#batteries

For ages, we didn’t think much about the batteries in our motorcycles. When you only have one option, the traditional lead-acid battery, there’s not a lot to think about. As long as it cranks the starter over and fires up the bike, you’re good. If not, time to shell out for a new one. But like all components on a motorcycle, eventually, new technology emerges to improve the breed. The battery is no different. With the emergence of the lithium motorcycle battery the consumer now has more options.

Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the lead-acid battery. Invented in 1859, the first rechargeable battery has been honed to an extremely high state of tune. In fact, it is so ubiquitous that almost every gasoline-powered motor vehicle on the planet uses them to start their engines. Lead-acid batteries are cheap to manufacture (and recycle), flexible in their application, and pretty dang reliable. They are the very definition of a known quantity. Unless you have one of the flagship hypersport bikes or one of a select group of dirt bikes, odds are, your motorcycle came with a lead-acid battery straight from the factory. Lithium-based batteries are, comparatively, new on the scene and, as is true of many nascent technologies, have gone through some growing pains. However, lithium batteries have developed quite quickly and are now on the cusp of a significant challenge to the lead-acid hegemony. Still, lots of riders are asking why would we want to mess with a good thing?

Are we in the future, or what? We can buy groceries from Beijing while we video chat with family in Baltimore, carry supercomputers around in our pockets, and doctors can make new human body parts in a Petri dish. We don’t have jet packs or hoverbikes, but we may have the next best thing: practical electric motorcycles, motorcycles that ranges of 100 miles or more.

Today, Zero Motorcycles announced its 2018 model line, and while the lineup remains unchanged from a model name standpoint, that doesn’t mean the electric motorcycle company has been sitting still.

Dear MOby,

Eight years ago we were the first to get a ride on a Zero electric motorcycle, the 2008 Zero X. Back then Zero was a very different company than it is today – Neal Saiki is gone, the machines are immensely more evolved, and they now look like motorcycles rather than converted mountain bikes – but reading Mark Gardiner’s and Micky Dymond’s positive thoughts about the 2008 Zero X confirms the impressive performance of electrics. Even crude ones. By today’s electric motorcycle standards the X is hardly worth mentioning, but for historical value – and as a measuring stick for progress – the X is hugely important. In only eight years Zero Motorcycles has greatly increased power and range, while lowering prices at the same time (government incentives also help). Zero’s make reasonable commuters or trail bikes for some people, and it started with the Zero X. Read about it below, and be sure to check out the photo gallery for more shots. 

For as many benefits as electric motorcycles provide, to date there are still two areas preventing e-bikes from penetrating through to the masses: range and price. There’s not enough of the former, and there’s too much of the latter. Zero Motorcycles’ Senior Battery Specialist, Luke Workman, is dedicated to furthering the performance of battery technology. The results, then, would lead to ever increasing range at a price affordable by the masses.