Eco-Friendly and Sexy, Electric Motorcycles May Be Just the Ticket for Urban Hipsters

Think you're being eco-friendly because you ride a motorcycle with a much highher MPG than your car-driving friends? Guess again. According to the Oregon-based specialty vehicle manufacturer Brammo, most modern motorcycles “produce up to 15 times the emissions per mile as the average new car.” In response, the company has built an interesting electric motorcycle named the Enertia Bike. With a current range of about 45 miles, a top speed of 50 MPH, and a battery charge time of 3 hours, this could be a viable commuting vehicle if you live in a small urban city and have the money to afford it. This probably limits you to New York and San Francisco, but it's not hard to admit that it looks pretty cool. The bike’s made out of a carbon fiber chassis that enables lightweight maneuverability and the electric set-up includes six lithium-phosphate batteries. Needless to say, the carbon footprint difference between this zero-emissions bike and that of a car is significantly large.

If the manufacturer’s standards are correct, in accordance with the Well-to-Wheel efficiency model (which takes into account every single process that comes into the production of the vehicle), the Enertia bike will be about 9 times more efficient than a regular car in KM/MJ, 4 times more efficient than a Prius, and about 2 times more efficient than the upcoming electric Tesla Roadster car. The Enertia’s efficiency model page is right here.

In Well-to-Wheel comparisons of CO2 emissions, the Enertia bike comes in at 21.8 Grams/KM, which is excellent if all the tests are correct. It might even push those who justifiably avoid bikes due to safety concerns into investing in one (or two) bikes.