Sorry, your 2015 Yamaha R1M is already a dinosaur. Lightning LS-218 is coming

[jonbuoy]

As a "true " motorcyclist does speed mean all to you? if that's the case no one would ride cruisers ! Are you a "true motorcyclist" or a ps4 player?

The older generation might think that way but the new riders won´t be so obsessed with IC engines - or even controlling their own vehicles.

[smmudd83_1999]

There's a lot of people here that would claim more expertise in this matter than I. And clearly this topic has stirred the pot on both sides of the argument.

Pros.
The nay sayers are always on about range, range, range. But to be fair, anybody buying one of these is under no illusions that they're buying one to do NI to SI touring astride it.
As for battery weight - it's a moot point as the bikes barely weigh more than their IC counterparts.
In this country, the green credentials are high as we have very clean energy production.
Performance-wise, even the lesser Zero SR sounds like a hoot at half the price of this machine - and makes 106lb.ft of constant torque (apart from when setting off from 0rpm for obvious reasons).
And EC motors will make servicing a cinch - just final drive, forks, brakes and tyres to look over. Being EC there are no brushes/contacts to wear out or windings to overheat. The only mechanical part that COULD wear is shaft bearings - but with less loading on them axially then an IC engine when are they ever going to wear out?
And as much as I love my Guzzi for it's shear noise and shear mechanical-contraption feel, there is probably a hidden boon for the zen-like experience of riding with much reduced noise.

Cons.
I wonder what happens to LiFePo batteries after 400k kms? How much of their original charge do they hold and how recyclable are they? I imagine if they go into landfill they are quite toxic to the earth.
How much rare earth material is there to mine? If we all made demands for more of these cells is there enough of it in the earth readily available to mine safely? Doesn't this cost the earth something?
Would dealers be missing out on their servicing department incomes by only having consumables to look after? Don't dealers rely on servicing revenue? If you were in business would you be keen to sell a bike that doesn't ever really need servicing?
If we all rode electric motasickles and drove electric tin tops, can the grid support that?

To my mind, these are the real challenges of E-mcycles. Charging issues aside we'd just have to change our habits. Having said that, I would still have to hold onto my old 2 valve pushrod transverse air cooled twin for different uses/moods/long distance work. And how green is it to be a consumer of two motorcycles? - saving an old one from the scrap heap has some green credentials too.