8 Great Electric 2-Wheelers to Convert You from Gasoline for Good

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Are electric motorcycles and scooters the future? Before you say no, at least go to your Harley dealer and test-ride an S2 Del Mar. Your outlook will be new and your brain will be smiling. Electric motorcycles and scooters are fast, silent fun.

Energica EsseEsse9+ RS

The Ferrari of electric superbikes, made in Modena, even, the Energica will thrill you like nothing else on electricity.

Think of Energica as the supercar of electric motorcycles. Modena, Italy, is home of Ferrari, Maserati, and Pagani, among others, and just down the road from Ducati in Bologna, so Energica is in good company. It got started in 2009 or 2010 (reports vary) and was officially founded in 2014. The name means “energetic” in Italian. Energica presented its first electric motorcycle, the Ego, at the big EICMA motorcycle show in Milan in 2012 to great acclaim and went into production in 2013.

Energica now offers four models: the Experia, an adventure touring bike; the Ego+, which, with 171 sustained hp and 164 lb-ft of torque, makes it what Energica says is "the world's most powerful and advanced electric motorcycle"; the Eva Ribelle, the naked (no fairings) version of the Ego+; and the bike I rode, the EsseEsse9+ RS, which the company says shares the technology and sophistication of the EGO+ and the EVA Ribelle but is made more suitable for casual riding without the demanding hyper-performance of the other two models.

I borrowed an EsseEsse9+ RS from Pro Italia, the SoCal Italian motorcycle retailer that is like a candy store for sport bikers. They specialize in Ducatis but also handle Aprilia, MV Augusta, and Energica (and Royal Enfield if you're on a budget yet still want to have a good time). If you accidentally stumbled into Pro Italia, you might think you'd died and gone to heaven.

The first thing I noticed about my loaner EsseEsse9 was the cool look—"classic Italian style," as Energica calls it. Then you see that almost the entire bike is battery, 21.5 kWh of it, more than at least one electric car that was once on the market, the Mistubishi iMiEV. The main part of the frame is taken up by a big square gift box of energy. That and the inverter make the bike feel top heavy as soon as you lift it off its kickstand.

"They lowered the center of gravity on the newer Experia, but on the EsseEsse9+ it was still kind of up there," said Pro Italia dealer principal Bill Nation. "It's a little daunting when you first ride it."

But once under way, the top-heaviness becomes less of a problem. And it fades completely away the first time you launch at full speed. Aye Chihuahua this thing is quick. Energica says it'll do 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds, which will rearrange everything in your head, including any misgivings you might have had about electric vehicles.

There is almost nothing in the world this quick. Almost by accident, a Tesla Model 3 that for all I know had been used to blowing the doors off almost everything with its 4.something 0-60 happened to line up next to me. I wasn't expecting it to race or anything—I was just trying out this new bike. Zwap! It was somewhere in the rearview. It followed me around for blocks wondering what had just happened.

This Energica's range is 261 miles city and 130 highway. Prices start at $22,850 for the 9+ and $23,800 for the RS.

"They're pretty much all pre-sold," said Nation. Easy to see why.

LiveWire S2 Del Mar

Conversion is easy. Just go down to your local Harley dealer and ask for a test ride of an S2 Del Mar electric motorcycle. Your whole outlook on electric propulsion will change. You will become a believer.

Rather than suffer the abuse of H-D PR, I just went to Harley of Glendale and spoke to Luca. Great guy. He was glad to take me on a ride through Griffith Park and even on the freeway, he on a LiveWire One and me on the new S2 Del Mar. Your eyeballs will pop open and your brain will gurgle.

Yes, Harley is now in the electric motorcycle business, more or less. After starting Project LiveWire to gauge market interest, it launched LiveWire as a division of Harley-Davidson two years ago, then spun it off in 2022, and the eMotomaker has been converting souls to electricity one demo ride at a time since.

With a 10.5-kWh (nominal) battery, the 436-pound bike can go 113 miles in city riding and 70 miles on the highway. With 84 hp and 194 lb-ft, it'll get to 60 in 3.0 seconds, Harley claims. It sure felt like that. Unlike the Energica, there is no fast charging, however, so long rides could take a while. But short spurts in the city will be memorable.

