It is depressing as hell being stuck in a fossil fuel obsessed world when we have had other viable options for decades, but take heart when you see electric dirt bikes beginning to proliferate in war, if Electric Vehicles are winning on the cutting edge of the frontline for reasons that have nothing to do with environmentalism, the future is far closer than it seems…
Also god damn I really hate loud dirtbikes and ATVs in nature so looking forward to these undercutting fossil fuel powered dirtbikes everywhere…
I have an electric motorcycle (Zero FX) and a borderline ebike (Sur-ron X). Honestly military use cases are probably great for them.
They’re super quiet, they can be laid down on their sides without any fluids leaking out, you can charge them without crazy charging infrastructure. I have charged mine with a large solar blanket before! Swapping batteries is pretty quick, but honestly when I spend a day in the woods with either, I’m worn out before the battery is.
Range anxiety is real for serious highway miles, however for scouting where you have even 1 proper truck to strap it to for distance travel, I could see a very real benefit to having a couple of these available for fast, offroad, short-range mobility use.
I had range anxiety on my klr even, and that has a huge tank for an offroad(ish) bike. would have been so much nicer to have the same range (300 km) but know that if I had to I could just post up at a camp site and charge up with a panel
Anything electric lightweight enough to go off-road isn’t getting anywhere near 300km 😅
They just aren’t ready for touring yet, as much as the industry tries to tell us they are. Trailer it to the trails like a dirt bike.
Love the KLR btw, those things are venerable ✌️
I know this isn’t the place to ask but you seem quite knowledgeable about electrical bikes. What would you reccomend for a 12-20 mile/day commute. I’d love to ditch the car, I have an road legal 16mph limited ebike I like to use, but I’d love to go a bit faster without buying a moped
Hey! No problem, community is why we’re here :-)
Soo for where I am in the US, the toughest thing is there’s basically no bicycle infrastructure between my house and the lab I work in, plus I have to cross 2 e-lane highways, so having something that is road legal with license plates, turn signals, etc was a huge requirement.
I also wanted something I could load in my truck bed and take trail riding in the Appalachian mountains, so a more aggressive suspension set-up and support for knobby tires was important to me.
These 2 requirements narrowed the field significantly, and in 2021 I ended up finding a used 2015 Zero FZ that was the perfect balance for me, at the right price.
The good news for you is that 12-20 miles should be easily doable with any electric motorcycle! Your budget will probably be the biggest dictator of what you decide to get. An electric motorcycle will cost more than a moped, but of course the low maintenance and low energy costs vs a moped are things you can add into the equation.
I’ve had the Zero for 5 years now and aside from knobby tires (which would have been unnecessary if I was ONLY commuting), I think all my running costs, “fuel”, taxes, registration, insurance, EVERYTHING, is under $300 since I bought it! It has been a great value.
The main thing I would caution you about is manufacturers like to add app-attached crap to everything now. Zero famously pissed off a TON of motorcycle folks (I’m not affected but still angry about it) when they tried to make a “pay to unlock” feature with batteries already installed in bikes. Just make sure you do a little research about the models you end up liking so you know caveats like that up front.