If you've been observing electric motorcycles for a good length of time, then you're probably aware that the legacy OEMs got off to a slow start in development. Although Zero Motorcycles is now a veritable grandaddy in the electric motorcycle space (at the ripe old age of 19 in 2025, no less), it was once a young upstart, eager to change how people thought about motorcycles.
Other EV brands have come and gone in the years since Zero was founded, but it also took nearly as long for the legacy OEMs to start rolling out EV two-wheelers of their own. Whole startup companies burned brightly and then went kablooey, seemingly before a company like Honda could begin to hit anything approaching an EV stride.
Part of that comes from a place of caution, and part of that comes from a place of analyzing the global market and making very precise, strategic moves to advance its two-wheeled EV development. While some riders would love to have an EV equivalent of a middleweight or larger combustion bike, currently available battery technology (and energy density) can't yet give the ranges that riders want in the small, nimble package they'd prefer. Also, pricing is clearly a factor, as EVs are already perceived as being quite expensive—which, of course, makes them less accessible to the average rider.