Pricing is a bargain for the performance you get, starting at $15,499. That's $7300 less than a LiveWire One, and the LiveWire One is 162 pounds heavier. I also did back-to-back rides of an S2 and a LiveWire One at The Bike Shed in LA and there was no comparison.

I guarantee if you do just one launch of an S2 Del Mar in sport mode, with the twist-grip all the way open, you will be forever convinced that acceleration is next to godliness. Only a very few vehicles give you the same thrill as high-power electric launches: the Pininfarina Battista, the Rimac Nevera, the Tesla Model S Plaid… I think that’s it. I've driven those and I'm saying you can add this bike to that list.

BMW CE 02

The new CE 02 is neither an e-motorbike nor an e-scooter, BMW says. "It's an eParkourer," the company insists.

The CE 02 has the fun, nimble tossability of an urban motorcycle matched with the ease of riding and accessibility of a scooter. BMW says it's made for skateboarders and other urban youth, but when I showed the price tag to an actual youthful skateboarder he said, "No skateboarders have $8000." Hey, I said, it starts at $7599. "No skateboarders have $7599," he said.

Well, they should get a job and start saving, because this is one fun little urban traffic squirter. I got to ride one through the streets of Cascais, Portugal, between Lisbon and Sintra, over cobblestone streets, trolley tracks and through narrow passageways and it was a blast. An eBlast.

The two 1.96-kWh batteries help create 15 hp max, 8 hp rated (Rated hp is the amount produced at a continuous, sustainable motor speed, max is the most hp a motor can produce, maybe. Send in your hate mail below.). In a Cadillac, 15 hp is nada. But in a little scooter, er, motorcycle, err, eParkour that weighs just 291 pounds even when it's full of electrons, it’s enough to have a good time.

The eParkourer has a steel frame and single-sided swing arm, telescopic front forks, ABS for the front wheel, stability control, something called recuperative stability control to reduce drag torque from the motor to keep the vehicle stable, and a reverse gear. It has three driving modes that will confuse the heck out of you—so just set it on Flash and take off. There's even a USB-C socket, because all skaters have mobile phones with USB-C chargers—none have ancient iPhones with that out-of-date charger.

Top speed of this street gizmo is 59 mph, and range is "more than 56 miles" according to WTMC, World Motorcycle Test Cycle. Your mileage will vary. I only rode it for about 20 minutes so I can't say what my mileage was.

Should you get this, or one of the other cool electro-squeezers on this page? A lot of people make choices based on style, and this thing is loaded with that. You may not be a skater, but with this you can make people think you are. And you'll be having fun doing it.

Ryvid Anthem

Ryvid says it's not a motorcycle company, it's a “light mobility company.” Its mission is to "make more efficient, lightweight, and eco-friendly vehicles that are less resource-intensive."

Co-founder Dong Tran grew up in Vietnam, where everyone gets around on a scooter. He was inspired not by the size of the scooters, but by their efficiency. Moving to Southern California and working on a Honda EV project and then at ICON Aircraft inspired him to transfer those efficiencies to modern, two-wheeled transport. So he and two others founded Ryvid.

The Anthem is not your typical electric motorcycle. Apart from being stylishly drawn, it incorporates innovations throughout. The basic frame is not welded metal tubing but folded stainless steel sheet that is bolted and fastened together with no welds. Instead of a single seat height that won't work for everyone, the Anthem's seat height can be electrically raised or lowered from 30 to 34 inches as you ride.

And instead of a giant, heavy battery, the Anthem is powered by a small 4.3-kWh battery that can be popped out and pulled on its own wheels to recharge at work under your desk, assuming you can wrestle the somewhat ungainly 87-pound power source from its frame, which wasn't easy. There's even a reverse gear available at the push of a button.

Its Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV tires are downright sporty, with a potential grip that begs for way more than the Anthem's 10 hp rated power (20 hp peak power) and 53 lb-ft torque. You can canyon carve as fast as your ability will let you. It is, as they say, a hoot.

One of the advantages of choosing a Ryvid Anthem is the company will pay for your motorcycle riding lessons. Specifically, Ryvid will give you a $250 credit toward your Anthem purchase upon completing your DMV-approved Beginner Training Course.

