8 Great Electric 2-Wheelers to Convert You from Gasoline for Good

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Are electric motorcycles and scooters the future? Before you say no, at least go to your Harley dealer and test-ride an S2 Del Mar. Your outlook will be new and your brain will be smiling. Electric motorcycles and scooters are fast, silent fun.

Energica EsseEsse9+ RS

The Ferrari of electric superbikes, made in Modena, even, the Energica will thrill you like nothing else on electricity.

Think of Energica as the supercar of electric motorcycles. Modena, Italy, is home of Ferrari, Maserati, and Pagani, among others, and just down the road from Ducati in Bologna, so Energica is in good company. It got started in 2009 or 2010 (reports vary) and was officially founded in 2014. The name means “energetic” in Italian. Energica presented its first electric motorcycle, the Ego, at the big EICMA motorcycle show in Milan in 2012 to great acclaim and went into production in 2013.

Energica now offers four models: the Experia, an adventure touring bike; the Ego+, which, with 171 sustained hp and 164 lb-ft of torque, makes it what Energica says is "the world's most powerful and advanced electric motorcycle"; the Eva Ribelle, the naked (no fairings) version of the Ego+; and the bike I rode, the EsseEsse9+ RS, which the company says shares the technology and sophistication of the EGO+ and the EVA Ribelle but is made more suitable for casual riding without the demanding hyper-performance of the other two models.

I borrowed an EsseEsse9+ RS from Pro Italia, the SoCal Italian motorcycle retailer that is like a candy store for sport bikers. They specialize in Ducatis but also handle Aprilia, MV Augusta, and Energica (and Royal Enfield if you're on a budget yet still want to have a good time). If you accidentally stumbled into Pro Italia, you might think you'd died and gone to heaven.

The first thing I noticed about my loaner EsseEsse9 was the cool look—"classic Italian style," as Energica calls it. Then you see that almost the entire bike is battery, 21.5 kWh of it, more than at least one electric car that was once on the market, the Mistubishi iMiEV. The main part of the frame is taken up by a big square gift box of energy. That and the inverter make the bike feel top heavy as soon as you lift it off its kickstand.

"They lowered the center of gravity on the newer Experia, but on the EsseEsse9+ it was still kind of up there," said Pro Italia dealer principal Bill Nation. "It's a little daunting when you first ride it."

But once under way, the top-heaviness becomes less of a problem. And it fades completely away the first time you launch at full speed. Aye Chihuahua this thing is quick. Energica says it'll do 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds, which will rearrange everything in your head, including any misgivings you might have had about electric vehicles.

There is almost nothing in the world this quick. Almost by accident, a Tesla Model 3 that for all I know had been used to blowing the doors off almost everything with its 4.something 0-60 happened to line up next to me. I wasn't expecting it to race or anything—I was just trying out this new bike. Zwap! It was somewhere in the rearview. It followed me around for blocks wondering what had just happened.

This Energica's range is 261 miles city and 130 highway. Prices start at $22,850 for the 9+ and $23,800 for the RS.

"They're pretty much all pre-sold," said Nation. Easy to see why.

LiveWire S2 Del Mar

Conversion is easy. Just go down to your local Harley dealer and ask for a test ride of an S2 Del Mar electric motorcycle. Your whole outlook on electric propulsion will change. You will become a believer.

Rather than suffer the abuse of H-D PR, I just went to Harley of Glendale and spoke to Luca. Great guy. He was glad to take me on a ride through Griffith Park and even on the freeway, he on a LiveWire One and me on the new S2 Del Mar. Your eyeballs will pop open and your brain will gurgle.

Yes, Harley is now in the electric motorcycle business, more or less. After starting Project LiveWire to gauge market interest, it launched LiveWire as a division of Harley-Davidson two years ago, then spun it off in 2022, and the eMotomaker has been converting souls to electricity one demo ride at a time since.

With a 10.5-kWh (nominal) battery, the 436-pound bike can go 113 miles in city riding and 70 miles on the highway. With 84 hp and 194 lb-ft, it'll get to 60 in 3.0 seconds, Harley claims. It sure felt like that. Unlike the Energica, there is no fast charging, however, so long rides could take a while. But short spurts in the city will be memorable.

