The Future of Motorcycles
California has always been at the forefront of green technology, arguably because places like Los Angeles see some of the highest pollution levels. California is one of many states refusing to relax the aggressive green car initiative set in place by President Obama.
California has now taken another important step in creating a cleaner environment for their residents by recently introducing the bill dubbed “The Clean Cars 2040 Act”.
If this bill passes, California will become the first state in the country to set a definitive date to stop the selling of petrol fueled cars. When you think about it, 2040 is not that far away. The bill does have some loop holes and provisions at this time.
For example, cars sold before this date and cars brought in by new residents from other states will be permitted and grandfathered in, so to speak.
How does this effect motorcycles?
According to the bill, motorcycles are exempt from this proposed bill…for now. I say “for now” because motorcycles are twice as pollutant as cars but have a smaller carbon footprint because riders are the minority. Eventually, California and others (there will be others), are going to force this bill on all modes of transportation, whether we like it or not.
Fortunately for us, green car technology is starting to gain traction making it a viable option. When they figure out how to extend the range on a single charge and make a swappable battery, more people will be willing to make the change.
This technology also has to be competitively priced. Oh! Wait a minute—it already exists.
Santa Cruz startup Zero Motorcycles has been doing this for around 10 years. Their SR ZF 14.4 with Power tank has a range of 223 miles in the city. For their other models, they offer modular swappable tank that can extend the range up to 100 miles depending on the size of the tank. It is also priced a little over $16,000, placing it within range of the average motorcycle price.
Zero Motorcycles has been gaining traction as battery cost has gone down, but they still do not have a significant market share. The motorcycle industry is fueled by the grandfathers like Harley, and what they do, others will follow.
Fortunately for Zero Motorcycles, Harley has been steadily losing profit because they are struggling to attract new riders, thus they have had to adjust their future strategies to accommodate this swing in demands.
Millennials are increasingly buying green cars and skipping petrol transportation like motorcycles in their effort to contribute to a cleaner future. Therefore, the motorcycle industry needed to change course.
Harley-Davidson introduced “Project Live Wire”, an electric motorcycle with a range of about 100 miles packaged in a solo seat futuristic sport bike frame. Smartly, they spent a year touring it to gain interest, and thanks to the demand, it will see production within the next few years. It has also pushed Harley-Davidson to announce they will bring 100 new models in ten years, including an all electric lineup.
Harley-Davidson is not alone. BMW has introduced their project, the Vision 100 Motorrad. Looking like something out of “Tron”, the Vision 100 features massive anti-tip wheels allowing the bike to stand on its own, and AR smart glasses that display information to the reader like speed.
These are just two of the companies rushing to catch up to the auto industry’s push to electric. More will follow. No matter how you or I feel about electric transportation, its going to happen and the California bill, “The Clean Cars 2040 Act”, is going to push us to adopt this brave new world sooner than we may have wished.