Electric Motorcycle Companies Are Dying Left And Right As People ...

It’s not hard to find someone, be it a journalist or everyday person, who thinks electric cars are the future. While some companies struggle to sell electric cars, Tesla gets so many people in EVs that it’s making best-seller charts. The same cannot be said for the electric motorcycle industry. As of this month, things are looking bleak. Fuell, Erik Buell’s venture for electric motorcycles, is dead. It joins a list of other freshly dead companies including Energica and Sondors as well as struggling brands including LiveWire and Cake. Now, Zero Motorcycles is asking for more money as it seems everyone isn’t having a good time selling electric motorcycles.

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I’ve known for a while now that electric motorcycle manufacturers have been struggling. However, I didn’t realize things were as bad as they were until I ran into a Tech Crunch article from yesterday. In it, Sean O’Kane points out which brands are struggling and which brands are dead, and what I read shocked me. A couple of these brands died just days ago with their corpses still warm, leaving the whole industry feeling uneasy.

One thing is clear, and it’s that electric motorcycles aren’t catching on nearly as well as electric cars are, and there could be more stormy weather ahead.

The Dead Ones

I think I’ll start this with the companies that have already died.

On October 17, Electrek reported the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of the promising upstart that was Fuell, a company co-founded by motorcycle legend Erik Buell.

In the report, Electrek‘s Micah Toll writes about how Fuell successfully delivered on its Flluid-1 eBike, but failed to deliver the Flluid-2 and Flluid-3 at scale despite the company getting over $1.5 million in crowdfunding. These electric bicycles were supposed to fund Fuell’s flagship product, an electric motorcycle designed and engineered by Erik Buell. This was supposed to be Buell’s answer to the future of motorcycles and the one product that would have his name on it that was actually designed by him. The Autopian had been in contact with Fuell and we were supposed to ride the Fuell Fllow when a prototype of it was ready.

Contacts to Fuell are met with this response, emphasis mine:

To the creditors of Fuell Inc,

I am currently representing Fuell Inc. in a chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin on October 16, as case #24-. A trustee has been appointed to liquidate the assets of the Company. All creditors will be advised to file claims in that proceeding as it appears that there may be assets for payment of unsecured claims after all of the secured claims are paid or otherwise dealt with. A copy of the Notice of the Case is posted nearby.

Management regrets the Company has been forced to take this path. Unfortunately, the Company lacks funds to pay for the labor costs and other required services necessary to assemble and ship products to its customers, and additional funds could not be raised to pay the Company’s outstanding current liabilities or to pay for the assembly and shipment of pre-ordered electric bicycles. I hasten to add that the Company has on hand what it believes to be the parts necessary for the assembly of the bulk of, if not all of the pre-ordered electric bicycles.

After consultation, management has determined that a promptly filed chapter 7 was the best way to provide value for the significant assets held by the Company including, but not limited to, a purchase from the bankruptcy trustee of substantially all of the assets of Fuell Inc. by an interested party who may subsequently, with effort and negotiations, potentially restart the operations and move forward. Obviously, this is the route preferred by management, but it is complicated and fraught with risk. Any creditor or interested party that has such an interest should be contemplating retaining experienced bankruptcy counsel to negotiate with the Trustee for such a purchase.

As the Company has little to no funds, and no employees, it is unable to directly answer creditors’ questions concerning specific orders. Creditors may direct questions to the Trustee who will be apprised of the situation. Since there are no employees at the Company to respond to questions at this time, current inquiries to the company will go unanswered.

All known creditors will receive the notice of the bankruptcy filing and advised to file claims. If you have placed a deposit for the purchase of a product, your claim may be entitled to priority to an extent. You may want to consult with a lawyer on this issue.

Great effort is being made to provide enough information in the bankruptcy schedules so that there is at least a possibility that a potential purchaser of the assets may be able to restart the Company or otherwise redeploy the assets to produce the product intended. Current equity will lose everything that is been invested in the company through this chapter 7 bankruptcy filing.

