#Electric

In case you missed it, Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali recently announced the company will be putting an electric motorcycle into production sooner rather than later. If you must know, his exact words were, “The future is electric and we’re not far from beginning production of the series.” He was speaking during the podium celebrations for a student-run racing series in which the Ducati-supported University of Bologna’s UniBo rookie team took third in the electric class.

The International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) is making a push to get Trial-E added to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. If accepted, electric Trial would become the first motorsport to be officially recognized as part of the Olympics.

Lightning Motorcycles is seemingly taking a page out of the Tesla playbook, and today declared it has officially opened reservations for its newest model, the recently announced Lightning Strike. Lightning says it has made this move based on an “unexpectedly high” number of customer requests after news of the Strike went public (of course, we’d like to say Motorcycle.com had a small part in that). Similar to the Tesla model of offering fully refundable reservations for the Model 3, Lightning is following suit and offering U.S. customers a chance to place reservations for the Strike – which will be available in two versions. The reservation structure will look like this:

I like electric vehicles. I mean, I really like them. But unlike a lot of journalists who say they like something, I actually went out and spent my hard-earned on an electric car, a 2018 Chevy Bolt; one of my best purchases ever. I bought it because when it was announced, it was the first affordable long-range electric vehicle, and it’s been great. It’s not perfect for everything, but what car is? For cars, EVs aren’t coming; they’re here.

As the world’s tech companies gather in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Harley-Davidson has announced that the 2020 Livewire is now available for pre-order. Additionally, Harley has tossed out a few more tidbits about the company’s first electric motorcycle. First, the retail price will be $29,799 in the U.S. Second, we finally get some specifics about power delivery and range.

Along side the new 2019 LiveWire, Harley-Davidson revealed two electric urban mobility concepts at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The two as-yet-unnamed concepts, a mountain bike-style vehicle and a scooterish looking model, give us the first looks at a selection of “lightweight urban” electric models that Harley-Davidson says will go into production in 2021 and 2022.

Zero Motorcycles is teasing a new SR/F model through its social media channels, promising full details to come on Feb. 25. While a new model is notable, the more important news is that the SR/F will introduce an entirely new platform that will eventually expand to include other future models.

Funny thing about electric motorcycles: if you’re already an early adopter of the technology, the name Zero Motorcycles is all too familiar. If you still think electrics are as evil to the motorcycling landscape as Jar Jar Binks was to Star Wars… well, you might as well stop reading here. No matter where you stand, the staying power of Zero Motorcycles is hard to ignore. For over 13 years, Zero has been leading the way in electric motorcycle technology, and its staying power has seen it outlast all its competitors. For 2019, Zero is further staking its claim as the leader in electric motorcycle technology, perhaps bracing itself for the arrival of the Harley-Davidson Livewire in 2020.

Kymco has carved out a niche producing scooters and small-displacement motorcycles like the K-Pipe 125, but the Taiwanese manufacturer now wants to reshape how we think about electric motorcycles. Debuting at EICMA, the Kymco SuperNEX concept looks to address some of issues consumers have about electric two-wheelers.

Only a company like Red Bull could pull together the resources to rent the largest airport in the world to stage the world’s ultimate drag race. Seeing as how this yet-to-open airport is in Istanbul, Red Bull called up seven of the fastest vehicles and pilots – including fighter pilots – Turkey has to offer to go head-to-head in this exhibition of speed.

When choosing our MOBOs, it’s not always the spec-sheet shootout winner that takes the cake. There is a lot more to consider when deciding MO’s Best of award. What does the motorcycle mean for its category and how does it impact the industry as a whole? These are but a few of the variables that must be considered for our MOBO awards.

The major bane of every electric motorcycle’s existence, at least so far, is weight. As battery technology stands these days, there’s no getting around the fact that batteries are heavy. No matter how many trick components you surround the battery with, a plump curb weight is a killer when it comes to performance. Case in point, the Energica Eva Esse Esse 9. A trellis frame, Marzocchi fork, Bitubo shock, OZ wheels, Brembo brakes, and the finest in Italian electric motorcycle technology can’t hide the fact that the bike weighs 621 pounds.

When you think of Italian motorcycles, you probably think of something sexily swoopy, a trellis frame, top-notch componentry, and a throaty V-Twin engine. The thought of an electric motor probably never enters your mind. However, Italian manufacturer Energica is doing its level best to change your thinking with its family of exotic electric motorcycles. From the Ego’s committed sportiness to the Eva’s street fighter stance (which was bolstered by having its motor output brought in line with that of the Ego for 2018), Energica’s motorcycles have always positioned themselves as premium electric performance motorcycles. When releasing the 2018 Energica Eva Esse Esse 9, the company created a premium electric roadster to round out its current model line.

For a company like Harley-Davidson, change can be slow and incremental. Not so today, as Harley-Davidson announced a new plan for growth from now through 2020, including some significant, bold changes that many customers have long been asking for.

Four years after introducing the prototype, Harley-Davidson is finally ready to go electric, announcing the impending launch of the LiveWire production model in August next year.