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Tax incentives, import subsidies and/or charging infrastructure are needed for Australia to catch up with the rest of the world on low-emissions vehicles, says BMW Group Australia boss Marc Werner. “I call on Mr Turnbull and the Federal Government to action a robust policy to import low-emission vehicles,” he says. While his comments mainly concern their …
Honda has signed a deal with Hitachi Automotive Systems to develop and make motors for electric vehicles. While the Memorandum of Understanding doesn’t specify electric motorcycles, Honda has already confirmed it will have the EV-CUB electric scooter (pictured above) available from 2018. The move by the world’s largest motorcycle company could be a significant spark …
The biggest barriers for electric motorcycles are range and recharging times, but now a couple of achievements are set to break those barriers. A Dutch university team called STORM (pictured above) has completed an 80-day World Tour with its electric motorcycle and Spanish renewable energy company Acciona has finished this month’s Dakar Rally in an …
If Ducati ever builds an electric motorcycle, it could look like this Ducati Zero futuristic design concept from the Milano Scuola Politecnica di Design (Design Polytechnic School). Design students Bart Heijt, Fernando Pastre and Raquel Villani came up with this design for an electric-powered Ducati in a collaborative project with the Italian motorcycle manufacturer. What we …
A Chinese company is about to launch a small electric motorcycle with retro styling and a retro named to honour world record holder Burt Munro. Munro Motor has developed the Munro 2.0 to honour the Kiwi who set several land-speed records on his 1920s Indian Scout and was immortalised in the 2005 film The World’s Fastest …
Lately there has been a flurry of good, bad and ugly electric motorcycles and scooters from motorcycle manufacturers, boutique designers and non-traditional motorcycle companies. It’s mainly a result of this being the season for motorcycle shows in the northern hemisphere in places such as Cologne, Milan, London, LA and New York. These are occasions for manufacturers to …
Italian electric sports bike company Energica has unveiled a scrambler concept that finally shows how their patent-pending battery avoids overheating and losing power. Designer Paolo Iemmi says the concept (pictured above) is named after the EsseEsse9 road that snakes through the Italian motor valley where the company is situated. “We melded the future of mobility …
Zero Motorcycles has announced their 2017 models will have increased range up to 200 miles (320km), seemingly kicking down one of the barriers for buyers. However, the extended range only comes with the purchase of an optional $4790 ($US2700) Power Tank. Interestingly, only one power tank has been sold in Australia over the past few years. Over the past …
The UK Government is about to provide a £1500 (about $2400) subsidy on the price of electric motorcycles and scooters to encourage their uptake. While subsidies for electric and hybrid cars are provided by most European countries, Asian nations, Canada and most American states, only California so far includes motorcycles. Meanwhile, the Australian Government has …
BMW Motorrad will add two new motorcycle models and has confirmed its commitment to an electric future with the launch of two variants of its C evolution electric scooter, one with up to 160km of range. In a press release regarding its display at the biennial INTERMOT motorcycle show in Cologne next month, BMW says: “From the …