We trust that this information may be of some cold comfort to you as a creditor of the Company and will certainly give you an idea of what you can expect in the immediate future. As indicated above, you will be notified of the bankruptcy filing as a creditor or other interested party.

If you have an interest in purchasing the assets through the bankruptcy process or know of anyone who may have such an interest, you may contact the Trustee or the undersigned to discuss potential avenues to accomplish that.

Sincerely,

PAUL G. SWANSON

Attorney at Law

Ouch. It’s a shame, because I’ve been following Erik Buell for years and was excited to ride the Fllow, even if Buell’s expectations for it were a bit too ambitious. Now, it’s gone. Unfortunately, the pain isn’t over for Fuell’s customers, either. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, anyone who put money into the Fuell project and got the shaft now has to chase Fuell into bankruptcy court to get their money back. The company no longer even has employees who could issue you a refund.

Then there’s the Italian electric motorcycle firm Energica. This company was known for making electric motorcycles with enough range and charging speed to complete actual cross-country trips. Unlike Fuell, Energica was not a crowdfunded startup. This company was founded in and had an established line of motorcycles. For example, an Energica Experia (below) had a chunky 19.6 kWh nominal battery, which gave the motorcycle 261 miles of city range and 130 miles of actual highway range.

Unfortunately, its focus on huge batteries and touring range also meant the company’s bikes were expensive. For example, the Experia was $23,250 before any options. Still, along with Zero, Energica was sometimes considered one of the closest brands the electric motorcycle world had to Tesla.

On October 15, Cycle News reported that it, too, had thrown in the towel. Energica first thought it could get through by shaving its workforce by 70 percent, but ultimately, it also decided that to completely shut down its operation. From Energica:

“Despite the efforts from the management in actively and extensively pursuing a search for new investors – always with the aim of preserving going concern in the best interest of creditors – it has become clear in the last few hours that these alternative options are no more viable, thus leaving the company with no other choice than resolving for the opening of a bankruptcy judicial liquidation.”

Yikes! Another known name in the electric motorcycle world that has failed is Sondors.

The makers of the futuristic Metacycle struggled almost from the beginning. Remember, the Metacycle was supposed to be a quick, highway-capable electric motorcycle for just $5,000. Unfortunately, it launched with specs roughly half that as promised, eventually with a higher price than advertised, and as Electrek reported, the motorcycles may not have even been actually road legal, anyway. That company went belly up in late with the fallout bleeding well into , leaving existing owners without spare parts or any support. Like Fuell, Sondors was also sitting on a stack of money given to it by prospective customers.

Sondors was such a blunder that, as Electrek reported, thousands of bikes were abandoned in the company’s Chinese factory and bills went unpaid as the company effectively just vaporized. Fans and customers aren’t thrilled, to say the least. It’s believed Sondors may have sold perhaps “nearly 2,000” motorcycles. The company was founded in , but didn’t start its first deliveries until late . So, Sondors didn’t even really survive a full year on the market before failing.

Somehow the bloodbath continues.

Cake, the Swedish manufacturer of seriously cute electric motorcycles, filed for bankruptcy in February of this year after it too, couldn’t keep enough money to stay afloat. Cake was a startup that was founded in and its original mission involved the creation of lightweight minibike-like motorcycles. While the company never got big, it did become known enough to collaborate with the likes of Polestar.

Yet, like the brands above, Cakes were also premium machines, or at least had premium prices. It sold the Makka moped with a top speed of 15 mph for $3,800 and the tiny Bukk dirt bike for $9,470.

Weirdly, Cake didn’t stay dead. After Cake failed, its assets were scooped up by Norwegian car dealer Brages Holding AS, which plans an “ambitious quest to lead the premium electric two-wheeler segment in targeted markets.” That one’s a head-scratcher since, as you’ve read thus far and will read in a little bit, selling premium electric motorcycles is a struggle. But, we’ll see if Cake manages to stay alive this time.

If I keep naming dead brands this article will go on forever. Two more names that started the year alive but didn’t make it through are Arc Vector and Onyx Motorbikes. If you expand the list further to brands that died years ago, you’ll see Brammo, Mission, and Alta all on the list of failures.