Price is $8995, which is steep for the lower-level youthful urban office workers who might be buying this, but Ryvid offers financing through its partners at FreedomRoad. So go ahead!

Zero DSR/X

Zero has been making electric motorcycles in Santa Cruz, California, since 2006. That alone deserves some kind of medal in this evolving technoworld where EV makers pop up, grab funding and then disappear overnight. So yay, Zero!

We’ve ridden a lot of Zeros in that time and pretty much liked all of them. Most recently it was a DSX/R adventure bike that found its way into our garage. It was the most comfortable, commodious, and quiet cruiser made.

While the DSR/X shares some componentry with the SR/S and SR/F road bikes, it has a slightly revised frame, with a higher ride height to accommodate an extra 2.5 inches of suspension travel, for a total of 7.5 inches. Peak torque from the single motor is 169 lb-ft, while top speed is listed at 112 mph. Like all electric motorcycles, there are no gears to shift.

But an advantage the Zeros have is that to get regenerative braking all you have to do is twist the throttle to the closed position then keep twisting to add more regen. It adds a new dimension to riding, making it simpler and smoother to operate especially when you’re negotiating off-road ruts and rambles.

You can get up to 21 kWh of battery, too, which is more than some cars (cough, iMiEV, cough). That’s good for up to 179 miles of range in ideal city stop-and-go riding (107 miles highway) and rechargable from 0-95% in just over an hour with the 6-kW Rapid Charger. Like the S2 above, there is no Level 3 DC fast charging available.

Pricing for this model starts at $22,995 with the smaller, 17.3-kWh battery, but for another $3200 you can get that 21-kWh monster and ride all day, more or less.

Zero offers a full range of electric motorcycles, from the highly affordable SX starting at $12,495 up to the cool-looking SR/S sport bike for $20,995. None of those prices, nor any here, include destination, which no manufacturer seems to list. In any case you’ll get a smooth, quiet, and very comfortable bike that is so easy and fun to ride you’ll find yourself making excuses to suit up and head out.

Land Energy District Scrambler

Land Energy makes these stylish electric motorcycles in Cleveland, the heart of rock ‘n roll, and you can configure them in a variety of ways. There are two main models: the Land District Street, which is a street bike, and the Land District Scrambler, which has off-road capability. There are four ride modes, from Mode 1 wherein you have a Class 2 eBike with 750W and a 27-mph top speed, up to Mode 4, which makes it into a performance eMotorcycle that can hit 70 mph.

I got a brief demo ride on a Land District Scrambler at The Bike Shed in Los Angeles on their electric motorcycle day. I rode a Scrambler with knobby tires. The 32-inch-high seat was hard as a rock. I’d take it straight to Corbin for a new keister cozy first thing.

The knobby tires would surely have been happier in the dirt, but on LA industrial pavement they wandered around a bit, no doubt due to the tall tread blocks squishing left and right as I rode. If I’d ridden the District Street bike, with far more pavement-friendly Pirelli Angel tires, I’d have been more comfortable. Nonetheless it was an enjoyable little scoot over the new 6th Street Bridge that spans the mighty LA River.

With either one or two 72V CORE Battery Packs in place, Land quotes a range of from 40 to 120 miles. Maximum storage in the batteries is 6.4 kWh, 5.5 nominal. Power is 17 kW, or almost 23 hp. It’s another, stylish choice for the EV commuter.

Super73 ZX

SUPER73 makes all kinds of electric bikes, at least 10 models by my count, though it’s probably higher when you count all the choppers and off-roaders. There are over 100,000 Super73 riders globally. The bikes have pedals so you can muscle them if you run out of battery, though on this eBike that’s not a very comfortable or efficient option and you might as well just get off and push, or leave it there and buy another Super73. They’re cheap!

This one stickers at $2395. But even that seems a little steep considering that it’s mostly frame and only a tiny 600-Watt electric hub motor. That setup is good for “30-50 miles” of range, wherein the claimed 30+ miles of range is at 20 mph under Class-2 throttle-only operation with no pedaling on your part. The “50+ miles” of range is using Class-1 pedal-assist mode. But if you’re pedaling, range should be infinite, right? I wound up getting about 11 miles of range on my rides, and I was trying for distance.

