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The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

Electric Motorcycles From Honda and Yamaha?

By Paul Crowe

A news report out of Japan says both Honda and Yamaha are planning lithium ion battery powered electric motorcycles to be on sale, possibly as early as 2010 for Yamaha and 2011 for Honda. Prices will be anywhere from $1900 to $3700.

With electrics coming on the market from companies like Vectrix, Zero Motorcycles and Enertia, plus a whole group of individual builders assembling their own, it only makes sense that the major manufacturers would not be far behind. I would also expect the performance of those bikes to be equal to and more likely superior to the current products being sold by the smaller companies.

No technical details or sources were provided in the report.

The one part of this story I find a little hard to believe is the price range. Lithium ion batteries are not cheap and unless there has been some large volume price break for Honda and Yamaha, I’m not sure how these bikes can come in at that number.

Link: Bloomberg

Posted on September 10, 2008 Filed Under: Electric motorcycles, Motorcycle Business


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Comments

  1. dizil says

    September 10, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    IF motorcycles are going into electric, will they do away with shifting?? I mean I have never seen a standard or 5 or 6 speed electric car. I mean riding a motorcycle without shifting seems rather boring.

  2. WRXr says

    September 10, 2008 at 7:31 pm

    At that price, they are probably talking about an electric bicycle or scooter, in which case, I really don’t see what the big deal is. Throughout asia, but especially in China, electric bicycles and scooters are as common as water.

    For example: check out these e-bikes from the famous Shanghai Forever brand:

    http://www.forever-bicycle.com/product.asp?ClassID=81

    I thought Yamaha and Suzuki already had electric bikes anyway.

  3. JC says

    September 10, 2008 at 7:47 pm

    At that price there can’t be that many Li-Ion batteries, so I’m guessing slow speed relatively short range, maybe even a scooter.

    Small steps at first, and then we’ll see.

    Dizil,
    If I could have smooth continuous power at any RPM (i.e, CVT or AC electric motor) I would take it over shifting. In the right environment many will too I bet, city traffic being one.

    For know, shifting is part of the experience for many, but what if you grew up not shifting? I bet we would both feel differently….

  4. JR says

    September 10, 2008 at 8:47 pm

    The best part is going to be when people who have been riding a long time get on an electric motorcycle for the first time, pull up to a red light, and blip the throttle and herky jerk out a few feet because there is no clutch.

  5. B*A*M*F says

    September 10, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    My whole perspective on shifting is that if there are gears, I want control of them. If there are no gears I want incredibly rapid and smooth acceleration and ratio/speed holding. On CVT equipped vehicles, I don’t really miss shifting.

  6. grayband says

    September 10, 2008 at 11:41 pm

    I have two sides of the coin when it comes to the pricing issue you mentioned…..first is that giant companies like honda do get tremendous quantity discounts and that will drop the price of batteries and that the overall cost of the motorcycle will be dropped because the bike won’t have an internal combustion engine which is a huge portion of a motorcycles cost by sheer number of parts that it contains. On the other hand, the japanese electric motorcycles won’t cost that cheap because they don’t have to be that cheap. What I mean by that is that the vectrix electric scooter is $10k+. Honda doesn’t need to undercut Vectrix by $6000 or more in order to sell motorcycles. They just have to be cheaper by a few thousand for a comparable product and have it sell really well. I love electric vehicle technology and can’t wait to see what becomes available!

  7. Martin says

    September 11, 2008 at 12:24 am

    You all heard about ” Noise save live ” ? For some I think the batteries will go dry just to feed a big amp for fake rumble

  8. Wave says

    September 11, 2008 at 7:38 am

    If this is true and they are real motorcycles and not scooters, any small independent e-bike manufacturers which are currently filling a niche market will be utterly crushed and destroyed, but the benefit may be a cheaper way for people to help the environment.

  9. Jim says

    September 11, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Electric scooters make a lot of sense, though getting away from a step through frame provides a lot space for batteries. Bring them to market soon.

  10. ElectricMotorcycles.net says

    September 11, 2008 at 9:40 am

    Green Car Congress is reporting this will be equivalent to 50cc machines with about 30 miles range for the Honda and 60 from Yamaha.

    Not motorcycles as Americans think of them but mopeds.

    http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/09/report-honda-ya.html

  11. todd says

    September 11, 2008 at 3:36 pm

    Mopeds have pedals (“MOtorized PEDal bike”) and there is currently little to no market in the US for mopeds. Scooters see better sales because they are cute, more substantial and faster than mopeds and are built by recognizable manufacturers like Honda, Yamaha, Piaggio, etc, not Puch, Peugeot Tomos, etc…

    This is definitely a test. They want to see how they will sell vs. gas scooters and at what price premium before they invest in longer range, higher power motorcycle / maxi scooter versions.

    What this does mean is that an electric scooter / motorcycle is no longer just a toy and serious development and pressure will be put on battery and motor technology.

    -todd

  12. B*A*M*F says

    September 11, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    From a global perspective, small motorcycles like Cubs are the hot selling items. It’s really only in the USA where huge bikes with huge engines sell in significant numbers.

    Selling small electric motorcycles first makes more sense because of the sales volume. You can spread the R&D costs over many more units for am electric Cub than for an electric Goldwing.

    Small also means that as electric bikes grow bigger, they will benefit from the initial investment in shrinking and lightening componentry.

  13. Marc Gilbert says

    September 15, 2008 at 5:53 pm

    That’s great news to hear that these large manufacturers are getting into the game of electric. But, I would check out EVC, once they get into the marketplace, they will blow away Vectrix and any other newcomer.

    I am also not impressed with Enertia and their offering, not only is their bike ugly, but looks cheap! Rumor has it they are desperate for business they approached Vectrix to be buy Enertia, but Vectrix declined as they have their own problems to sort out.

    My money’s on EVC, once they come to market. Check them out: http://www.evcusa.com

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