Electric motorcycles and scooters

Electric bicycles are similar vehicles, distinguished by retaining the ability to be propelled by the rider pedaling in addition to battery propulsion.

[6][7][8] During the World War II, compelled by fuel rationing in the United States, Merle Williams of Long Beach, California, invented a two-wheeled electric motorcycle that towed a single-wheeled trailer.

[17] In 1992, the January issue of Cycle World carried an article about Ed Rannberg's bike called the KawaSHOCKI.

[20] On 26 August 2000, Killacycle established a drag racing record of completing a 402 m (1⁄4 mile) in 9.450 seconds on the Woodburn track in Oregon.

But Vectrix ceased operations in January 2014 and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, with its remaining assets auctioned off the following June.

[26] On June 14, 2009, the first electric Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix (TTXGP) all-electric street motorcycle race took place on the Isle of Man in which 13 machines took part.

[28] In 2010, ElectroCat, made by Eva Håkansson, set the record time for an electric motorcycle to climb Pikes Peak.

[31] In 2012, Paul Ernst Thede set an SCTA record run of 216.8 mph (348.9 km/h) at Bonnevile Salt Flats, Utah, US.

In 2012, Jim Higgins rode the street-legal Mission Motors' Mission R at the Sonoma Raceway quarter-mile drag strip and set a National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) street-legal electric motorcycle record for the SMC/A3 class with a time of 10.602 at 197.26 km/h (122.57 mph).

[32] On June 30, 2013, Carlin Dunne riding a Lightning Motorcycle-built electric bike beat conventional motorcycles at Pikes Peak.

[40] In 2020, Juan Ayala, an urban planning design professor at Rutgers University, invented smartphone app based rentable e-scooter systems.

Since electric motorcycles and scooters have relatively small frames, they typically have short ranges, restricted by the volume available for energy storage.

Some manufacturers have designed in, included, or offer as an accessory, the high-power CHAdeMO level 2 charger, which can charge the batteries up to 95% in an hour.

was making a 113 km/h (70 mph) capable 3-wheel enclosed-electric motorcycle called the Sunray – designed by noted solar EV pioneer Jonnathan Tennyson.

secured major funding from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to design and prototype the first battery-swap station's for light-electric vehicles and NEV's.

[60] Yamaha has created a hydrogen fuel cell prototype called FC-AQEL, which is considered equivalent to a 125 cc vehicle.

[62] In August 2013 Road & Track evaluated a high-end electric motorcycle as faster and better handling than any conventionally powered bike.

Consequently, while electric machines excel for city dwellers traveling relatively short distances, on the open road riders experience inhibiting range anxiety.

[74] Some are equipped to produce a warning sound as they travel and the UK is running trials to see if escooters with artificial noise are safer.

[75] Popular Mechanics called the comparative quiet of electric motorcycles the greatest difference between them and their gasoline counterparts, and a safety bonus because the rider can hear danger approaching.

[82] While steadily becoming more practical, high prices and a limited range suited best for commuting have been impediments to electric motorcycles and scooters increasing their market share.

[83] In the US at least, cheaper motorcycles that can refuel in minutes at any gasoline station better suit weekend riders, the predominant users.

[84] According to a market report published in 2013, the sales of electric motorcycles and scooters in expected to rise over 10-fold by 2018 in North America, to about 36,000 by 2018.

[87][88] The Indonesian government announced in March 2023 that it would allocate a total of Rp 7 trillion (US$455.88 million) to incentivize electric motorcycle sales through 2024.

[90] The premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Liu Chao-shiuan said in 2008 that the government-financed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) will help domestic manufacturers mass-produce 100,000 electric motorcycles in four years.

[91] In March 2022, Tamir Faye, Director General of ANPEJ, signed an agreement for the creation of 50,000 jobs to provide opportunities for young people by using electric motorcycles to strengthen the transport industry.

[92] The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb began in 1916 and is the second oldest motor sports race in the United States.

One of the main obstacles of the race is the increasingly thin air that slows reflexes, diminishes muscle strength and reduces the power of internal combustion engines by 30 percent as competitors advance up the peak.

[99] eMotoRacing kicked off its first season in 2014, running in conjunction with AHRMA which gave access to ten high-profile tracks around the US.

At the start of its third season in 2016, AHRMA announced it had adopted eMotoRacing's "eSuperSport" class as a permanent addition to their roadracing lineup.