Not My Use Case, But Still Pretty Cool

Royal Enfield is rolling out its first electric motorcycle, a take on the WWII military "Flying Flea" model. Its first market will be India at about $3,000 US; it looks like a winner for the US market if they can keep the retail price here in the $5k range.

While I'm not opposed to the idea of an electric motorcycle, this one's not for me, for two reasons: Range and speed.

Royal Enfield claims a range of about 100 miles, a top speed of about 70 miles per hour, and a full charging time of two hours.

Anyone who's ever used an electric vehicle knows better than to trust the maker's range claims. To the extent that they're true at all, they're true for 1) new batteries in 2) ideal situations when 3) the bike is ridden in specific ways. Once you're out in the real world, doing real world stuff, cut them by 25-50%. I suppose Royal Enfield might be the exception, but I won't believe it until and unless I see lots of rider reports on the subject.

As for charging, it's AC only -- the DC fast charging like you can use with modern electric cars isn't a feature. Which means that every x miles, you'd be plugged in for a considerable amount of time ... and that x miles is probably around the same mileage as my small-tank internal combustion bikes, which I can fill up with gas in a couple of minutes.

Since x is, at most, 100 miles, the Flying Flea is effectively good for local riding, or commutes of up to 50 miles if you have a couple of hours to charge it at the far end. Long rides would mean a two-hour break after each hour to hour-and-a-half of riding, even assuming you could count on finding a place to charge at each such interval.

In order for me to switch to electric, I'd have to see:

• A real-world range of at least 200 miles;
• A top speed that's well into usual interstate highway territory (80 mph bare minimum, but a burst of 100 mph is desirable for quick movement in emergency situations); and
• Fast DC charging.
• A price point similar to this bike.
• A lot more "public charging" infrastructure so that I wouldn't get stranded in East Asshole, Arkansas while on a cross-country trip.

I don't see that all of that happening in the very near term. The speed probably isn't an engineering problem (a little more motor goes a long way), but longer range requires more battery and apparently the internal infrastructure for fast DC charging is heavy, high-volume, and produces lots of heat, none of which are good things where motorcycles are concerned. Getting there, and getting the costs of being there down, will take time.

But for the right kinds of rider -- someone who lives/works in or near a city and doesn't have to haul a lot of stuff (or additional people, although I understand the Flying Flea does come with an attachable/removable pillion seat for one passenger) around -- it might be very nice. Ride it to work, ride it around town, plug it in at home each night. Probably very low-maintenance. The noise won't annoy your neighbors. Finding parking will be easier than with an SUV. Between gas, maintenance, insurance, etc. cost savings, it might be a financially attractive option.