded 6061 aluminum alloy and is available in red, blue and yellow. It is, of course, a very compact bike, measuring just over a metre long and with a wheelbase of just 750mm, which makes it easy to be ridden on crowded streets and busy walkways. Power comes from a 48V 350W electric motor, mounted in the rear wheel hub, which provides enough juice for the 'Chimp to reach speeds of up to 30kph.

The Motochimp dispenses with the traditional key, which is replaced by a contactless digital ignition lock. Using RFID technology, owners simply hover their digital ‘key’ over the transponder. Each pair has a unique digital ID code, ensuring that the Motochimp only responds to its owner. "Motochimp really celebrates the indie spirit of spontaneous urban mobility. It’s sustainable yet sassy, cost-effective yet cool, eco-friendly yet bursting with personality," says Vanda Electrics CEO, Larissa Tan. "In designing Motochimp, our original concept was inspired by a sketch from a 10-year old girl. At Vanda Electrics, we want to revolutionise electric transport on a global scale, and Motochimp is key to that. It’s the new face of city transport – bold, edgy, fun," she adds. Yeah, well, it really is cool!! 😉
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Vision Next 100 showcases BMW’s plans for tomorrow’s motorcycle

Post author By Sameer Kumar
Post date October 12, 2016

The Vision Next 100 is BMW's all-electric, always-connected, self-balancing motorcycle of the future. We expect its features to start trickling down to BMW production bikes within the next few years

BMW’s ‘Vision’ series of vehicles are aimed at fulfilling future mobility needs and may make it to production at some time over the next three decades. And after BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce Vision vehicles, there’s now also a Vision motorcycle – the BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100, which was unveiled yesterday at the ‘Iconic Impulses – the BMW Group Future Experience’ event in Los Angeles.

The motorcycle, which looks rather outlandish today (but may not be all that surreal in 10-20 years from now…?) represents BMW’s vision for motorcycling in an always connected, always online world. “Motorcycling is about escaping from the everyday. The moment you straddle your bike, you are absolutely free. Your bike is ‘The Great Escape,’” says Edgar Heinrich, Head of Design at BMW Motorrad. And with the Vision Next 100, BMW’s aim is to free the rider from as many constraints as possible, even doing away with the need to wear a helmet and protective gear.

With the Vision Next 100, BMW want to produce a machine that’s still recognizably a BMW motorcycle, hence the black frame (a reference to the first ever BMW R32 motorcycle, which was made in 1923) and the Boxer opposed-twin design cues. But, of course, there will be no actual Boxer-twin internal combustion engine here – that will be replaced with a zero-emissions electric motor, fed by lithium-ion batteries. The absence of a full fairing is explained by BMW, who claim that “clever arrangement of surfaces protects the rider from wind and weather as effectively as a full fairing. The surface of the frame is covered in matt black textile, its silky sheen and fine lines highlighting the characteristic forms and representing a contemporary reinterpretation of this classic BMW detail.”
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