March 11, 2023

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and Why They’re the Future Readers pointed out some areas of the electric motorcycle market I failed to mention. I’ve updated the article accordingly. This further highlights the fact that electric bikes are a huge deal, and will continue to be as the technology continues to develop. As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve covered a lot of news about electric motorcycles lately. These bikes used to be a rarity in motorcycle news, but today they’re everywhere. It seems there’s always a new teaser up, an interesting concept, or some new developments to report on. With all the electric motorcycle noise out there, it can be tough to keep everything straight. You might feel lost in all of the upcoming news, so I thought it best to discuss in more detail where electric motorcycle technology is currently at, where it’s going, and to a certain extent talk about what you can expect. One thing is for certain, electric motorcycles are the future. With the way current emissions standards are and the performance capabilities of an electric motor, I don’t see how anyone could think electric motorcycles won’t be the future of the industry. That doesn’t mean internal combustion motorcycles will disappear altogether anytime soon. The internal combustion engine will soldier on for many more decades. People are comfortable with them, they’re affordable, and they make really beautiful noises and provide sensations electric motors can’t. With that said, there will come a time when the majority of motorcycles sold have a battery and a motor instead of a gas tank and an engine. We’re not there yet, though, so let’s look at where electric motorcycles are at today. What’s Up With Electric Motorcycles Today? The world of electric motorcycles is getting extremely interesting. There’s a lot going on in terms of technology and who’s building what. Here’s where things currently stand. All Kinds of Products & Tech Solutions As of right now, traditional motorcycle companies and new upstarts are trying to gain footing with electric bikes. In Japan, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha teamed up to work on swappable battery technology. In the U.S. Harley-Davidson released the outrageously priced LiveWire and seems to have plans for other motorcycles and electric mobility machines. Zero Motorcycles just released its most advanced and impressive model yet—the SR/F— and Lightning Motorcycles released an electric sportbike to challenge them all, called the Strike. On top of all that, there are electric motorcycle, scooter, and moped startups popping up all over the place. Each one has its own unique take on what an electric motorcycle can be or should be, from a high-powered, high-priced ride to an extremely affordable commuter bike. Far From Perfect Machines No matter who builds the bike, it seems they have four issues to deal with in some capacity: range, performance, charge time, and price. Some manufacturers have managed to mitigate one only by exacerbating the others. That means if you have a low price on a bike, like is the case with the Suru and Onyx mopeds, then the range, charge times, and performance suffer. If the range, charge time, and performance are impressive then the price is so high it’s not worth it—exactly the problem with Harley’s LiveWire. Until the price comes down or the range, charge times, and performance go way up, electric motorcycles will struggle to outsell their internal combustion competitors. The way the industry is progressing right now, that could take years, but the improvements over the next few years in battery technology could make current range anxiety issues a thing of the past. Solid-state battery technology and flow battery technology could change everything. That technology is set to come out in the next few years and could reduce recharge times and increase range considerably. When it hits, it will hit cars first and then make its way to the motorcycle industry. What are the Main Technologies Being Used? Let’s put aside the technology of the future for a moment and focus on the electric motorcycle technology that’s currently in use. I’m no electric motorcycle technician, but even I can give you a quick rundown of the technology, and help you understand what you need to know from a consumer perspective. When it comes to batteries, everyone is using lithium-ion batteries of various sizes. Some are air-cooled and some are liquid-cooled. Generally, the faster you can cool the battery the faster it will recharge. Bigger bikes with bigger batteries will go further. So, the range comes down to how you can package the battery into the motorcycle and how efficiently you can transfer the power from that battery to the road and manage its temperature. In terms of motors, right now most motorcycle manufacturers are utilizing different size electric motors that drive a chain, belt, driveshaft, etc—traditional motorcycle drive systems. However, there are some interesting electric wheel motors or electric hub motors. Most notable is the one from Fuell Motorcycles, which is still developing its bikes and should release more information on its motorcycles soon. There’s also regenerative braking used by almost every manufacturer which helps add power to the battery under breaking. In addition to this, you’re seeing more smart technology added to electric motorcycles. Zero Motorcycles has added plenty of smart tech to its latest effort, the SR/F, including an app that interfaces with the motorcycle enabling a variety of features. It’s important to note that the technology used on electric bikes may be advanced, but it will require much less maintenance. There are fewer parts overall. The parts that are there will require less-frequent maintenance, meaning the cost of owning an electric bike will go down. This is a very important aspect of the electric motorcycle and one that many people, including myself, are excited about. Bottom Line Electric motorcycle technology is getting better and better every day. While motorcycles with internal combustion engines make more sense right now in terms of cost, there will come a time when they don’t. That will be a time when charging a battery takes only a few minutes, and battery ranges and electric motor power are far beyond the current capabilities. If you want to join

