US-Based Zero Unveils Two Rapid Charging Electric Motorcycles
Months after American heavyweight Harley Davidson unveiled its Live Wire, California based electric motorcycle manufacturer Zero Motorcycles has released two bikes yesterday. Zero Motorcycles unveiled its SR/F electric motorcycle to challenge, the oil-burning and small but growing electric, motorcycle segment.
“We sell more full-size premium electric motorcycles than all our competitors combined,” said Zero Motorcycles CEO Sam Paschel, at a launch event in New York on Monday. The Zero SR/F is a brand new product “from the ground up,” he said.
The bike comes in two trims, a standard model starting at $18,995 and a premium model available starting at $20,995. This means Zero’s higher-end version is more than $10,000 cheaper than the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, through which Harley hopes to help it attract new riders, including those who are excited about the potential for electric powertrains. The LiveWire’s price hovers around $30,000, which means it could need to come down if Harley-Davidson wants to compete with an upstart like Zero.
The Zero SR/F will feature a brand new battery motor and rapid charging system. The SR/F has 140 pound-foot of torque and has “unbelievable acceleration,” according to Pashel.
It has a top speed of 124 miles per hour and over 100 horsepower. The bike can drive up to 200 miles in the city with its largest available battery, about the same as Zero’s current motorcycles. The company claims that it can be charged to nearly full capacity in about an hour.
The company said the motorcycle, which will begin shipping in April, will connect to the cloud and comes with an integrated mobile app. While heavyweights like Harley have entered the electric motorcycle segment, Zero has an edge. The Company specializes in making electric motorcycles and has been making them since 2006 and that experience shows in the SR/F. It’s the company’s most complete vision so far of what a motorcycle of the future should be, without sacrificing on any of the power or speed that makes these vehicles user-friendly.