The USA might be the land of the automobile, with its grid-oriented cities, wide roads and interstates rolling off into the horizon. But cities that were not built for cars have narrow, winding and possibly cobbled streets without many parking options, and you’ll find that mopeds and small-engined bikes of various stripes are a far more common sight in these cities than cars. They are cheap to run, easy to maintain, and relatively simple to learn to ride. Mostly, they’re not about recreation, but about transportation and business.
Back when I lived in London, a motorcycle was my primary mode of transport. I’ve whizzed around Hanoi on a moped. Bangkok, Fes, Paris, Rome: They’re filled with mopeds and motorcycles. But what’s going to happen to this mode of transport as we shift away from internal combustion engines and toward electrification?
I spoke to motorcycle legend Erik Buell to get his vision for what the future holds. A motorcycle racing champion, engineer, and founder of the Buell Motorcycle Company, Buell helps the Fuell company dream up what’s next — including the recently launched, $10,695 Fuell Fllow.
Above: Erik Buell talking about the Fuell Fllow.
The future of mopeds and motorcycles is electric, Buell says. In fact, he sees mopeds and motorcycles playing an even greater role in transportation generally.
“A bunch of mayors from cities all across Europe are standing up and saying they’re going to ban internal combustion for their cities,” Buell says, highlighting what is driving the change. “It’s not going to happen next year, but it’s going to happen soon.”
Indeed, in Paris, home to at least half a million mopeds and motorcycles, daily parking charges have now been imposed on two-wheeled vehicles with engines. But not electric ones. So when it comes to electrifying motorcycles, light middleweight or moped-sized vehicles are the obvious starting point for Buell.
But that’s not only because of the sheer number of people who use them on a daily basis and how vital they are for keeping entire cities moving.
“Superbikes are just not the way to go,” said Buell. “I mean, the horsepower is easy, but the energy isn’t there.”
It’s about physics and practicality just as much as it is about servicing an entire sector of motorcyclists. The battery power needed for motorcycles is better suited to short journeys, where you require acceleration rather than sustained power. Moreover, refueling in urban settings is an easier prospect than on intercity journeys.
“If you want speed or long distance, the energy density issue in a car doesn’t matter,” said Buell. “In a motorcycle, it starts to matter a lot. It’s physics: Speed burns energy, so you can’t go too fast for too long.”
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The shorter, zippier trips typical of urban environs are another matter, and that’s where the electric motorcycle can shine.
“I had the chance to start with a clean sheet of paper,” said Buell, “and take first principles-type engineering at it and say: ‘Hey, there’s nothing here but a duty cycle, a customer, and physics.’ Now, what are you going to do?”
Well, it had two wheels, for a start. It had to be nimble for the urban environment, but it also required a significant battery to give it range. And the battery’s weight meant it needed to be low to the ground. It also required the practicality to have saddlebags. It’s the evolution of an urban-oriented electric motorcycle. But it needs at least one more thing.
These smaller-capacity motorcycles are in the very near future (and the beginnings of them are available right now) for Buell. So what does he envisage longer term?
First, he believes that the energy needs of vehicles will be met by solar power. One way or another, we have always been powered by the sun, and Buell does not anticipate that changing.
“I like internal combustion, and we need to use it for a while,” said Buell. “If you want to go long distances and carry a lot of passengers in your car, it’s hard to do with electric power in a lot of places in the world. In addition, the infrastructure isn’t there yet, but it’s going to happen.”
He adds that fossil fuel is not an efficient process, since there’s a lot of us using a lot of energy. “So solar collection and utilization in the most efficient way. That’s got to be the future down the road,” he said.
Second, he anticipates motorcycle usage will continue to increase across the world. As Buell sees it, the rest of the world regards motorcycles differently than the U.S., but he believes that using motorcycles for business and general transportation can and will catch on.
Motorbikes take up a smaller footprint, they have better fuel efficiency, and with improvements to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), they can become safer, too. Human car drivers might not think to look out for motorcyclists and their pedal-powered siblings, but their vehicles will, Buell points out, and he believes this could unlock motorcycles as transportation at scale in the U.S.
“It’ll be a little different. And I’m sure there’s still going to be Superbike races. Wealthy people will still buy custom Harleys. But there will also be the guy in Delhi who has changed three things on his motorcycle and he loves it. It’s his thing,” said Buell.
If Buell has it his way, motorcycles will be quietly and electrically zipping around everywhere before you know it.