Honda has announced that their first electric scooter will be commercially available in Japan this December, and the manufacturer's move is one further indicator that silent electric rides are seeping into the mainstream.
Honda's just-unveiled EV-neo is powered by a lithium ion-battery sourced from Toshiba, and it works with a brushless motor to produce the equivalent of sub-50cc power levels. The scooter will be leased to delivery-oriented businesses when it hits the market later this year, and given the proliferation of electric two-wheelers in areas like urban China, we're guessing it will do well for itself in Japan.
The EV-neo's specs are mild, and its Toshiba-sourced battery offers a range of only 30 kilometers (just under 19 miles.) But in a dense urban center like Tokyo, that's likely sufficient for, say, a pizza delivery business (which Honda clearly suggests on their global media website.) Recharge time is estimated at four hours.
We've seen electric motorcycles in everything from record-setting drag bikes to Brammo's Enertia sold at Best Buy and electric motorcycles racing at the Isle of Man. And while the EV-neo obviously isn't the right bike for commuters or recreational riders, it's yet another sign that an electric future is coming sooner than you think.
Sources: Motorcycle.com, Honda
Related:
- Electric Zero MX Motorcycle Beats Gas Bikes in Offroad Challenge
- Electric Motorcycles Hit the Mainstream: Brammo's Enertia to be Sold at Best Buy
- Best of Times, Worst of Times: Piaggio Announces Hybrid Scooter While Vectrix Anticipates Bankruptcy
- 2009 Zero X Electric Motorcycle Review
- 2009 Zero X Electric Motorcycle Photo Gallery
- The 10 Most Controversial Bikes of 2009
Photo © Honda; click to enlarge
Don’t think I will ever get into electric bikes or cars. 19 miles and 4hrs to recharge, they have a LONG way to go to put the internal combustion engine out of business. Also there is something about internal combustion motor for me that a electric can never give me, the feeling of the motor, like it is alive, you can just feel it, an electric can never give me that. LONG LIVE THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE!!!
Joe…you’re a credit to your oil barrel!
You’d make a lousy tree hugger, but I’m with you a 100%
Motorcycles are about passion…not economics, or the environment, or what’s right & good & proper and all the rest of that lovely warm & fuzzy crap.
If that’s ur thing, then by all means enjoy! The cars that us mortals can afford should be nature friendly – thus, my Insight will be parked right beside my loud, gas guzzling, polluting litre bike.
I’m with ya Pete, my car is a 01 Saturn SC2, gets about 31mpg city but my bike is a HD Super Glide, motor is almost as big as the Saturn’s. Couldn’t agree more when you said “Motorcycles are about passion” !!
Joe, you’re treating this particular scooter as if it’s the best that electric drivetrain technology is capable of. I’ve got an electric bergman that does 60 miles at 50mph and it was about the same price as the gas model. The Tesla Model S will be around $50,000 and it’ll do 300 miles to the charge, with a top speed of something like 90mph.
The reason Honda’s underachieving on the range is so it can use a smaller battery pack, and they can sell this scooter for significantly less than what a gas one would cost.
Robert, 60 miles at 50mph, WOW!!! Guess I will dump my internal combustion bike today and get a Bergmen like you have……. NOT!! My HD can go 200 miles plus on 4 gallons of fuel at just about ANY SPEED and that is about as bad example of a fuel efficient bike as you can get (air cooled,v-twin, 1450cc’s) like I said, electric bikes have a LONG WAY TO GO!!!
Someone actually makes a $50,000 electric scooter??? !!!
That’s a typo – right? You meant $5,000 (five)??
Talk about the answer to the question no one asked!
OK – I googled it…this Tesla is a car.
My comment stands… $50 grand?! You gotta save one helluva pile of gas before that pays you back.