Zoomi Life

Alright, these are our picks for the top 5 electric motorcycles of this year. As with our pick of cars, these are all models available for purchase in the USA by 2010 (well - except for one… see below) and are being gauged by innovation, design, and availability. I’ll dispense with my usual flowery commentary and present to you, now, our 2008 picks for Top 5 Electric Motorcycles! \insert drum roll sound file here\

#1 – Electric Motorsport GPR-S

Our contention for number one was close, with the number 2 Enertia nearly winning out. What put the GPR-S over the top, though, is it’s freeway readiness. The GPR-S is a stylin’ bike that won’t easily be confused as electric at first glance. Until you “fire it up” that is. Being the first street AND freeway-legal electric motorcycle in the USA, the GPR-S definitely gets points for innovation. With an affordable price tag to compete with like-sized and styled gasoline bikes and with a smart, modular component platform, this bike is definitely worthy of our top spot.

#2 – Brammo Motorsports Enertia

As I said, this was a close one. The Enertia missed the number one spot purely because it’s a commuter, not a freeway machine. For style, though, this one is top of the list. The Enertia has to be seen to be understood for it’s awesome looks. It comes with strong innovation and good power too, though it’s price tag is higher than an equivalent gas-powered model by more than double. Sleek, fast, and innovative, this is a great product from Oregon that we hope to see more of.

#3 – Zero Motorcycles Zero-X

Our list features two dirt bikes, which wouldn’t have happened last year. Previously only available to those who live in the country or have access to remote riding areas, motocross had a limited appeal. Until now. With quiet electrics, new motocross tracks could be appearing right off the freeway, in neighborhoods near you. The Zero-X is one of the innovators to make that happen, delivering great style, strong performance, and electric innovation, this one easily made our list. How can you argue with 0-60 in less than 4 seconds?

#4 – KTM Race-Ready

Austrian motocross firm KTM announced their race-ready dirt bike to be released by 2010, powered entirely by electricity. With standard motocross styling, this bike doesn’t win any design awards, but it will deliver definite race-ready performance. With the popular enduro frame of most racing dirt bike, the KTM model delivers great performance and strong appeal to those in the “better than amateur” level of motocross. The KTM name doesn’t hurt either.

#5 – KillaCycle

I admit that this one doesn’t meet any of the requirements we listed for electric motorcycles except that its’ electric. That being said, it’s just too frikkin’ cool to ignore. The world’s fastest motorcycle on the drag strip, the KillaCycle has been consistently setting, then beating, then re-setting and beating again it’s own records. This is the fastest electric vehicle right now, bar none. The coolest part? It costs about 7 cents to run this thing down the quarter mile strip, including the burnout. Definitely worthy of it’s name, we had to put KillaCycle on this list.

There you have it, our top 5 picks for electric motorcycles in 2008. No pedals, no engine noise, just pure, 2-wheeled electric performance!