When I say that to my friends I do motorcycling in New York City like my daily life, they think I’m crazy. When I tell them it’s an all-electric 2022 LiveWire One, they think I’m crazy for a whole host of reasons. But an electric motorcycle is the ultimate form of transportation in the city, and I’m here to tell you why.
Charging and autonomy
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Almost every time I park or stand by my bike, at least one person walks up to me and says something like, “Cool bike! Electric? What is the scope? Sometimes I feel like I should walk around with an FAQ card or a LiveWire spec sheet.
Electric vehicles are thriving in the city. My LiveWire One gets almost 150 miles of driving in city traffic when fully charged, thanks to low speeds and frequent regenerative braking. Admittedly, things get a bit worse on the highway, where I average 70-80 miles per full charge.
The truth is, sustained high speeds drain the battery faster, while stop-and-go traffic keeps the battery happy and drains it at a slower rate.
With my typical use in city traffic, I only really need to charge the bike once a week. Many parking lots in Manhattan have some sort of electric vehicle charging station. Otherwise, I can still charge the LiveWire using a standard 120 volt wall outlet, albeit slowly.
The building I live in has an underground garage where I am allowed to plug in and charge. I gain about 11 miles of range per hour when charging from a conventional wall outlet, but I can fill a depleted battery in an hour or less if I can find a level 3 charger.
I take the LiveWire on day trips to places like Bear Mountain, which is about 90 minutes from town, for cruising. I usually plan to stop and load at a scenic location while I have lunch. As long as I planned ahead, range wasn’t an issue.
Admittedly, this is not a travel vehicle. I wish it was, but it’s just not made for it. Luckily, I purchased a MotoTote Max hitch-mounted rack for my Lexus GX470 so I can take the LiveWire with me on road trips. I’m in Florida for a work project this month and was thrilled to bring my bike with me. I get a lot of questions about how I configured my SUV to comfortably haul a 560-pound bike, but that’s another story that deserves its own article.
Parking and security
I keep my SUV around town, but mostly use it to haul gear or travel outside of Manhattan; car park any car in town for errands or meetings is difficult and expensive. These challenges almost never apply when you have a motorcycle.
I often hop on my motorbike and drive to a meeting anywhere in town, basically parking wherever I happen to be on the street. You’d be amazed at how easy it is to place a motorcycle between parallel parked cars, even in neighborhoods where parking is essentially a blood sport.
I’m worried about theft, but the LiveWire One has a fork lock and a built-in GPS tracker with a cell transmitter that alerts me via text if someone touches it while I’m away. Its anti-theft technology is certainly not 100% secure against a determined thief, but the features are reassuring. Just to be safe, I try not to park it outside overnight in the city.
Performance and handling
If you’ve watched enough 0-60 mph EV videos on YouTube, you know EVs have a lot of torque. ride a electric motorcycle it’s like strapping into a very quiet rocket with no clutch to pull and no gear shifting. The Livewire One will go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in three seconds flat, and is even said to have a top speed (locked by the manufacturer) that would give a Lamborghini a race for his money.
Some people ask me if I miss shifting gears and hearing the loud exhaust of a conventional motorcycle. Look, I’ve owned a lot of American muscle cars from the ’60s, and I have a Porsche 964 as a project car. I like row my own gears and listen to the music from my car’s exhaust, but there’s something to be said for a motorcycle that delivers immediate power, transmits no heat to its rider, and is quiet enough that I can easily hear the traffic around me.
On top of my LiveWire, I can focus on maneuvering in city traffic instead of shifting gears. I know it’s not for everyone, but if you keep an open mind, you can learn to love the benefits of an electric motorcycle. Not to mention, most e-bikes have adjustable ride modes that alter torque output, throttle response, and regenerative braking settings to suit your mood or riding conditions.
A potential problem with electric motorcycles is weight: they are heavy. My current LiveWire Oneand the Zero DS I owned before, both weigh about 100 pounds more than comparable gas bikes. That being said, they both do very well and love carving corners. These e-bikes carry their weight low in the frame and at high speeds both bikes feel very light on their feet.
Flaws and Challenges
As you can see now, I love my electric motorcycle. But that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize its flaws, which basically boil down to three challenges:
- Price: Most electric motorcycles are significantly more expensive than their gas-powered competitors. You really have to want the performance, style and distinct riding dynamics of an e-bike to pay the premium.
- Interval: No, e-bikes are not travel machines…yet. And they’re not ideal for people who live in rural areas far from charging stations. Right now, electric motorcycles are doing well in urban settings that have a good charging network and mostly intermittent traffic.
- loading: It’s the the biggest problem with EVs right now (and not just electric motorcycles). I can’t tell you how many times I go to a charging station and find half of its chargers are broken or offline. This is a problem with the new level 3 loaders in particular. Things are steadily improving now that electric vehicles are becoming more popular. But for now, I’m still relying on apps to find charging stationsor to research which EV stations are active and get good reviews before planning to use them on new routes.
Verdict and conclusion
Listen, I can list a bunch of reasons why I love my electric motorcycle, but it’s hard to fully understand until you ride one yourself. The experience is so different from riding a combustion bike. The LiveWire One is smooth, quiet and powerful. As with any enthusiast vehicle, there are drawbacks and sacrifices to be made. But when I cruise around New York on the LiveWire—on a surge of instant, quiet torque—the bike’s flaws are the last thing that comes to mind.
#live #electric #motorcycle #York