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Burning Cash

There are probably other dead motorcycle brands I’m missing here, but those are a handful of the bigger names. Sadly, we’re not done yet because there are still two companies out there that are alive, but are still struggling.

The first we’ll talk about is LiveWire, the Harley-Davidson-controlled spin-off electric motorcycle brand. The company keeps launching new models, but sales are slow. LiveWire sold 597 motorcycles in and just 660 motorcycles in . The company says it lost $85 million in with the losses deepening to $125 million in . How rough is it for LiveWire? The company sold exactly zero of its flagship LiveWire One motorcycles in . LiveWire is expected to burn up to $115 million of Harley-Davidson’s money by the end of this year and still end up selling well under 1,000 motorcycles doing it.

According to LiveWire, the motorcycles aren’t even bringing in that much money. In the third quarter, LiveWire sold $3.2 million in children’s balance bikes compared to just $1.2 million made from selling 99 electric motorcycles.

Zero Motorcycles seems to be going through its own thing. Zero doesn’t have a big parent like Harley-Davidson to keep on giving it money, so it gets rounds of funding to support its projects. As Tech Crunch reports, Zero is currently in the process of closing a funding round of $120 million. That goes on top of another funding round of $107 million from back in in which it got money from Polaris Industries and Hero MotoCorp. The investors aren’t disclosed this time around, but Zero says it’ll use the money to fund expansion and the development of new motorcycles.

Zero does not release sales numbers, but in , it did say that it sold over 20,000 vehicles since its founding in . In , the company reportedly sold 3,500 electric motorcycles.

Why Are These Brands Struggling?

Of course, this begs a big question: Why are electric motorcycle brands struggling? As a motorcyclist, there are a few factors that I think make electric motorcycles unattractive as compared to something like a Tesla.

Back in September, I chatted with engineers at Canada’s BRP. The powersports manufacturer is just now hitting the market with electric motorcycles right in the midst of this industry struggle. One of the concerns of the engineers was trying to find a perfect balance. BRP’s engineers told me that current battery technology limitations mean that they have only so many levers they can pull.

They could make a motorcycle with lots of range like an Energica, but the current way to do that would be to pile on the batteries. The result would be a heavy electric motorcycle with an extremely high price. They could make a motorcycle that is super lightweight and agile by taking batteries out. This would cut down both cost and weight, but nobody wants a motorcycle that can’t actually go anywhere. Unfortunately, until there’s a breakthrough in battery tech, this is what things are like.

So, BRP’s engineers found something sort of in the middle. The question now becomes if buyers would be willing to pay $13,999 for a motorcycle with 80 miles of combined range and 47 HP on tap.

Pretty much all of the world’s electric motorcycle manufacturers are pulling similar levers. Cheaper electric motorcycles tend to have bad range while the ones that have good range cost too much.

Take the Zero DSR/X that I’ve been testing for a year and four months now.

Zero says this electric adventure motorcycle costs $22,995 and in my experience, you can reliably get 120 miles of range out of it if you stay off of the highway. However, it takes nearly 3 hours to charge, if you can find a functional level 2 charger wherever you’re headed. As of right now, a BMW R GS has a starting price of $18,895, will go lots of miles on a highway, and takes less than 5 minutes to refuel to get you back onto a road or trail.

In other words, you really have to be into EV technology to want the Zero over the BMW.

Let’s pick another bike, the $6,495 Ryvid Anthem.

We love the Anthem for its trick technology, but there are compromises here, too. It gets 48 miles of combined highway range and the standard model makes 20 HP. A Honda Rebel 300 makes similar power for $4,849 and doesn’t have to stop every 48 miles during your commute.

This isn’t to say that the electric motorcycle market isn’t growing. Data shows that there’s still tons of interest out there. China and India both buy electric two-wheelers in the tens of millions of units. Here’s what it looked like in , from McKinsey Insights:

In , around half of the millions of motorcycles sold in China were electric.