of Electric Motorcycles the Perception Abstract Air pollution is a serious environmental issue across the world and has drawn attention from researchers with different backgrounds. The carbon exhaust from gasoline vehicles is one cause of air pollution. One solution for reducing carbon emissions is to provide green vehicles, such as electric motorcycles, for drivers and passengers, which can help the sustainable development of the environment in an ecological way. This research discusses the market response to electric motorcycles in Macau by focusing on the effects of environmental policy. An environmental technology acceptance model was developed, based on which 325 valid questionnaires were collected. The research demonstrates the impact on motorcyclists’ acceptance of electric motorcycles by considering their perceptions of environmental policy, pollution reduction, the saving of energy, and driving performance; the results can lead to valuable discussions on the environment–technology–society ecosystem in further studies. The research results could help relevant government bodies to develop appropriate environmental policies to encourage motorcyclists to adopt electric motorcycles. Furthermore, the electric motorcycle industry could identify key success factors for developing or promoting electric motorcycles using the study variables. Introduction Macau is a small tourist city with an area of 32.9 km2 (Macau DSCC, 2019). It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with 33 million visitors per year (Macau Dataplus, 2019). Macau is faced with the same problem as many other tourist cities: the threat of environmental pollution. Since the scale of industrialization in Macau is very small, the main source of air pollution is vehicle exhaust. As with many Asian cities such as Ho Chi Minh, where, depending on the traffic conditions, it may take a very long time to catch a bus (Nguyen et al., 2019), motorcycles/scooters are popular in Macau. Motorcycles and scooters have advantages of mobility, parking, ease of riding, and low operating costs (Badami & Iyer, 2006; Iyer & Badami, 2007; Lu et al., 2008). However, people in Macau believe that the widespread use of motorcycles has resulted in serious issues with environmental pollution (Zhu et al., 2019). Owing to their long history, many Asian cities have a high population density and highly mixed land use, which creates a suitable platform for motorcyclists (Amsden, 1991; Chiu & Tzeng, 1999). However, most motorcycles are powered by highly polluting two-stroke engines, which make an important contribution to air pollution from transport on a passenger-kilometer basis (Badami, 2004). The CO2 emission rate from motorcycles is 64 to 128 g/pax-km, and the energy use for motorcycles is 21 to 42 kWh/100pax-km (Cherry et al., 2009). A recent study indicated that electric motorcycles consume approximately eight times less energy and emit approximately half the equivalent CO2 of gasoline motorcycles (Koossalapeerom et al., 2019). In addition to the emissions problem, there is high noise pollution from motorcycles (Wang et al., 2000). Thus, motorcycle pollution is worthy of public attention (Rose, 2012) especially in small tourist cities such as Macau. As a potential alternative to gasoline motorcycles, zero emissions (in the sense that it uses recycled energy), low-noise, and highly energy-efficient solution have appeared: electric motorcycles or electric motorized two-wheeled vehicles (Hsu & Lu, 2010; Redman, 2015). Electric motorcycles are a good environmental solution, as they are powered by electricity so they have no exhaust emissions (Chiu & Tzeng, 1999). The diffusion of electric motorcycles is important in the reduction of air pollution in densely populated metropolitan areas (Huang et al., 2018). As well as in Asian countries, electric motorcycles are promoted in many other regions by both the public sector and industry because of their environmental features. However, as with other issues within the environment–technology–society ecosystem, there is a concern among motorcycle riders about performance issues. Electric motorcycles are promoted by policies and advertising, which may focus on environmental or convenience issues (Wang et al., 2000), but the driving performance of an electric motorcycle, in particular, is an important factor that is considered as part of the consumer’s purchasing decision, and this is also part of the industry’s ongoing efforts (Wu et al., 2015). Motorcyclists will compare the environmental protection features (the reduction of pollution and the saving of energy) with driving performance when they consider whether to use an electric motorcycle (Weinert et al., 2008). Although these three factors related to performance (the reduction of pollution, the saving of energy, and the driving features) have been identified in previous studies, no study has been made to compare the effects of these three factors on the acceptance of electric motorcycles. Thus, this study attempts to fill the gap by examining how these three factors influence motorcyclists’ acceptance of electric motorcycles. In addition, Kang and Park (2011) stated that the experience and perception of government policy will affect the perception of alternative fuel vehicles. In Kang and Park’s (2011) study, the perception of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is measured by the perception of the driving performance of such vehicles. However, the perception of alternative fuel vehicles should include the perception of the environmental protection performance of such vehicles, because the environmental concern is one possible reason for purchasing an alternative fuel vehicle (Badami, 2004). Consumers are not solely economic animals, but they are also concerned about environmental issues (Hsu & Lu, 2010). Thus, there should be a link between the experience and perception of environmental policy and the perception of the above performance factors. However, no study has considered this relationship. This study considers the experience and perception of environmental policy as two antecedent factors of the three performance factors and examines the effects of these two factors on the three performance factors; these ultimately influence motorcyclists’ acceptance of electric motorcycles, and this study thereby covers the existing research gap. Since environmental pollution not only prevents tourists from visiting destinations but also affects people’s lives (Lai et al., 2015; Sunlu, 2003), the Macau government has established a roadmap for environmental management, with the aim being “to build a low carbon Macau, creating green living together” (Macau DSPA, 2019). However, the effectiveness of this environmental policy has been questioned. This study contributes a research

