I'm frequently surprised by the interest some of my dyed-in-the-wool gearhead friends have in EVs. I attribute it to the fact that they have ridden and raced and wrenched on ICE motorcycles for many, many years. They intimately know the downsides of the strictly mechanical solution and are curious about something better — something easier to maintain.
Although EVs offer some undeniable advantages, they are accompanied by the costs associated with new technology.
As I've said many times, there is no one-size-fits-all solution — especially here in the US. You must evaluate what's best for your own situation, location, and needs.
My hope is that highlighting the problems I've identified will give you a few things to ponder.
Are you cut out to be an early adopter?
Electric vehicle technology is changing rapidly. Other than “bold new graphics” I usually think of motorcycles as having about a 4-year update cycle. Significant changes in EVs have been occurring yearly. It's almost like computers were around the turn of the millennium. Should I buy one now or wait a year? Next year's model will be better or cheaper, or both.
This also means that parts for early bikes might no longer be available. Electric Motion's 5.7 is an example of this. You may end up doing without a part, or making something from scratch, or modifying something similar.
What happens when the battery fails?
Many consider the battery problem as simply one of range that will be solved as the technology matures. While I believe range will keep improving, it's more complicated than that.
Replacing a battery outright can cost as much as, or more than, the depreciated value of the vehicle.
Of course, batteries can be repaired, but not easily (and perhaps not even safely by the DIY'er). Trials bikes are being built with relatively low-voltage packs (58 volts is typical). But something like the Stark Varg is a 400-volt system. Do you really want to “execute” a repair on that?
The biggest impediment to DIY battery repair is spot-welding the individual cells to form a battery pack. The spot welders available to hobbyists only work for thin conductors. This limits their usefulness to low-current applications like electric bicycles. One possible workaround is to use large prismatic (just a fancy word for rectangular) cells rather than the ubiquitous cylindrical ones. Although this eliminates the need to spot-weld cells in parallel, it makes packaging difficult due to the space constraints found on a motorcycle.
Assuming you can find a specialist willing to rebuild a bad battery, there's still the issue of transportation. Any repair facility needs to be local because batteries are considered hazardous goods that require the shipper to have a special certification. This means the average owner can't legally ship a broken battery anywhere. I've written a brief summary of the rules here: https://www.electricmotiontech.com/home/em-epure-race/battery#h.orhjts73kbs9. This should be of special concern to you during the warranty period. How far are you willing to drive? I have no idea how a small dealership handles outbound battery shipping. In fact, I have no idea how a large dealership handles it. Maybe in the future there will be local companies to deal with the packaging, paperwork and liability of shipping batteries to a repair facility?
The value of used bikes reflects the battery problem. Ultimately, this directly affects the number of people willing to buy a new bike.
Where will you buy?
The demand for motorcycles in general has decreased steadily over the past few decades. The demand for competition motorcycles is pitifully small. Mototrials is, at best, a niche market. Electric trials is a niche within a niche. This all points to the economics of having very large dealerships that sell a wide variety of power-sports machines.
Large multi-line dealerships typically don't know anything about trials bikes, much less electric trials bikes. And yet, they are happy to sell the bikes without providing any real support.
An industry executive (who shall remain nameless) once told me, “The lack of knowledge on electric goes even deeper within a dealership than most dealer employees' knowledge of a carburetor… and that is awful at best!”
Of course there are exceptions. Dealerships that specialize in off-road motorcycles can be a good fit to sell trials-specific motorcycles. But if you are not near one of these specialist dealers, it all becomes moot.
Who will fix it?
Maybe this question is inconsequential if you are close to an excellent dealer, but as mentioned in The Dealer Problem, most owners are not.
As a young man reading evaluations in motorcycle magazines, I wanted to know not only how the bike performed, but how easy it was to work on. That later information was never provided. We fixed our own bikes partly out of desire and partly out of necessity. At the time, one of my friends put it this way, “You know just as much as they do, and you'll be more careful.”
You may be forced to work on your own bike. It does not help that the manufacturers have been able to sell bikes without providing adequate (any?) technical documentation to their customers.
I have always been a strong advocate for the right to repair your own possessions. But the right and the ability are two different things. Today's manufacturers are keeping diagnostic tools at the dealership level. Thus, independent repair shops (and individuals) will be unable to fix newer bikes.
This has made the older bikes more appealing to me personally. I can make mechanical changes like adding flywheel inertia and adjusting throttle dead-band instead of relying on programmable controller features. Not everything needs to be controlled via a phone app. There is an associated cost with new technology that I address in the next two sections.
What is a TCU?
A Telematics Control Unit is a device that collects and transmits vehicle data. All “modern” cars have TCUs (although those that used 3G data services have become inoperable due to the discontinuation of that wireless infrastructure).
Electric Motion has a dedicated TCU on all models compatible with EM Connect. By virtue of the fact that the TCU interacts with your phone, it does not need its own cellular connection to send a report back to the mothership.
For example, the ION Energy BMS used by Electric Motion contains an SD card that can retain information about how the battery is performing. This data is undoubtedly helpful to the manufacturer, but it is your data. You should be able to access it yourself and limit the access available to others via an opt-out mechanism. Or better yet, opt-in to data sharing. I can make a case for the manufacturer having access in the event of a warranty claim, but other than that — no. Arguments to the contrary would be similar to a camera-maker having rights to your photographs.
I'm not saying any electric motorcycle manufacturer is presently selling your data. I don't know, one way or the other. But it has become an irresistible revenue stream for automobile manufacturers.
I recently saw a meme about the surveillance economy that spoke to me. It highlighted the difference between tech enthusiasts and engineers/programmers. Although exaggerated for effect, all good jokes contain an element of truth. It goes something like this:
Tech Enthusiasts: Everything in my house is wired to the Internet of Things. I control it from my smartphone. My smart-house is Bluetooth enabled and I give it voice commands via Alexa. I love the future!
Programmers/Engineers: I work in IT, so my house has mechanical locks, mechanical windows, routers using OpenWRT, no smart home, no Alexa/Google assistants, no internet connected thermostats, etc. Besides my locked-down computer, the most recent piece of technology at home is a printer from 2005, and I keep a bat next to it to deal with any unexpected sounds it might make.
I take this to mean that engineers and programmers can be acutely aware of what is possible regarding surveillance, whereas the tech enthusiast may not.
What do you actually own?
I'm not saying that any motorcycle manufacturer has an evil intent, but the realities of economic survival makes the subscription model more and more common.
For example, there's an ominous asterisk on EM France's website regarding EM Connect. It said, “*Electric Motion offers the EM Connect application & services to its customers of 2024 models for 1 year” when I first quoted it.
Subsequently, it was re-written slightly and now says, “*Electric Motion is offering the EM Connect application and services to customers of 2024 models for the 1st year.”
What does that mean? Will owners have to pay for the app/service after a year? If not then, will they ever?
Who are you?
Electric vehicles often appeal to the type of buyer that would love to ignore maintenance. This can work if you are willing to buy a new vehicle every few years and don't mind the cost.
Although it's certainly true that EVs require less maintenance, the maintenance does not drop to zero. The brakes, chain, clutch, wheel bearings, and suspension all require upkeep. Most models have clutch/gear fluid to change.
Finally, an electric motorcycle is not like an electric toothbrush. The battery can't be a “charge it and forget it” proposition — at least not if you want it to have the longest possible life. I've written about that here: https://www.electricmotiontech.com/home/ev-tech-101/battery-care-and-feeding