However, look at how small the numbers are for North America and Europe. One thing to remember is that in America, motorcycles tend to be more for leisure than for transportation. Someone in China or India may buy an electric motorcycle as their daily driver to scoot through their congested city. Range doesn’t really matter as much for that use case. In addition to that, electric motorcycles out there tend to be dirt cheap. But here in America, motorcyclists like to go on long rides across vast expanses of places where charging infrastructure sucks.

I still cannot do my favorite local ride on the DSR/X press bike because it can’t do the trip without charging at least three times, taking up at least 6 hours in charging alone. That’s just not something a cheaper gas bike will a problem with.

So, at least here in North America, I’m not sure the troubled seas will calm soon. BRP appears to be banking on a battery breakthrough that will allow it to offer more range for a cheaper price. Maybe that’s the future. Or, maybe there are just too many startup companies competing in a market that’s not large enough to support them yet. Either way, all of this is a darn shame because electric motorcycles are awesome. But, maybe something needs to change.

(Images: Manufacturers, unless otherwise noted.)

Introduction to the Electric Motorcycle ‍

The electric motorcycle is a marvel of modern technology, an innovation that is poised to revolutionize the way we commute. As the world grapples with the need to reduce carbon emissions, this invention has emerged as a sustainable alternative to traditional gasoline-powered motorcycles. The electric motorcycle offers a host of advantages, from lower operating costs to zero tailpipe emissions. But at the heart of this machine, what truly defines its performance, stability, and safety, is the frame.

The frame of an electric motorcycle is a critical component that holds all the other parts together. It not only supports the weight of the motorcycle and the rider but also withstands the forces exerted during acceleration, deceleration, and turning. Essentially, the frame is the backbone of the motorcycle, and its design and quality significantly affect the vehicle's overall performance.

Despite the critical role it plays, the frame of an electric motorcycle is often overlooked. Most attention is given to the more glamorous components, such as the motor, battery, and electronics. However, without a well-designed and well-constructed frame, the motorcycle will not be able to deliver its full potential.

Understanding the Electric Motorcycle Frame

The frame of an electric motorcycle is more than just a structure that holds the parts together. It is a meticulously designed component that plays an integral role in how the motorcycle performs. Unlike conventional motorcycles, electric motorcycles require frames that can accommodate their unique components like batteries and electric motors.

The electric motorcycle frame must also be designed to handle the weight distribution and torque produced by the electric motor. The design of the electric motorcycle frame is often a complex task. It requires a deep understanding of the motorcycle's dynamics, materials science, manufacturing processes, and even aesthetics. An electric motorcycle manufacturer must consider various factors such as the weight, handling, strength, and rigidity when designing the frame. The end goal is to create a frame that is lightweight yet strong enough to support the weight of the motorcycle and the rider and withstand the forces it will encounter during use.

The manufacturing process of the electric motorcycle frame is equally critical. It involves techniques such as welding, bending, and cutting, which must be carried out with precision to ensure the frame's durability and performance. The quality of the frame can significantly affect the motorcycle's longevity, safety, and riding experience.

Materials used in the Frame of an Electric Motorcycle

The choice of material for the frame of an electric motorcycle is crucial. It influences the frame's weight, strength, durability, and even cost. The most common materials used by an electric motorcycle manufacturer are steel, aluminium, and carbon fibre, each with its unique properties and considerations.

Steel is a popular choice due to its strength and durability. It's also relatively easy to work with, making it suitable for complex frame designs. However, Under the fierce market competition, many manufacturers reduce the use of materials to reduce costs, the appearance of the same frame, but the tube wall is much thinner, the weight will be reduced a lot. The load-bearing capacity of such a frame is weaker, the riding state is more unstable, and the frame is easy to break after a long time.

The Role of an Electric Motorcycle Manufacturer in Frame Design

An electric motorcycle manufacturer plays a pivotal role in the frame design. They are responsible for translating the theoretical design into a practical, manufacturable product. They need to consider various factors such as the intended use of the motorcycle, the target weight, the desired performance characteristics, and the cost constraints.

The electric motorcycle manufacturer must also consider the integration of other components such as the motor, battery, and controls into the frame. The frame manufacturing has several mainly processes:

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