Readers pointed out some areas of the electric motorcycle market I failed to mention. I’ve updated the article accordingly. This further highlights the fact that electric bikes are a huge deal, and will continue to be as the technology continues to develop. As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve covered a lot of news about electric motorcycles lately. These bikes used to be a rarity in motorcycle news, but today they’re everywhere. It seems there’s always a new teaser up, an interesting concept, or some new developments to report on. With all the electric motorcycle noise out there, it can be tough to keep everything straight. You might feel lost in all of the upcoming news, so I thought it best to discuss in more detail where electric motorcycle technology is currently at, where it’s going, and to a certain extent talk about what you can expect. One thing is for certain, electric motorcycles are the future. With the way current emissions standards are and the performance capabilities of an electric motor, I don’t see how anyone could think electric motorcycles won’t be the future of the industry. That doesn’t mean internal combustion motorcycles will disappear altogether anytime soon. The internal combustion engine will soldier on for many more decades. People are comfortable with them, they’re affordable, and they make really beautiful noises and provide sensations electric motors can’t. With that said, there will come a time when the majority of motorcycles sold have a battery and a motor instead of a gas tank and an engine. We’re not there yet, though, so let’s look at where electric motorcycles are at today. What’s Up With Electric Motorcycles Today? The world of electric motorcycles is getting extremely interesting. There’s a lot going on in terms of technology and who’s building what. Here’s where things currently stand. All Kinds of Products & Tech Solutions As of right now, traditional motorcycle companies and new upstarts are trying to gain footing with electric bikes. In Japan, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha teamed up to work on swappable battery technology. In the U.S. Harley-Davidson released the outrageously priced LiveWire and seems to have plans for other motorcycles and electric mobility machines. Zero Motorcycles just released its most advanced and impressive model yet—the SR/F— and Lightning Motorcycles released an electric sportbike to challenge them all, called the Strike. On top of all that, there are electric motorcycle, scooter, and moped startups popping up all over the place. Each one has its own unique take on what an electric motorcycle can be or should be, from a high-powered, high-priced ride to an extremely affordable commuter bike. Far From Perfect Machines No matter who builds the bike, it seems they have four issues to deal with in some capacity: range, performance, charge time, and price. Some manufacturers have managed to mitigate one only by exacerbating the others. That means if you have a low price on a bike, like is the case with the Suru and Onyx mopeds, then the range, charge times, and performance suffer. If the range, charge time, and performance are impressive then the price is so high it’s not worth it—exactly the problem with Harley’s LiveWire. Until the price comes down or the range, charge times, and performance go way up, electric motorcycles will struggle to outsell their internal combustion competitors. The way the industry is progressing right now, that could take years, but the improvements over the next few years in battery technology could make current range anxiety issues a thing of the past. Solid-state battery technology and flow battery technology could change everything. That technology is set to come out in the next few years and could reduce recharge times and increase range considerably. When it hits, it will hit cars first and then make its way to the motorcycle industry. What are the Main Technologies Being Used? Let’s put aside the technology of the future for a moment and focus on the electric motorcycle technology that’s currently in use. I’m no electric motorcycle technician, but even I can give you a quick rundown of the technology, and help you understand what you need to know from a consumer perspective. When it comes to batteries, everyone is using lithium-ion batteries of various sizes. Some are air-cooled and some are liquid-cooled. Generally, the faster you can cool the battery the faster it will recharge. Bigger bikes with bigger batteries will go further. So, the range comes down to how you can package the battery into the motorcycle and how efficiently you can transfer the power from that battery to the road and manage its temperature. In terms of motors, right now most motorcycle manufacturers are utilizing different size electric motors that drive a chain, belt, driveshaft, etc—traditional motorcycle drive systems. However, there are some interesting electric wheel motors or electric hub motors. Most notable is the one from Fuell Motorcycles, which is still developing its bikes and should release more information on its motorcycles soon. There’s also regenerative braking used by almost every manufacturer which helps add power to the battery under breaking. In addition to this, you’re seeing more smart technology added to electric motorcycles. Zero Motorcycles has added plenty of smart tech to its latest effort, the SR/F, including an app that interfaces with the motorcycle enabling a variety of features. It’s important to note that the technology used on electric bikes may be advanced, but it will require much less maintenance. There are fewer parts overall. The parts that are there will require less-frequent maintenance, meaning the cost of owning an electric bike will go down. This is a very important aspect of the electric motorcycle and one that many people, including myself, are excited about. Bottom Line Electric motorcycle technology is getting better and better every day. While motorcycles with internal combustion engines make more sense right now in terms of cost, there will come a time when they don’t. That will be a time when charging a battery takes only a few minutes, and battery ranges and electric motor power are far beyond the current capabilities. If you want to join the electric revolution now, you