The battery is a 615-Wh unit (0.6-kWh) tucked up under the top of the frame. The 600W (nominal) motor was more or less up to the task when you push on the thumb throttle. But with the surprisingly low real-world range, I found myself having to pedal back home to plug in and charge several times during the weeks I had my ZX.

Charge time is six to seven hours at 120 volts, which is an easy overnight wall socket deal, but it’s also the only way you can do it. There’s no Level 2. The whole thing weighs 63 pounds, which is more than I thought it would weigh considering it’s mostly an open frame. Why don’t they put some big battery in all that open space in the middle of the aluminum frame?

The ZX is Super73’s “comfortable commuter.” I stashed it in the back of an SUV and took it to Las Vegas for CES. It was another of my genius ideas to avoid the traffic glut that is Las Vegas during CES week. It worked splendidly—with one exception—and would also work splendidly for whatever city traffic-dodging you may have planned.

Am I recommending this one? I hesitate, and it might not even be Super73’s fault. Making the Vegas commute at CES, with no warning and no reason that I could figure out, while making a turn on a dry, gravel-free and oil-free paved corner on a street near UNLV, the front wheel washed out and I went skittering across the intersection on my elbow.

In 50 years of riding motorcycles, that has never happened to me on pavement. This couldn’t have been the fault of the Super73, but neither could it have been my fault, as far as I could tell. I was accelerating and maybe my weight was farther back on the frame, thus lifting the front wheel a bit?

The upshot? ATGATT, baby—all the gear, all the time. That day I thought I’d go without my motorcycle jacket because it was hot and because all those Italians ride scooters all day in business suits and they all seemed fine. Bad decision. Anyone who wants to see photos of my elbow, just send me an email and I’ll convince you to ATGATT.

Bosch eBikes

Bosch doesn’t make eBikes, but it makes them fun—as a supplier of electric motors and controllers. There are over 100 bicycle manufacturers around the world that use Bosch motors and controllers on their eBikes. I got to ride a Nevo eBike from German bicycle maker Riese & Müller.

Bosch only makes motors and controllers for Class 1 and 3 eBikes, the ones you have to pedal, not the ones with the thumb drive where you just hang on and let the bike do the work. You must participate! “Our mission is to enhance the experience of riding a bicycle,” said Bosch eBike marketing professional Kurt Hoy, who had invited me down to the company’s Foothill Ranch headquarters for a ride.

Bosch makes the “Bosch Drive System,” which consists of a motor), battery, and a controller with display. These are only sold as a system, so don’t ask if you can only get one of the above. It’s also only sold through bicycle makers that have already put it on their bicycles. The system is made to UL 2849 standards and certified by Intertech.

This isn’t just a simple Whizzer motor spinning a wheel, either—it does all kinds of things. Download the Flow App to your mobile device and you can operate the NAV system, while electronic GPS tracking will show you where you rode and exactly how much ePower you used. It keeps track of all service performed on the bike, and it has five custom ride modes. In the right ride mode you could get 100 miles of range.

It also has an alarm which, combined with GPS tracking, should be very reassuring. My bike even had ABS on the front wheel. The anti-theft features require a subscription but would be worth it.

I had three Bosch people with me on my ride, all of us connected with Cardo bike helmet systems to talk as we rode. I will say this after several miles on the Riese & Müller Nevo in the sunny weather on a beautiful day: Go out and ride a bike! If you can, get an eBike, just because it takes you farther and with less sweatiness.

My Riese & Müller bike had gears, like a regular bike, but they were changed via a twist crank on the handlebar. That mechanism could have been a little easier to twist, in my opinion, but I really enjoyed being out in the lovely weather of sunny Orange County, California.

Electric bikes aren’t cheap, as you may have found. A good one, like the Nevo I rode, stickers for over $5000. One thing I would recommend if you have tiny kids and you are the one who gets to stay home with them, get a Riese & Müller Load or Packster model. Those have a large carrying space up front into which the kids will fit nicely. They can look around, read a book, or even go to sleep as you pedal. Prices for those bikes range from $8369 to over $10,000. But that’s still less than the cost of a minivan.

Are electric motorcycles and scooters the future? Before you say no, at least go to your Harley dealer and test-ride a Del Mar S2. Your outlook will be new and your brain will be smiling. Electric motorcycles and scooters are fast, silent fun.