Pricing is a bargain for the performance you get, starting at $15,499. That's $7300 less than a LiveWire One, and the LiveWire One is 162 pounds heavier. I also did back-to-back rides of an S2 and a LiveWire One at The Bike Shed in LA and there was no comparison.

I guarantee if you do just one launch of an S2 Del Mar in sport mode, with the twist-grip all the way open, you will be forever convinced that acceleration is next to godliness. Only a very few vehicles give you the same thrill as high-power electric launches: the Pininfarina Battista, the Rimac Nevera, the Tesla Model S Plaid… I think that’s it. I've driven those and I'm saying you can add this bike to that list.

BMW CE 02

The new CE 02 is neither an e-motorbike nor an e-scooter, BMW says. "It's an eParkourer," the company insists.

The CE 02 has the fun, nimble tossability of an urban motorcycle matched with the ease of riding and accessibility of a scooter. BMW says it's made for skateboarders and other urban youth, but when I showed the price tag to an actual youthful skateboarder he said, "No skateboarders have $8000." Hey, I said, it starts at $7599. "No skateboarders have $7599," he said.

Well, they should get a job and start saving, because this is one fun little urban traffic squirter. I got to ride one through the streets of Cascais, Portugal, between Lisbon and Sintra, over cobblestone streets, trolley tracks and through narrow passageways and it was a blast. An eBlast.

The two 1.96-kWh batteries help create 15 hp max, 8 hp rated (Rated hp is the amount produced at a continuous, sustainable motor speed, max is the most hp a motor can produce, maybe. Send in your hate mail below.). In a Cadillac, 15 hp is nada. But in a little scooter, er, motorcycle, err, eParkour that weighs just 291 pounds even when it's full of electrons, it’s enough to have a good time.

The eParkourer has a steel frame and single-sided swing arm, telescopic front forks, ABS for the front wheel, stability control, something called recuperative stability control to reduce drag torque from the motor to keep the vehicle stable, and a reverse gear. It has three driving modes that will confuse the heck out of you—so just set it on Flash and take off. There's even a USB-C socket, because all skaters have mobile phones with USB-C chargers—none have ancient iPhones with that out-of-date charger.

Top speed of this street gizmo is 59 mph, and range is "more than 56 miles" according to WTMC, World Motorcycle Test Cycle. Your mileage will vary. I only rode it for about 20 minutes so I can't say what my mileage was.

Should you get this, or one of the other cool electro-squeezers on this page? A lot of people make choices based on style, and this thing is loaded with that. You may not be a skater, but with this you can make people think you are. And you'll be having fun doing it.

Ryvid Anthem

Ryvid says it's not a motorcycle company, it's a “light mobility company.” Its mission is to "make more efficient, lightweight, and eco-friendly vehicles that are less resource-intensive."

Co-founder Dong Tran grew up in Vietnam, where everyone gets around on a scooter. He was inspired not by the size of the scooters, but by their efficiency. Moving to Southern California and working on a Honda EV project and then at ICON Aircraft inspired him to transfer those efficiencies to modern, two-wheeled transport. So he and two others founded Ryvid.

The Anthem is not your typical electric motorcycle. Apart from being stylishly drawn, it incorporates innovations throughout. The basic frame is not welded metal tubing but folded stainless steel sheet that is bolted and fastened together with no welds. Instead of a single seat height that won't work for everyone, the Anthem's seat height can be electrically raised or lowered from 30 to 34 inches as you ride.

And instead of a giant, heavy battery, the Anthem is powered by a small 4.3-kWh battery that can be popped out and pulled on its own wheels to recharge at work under your desk, assuming you can wrestle the somewhat ungainly 87-pound power source from its frame, which wasn't easy. There's even a reverse gear available at the push of a button.

Its Pirelli Diablo Rosso IV tires are downright sporty, with a potential grip that begs for way more than the Anthem's 10 hp rated power (20 hp peak power) and 53 lb-ft torque. You can canyon carve as fast as your ability will let you. It is, as they say, a hoot.

One of the advantages of choosing a Ryvid Anthem is the company will pay for your motorcycle riding lessons. Specifically, Ryvid will give you a $250 credit toward your Anthem purchase upon completing your DMV-approved Beginner Training Course.