Motorcyclists call it a maxi-scooter but officially it's considered a motorcycle because that's what U.S. regulations call any two-wheel vehicle with more than 5 hp. They don’t classify anything as a motor scooter. Check your state laws to be sure.

The bike's design is known in the motorcycling world as a "maxi-scooter". This type of bike has a step-through design of a scooter but the size and power of a motorcycle. Gas-powered maxi-scooters similar to our electric one include the Suzuki Burgman and the Honda Silverwing. In the all-electric world our closest competitor in terms of style and size (but twice as expensive!) is the Vectrix VX-1.

Yes, this is a motorcycle and you will need to follow your state's vehicle registration requirements. If you purchase your bike through our online dealer we will send you the Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin (MCO). You take this along with the receipt to your local SoS/DMV office and pay the usual fees and taxes and receive a plate for your motorcycle. Note, most states also need to see proof of insurance when you register your bike.

If you purchased your bike from a bricks and mortar dealership they will take care of the registering your bike and will issue you with a temporary plate and a vehicle registration document. This allows you to ride your bike away from the dealers. The you'll visit the state office to get your regular plate.

Insurance is available through most major carriers. Our bike meets all Department of Transport safety regulations (the FMVSS) and comes with a VIN stamped on the frame (accessible next to the charge port) and on a plate attached to the battery box. The VIN is also on the Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin provided with your bike.

If your insurance agent is unsure about how to cover an all-electric motorcycle then we find that the most useful comparison is to say that the bike has the performance equivalence of a 250cc Vespa motor scooter.

The bike carries a 12 months / 10,000 mile "wheel to wheel" warranty. Everything apart from normal consumables (tires, brakes) are covered for 12 months / 10,0000 miles from the point of purchase. The warranty is transferrable.

If you purchased your bike at a physical (rather than virtual) dealership then both parts and labor are covered if serviced at an approved Electric Vehicle Manufacturing dealer. If you purchased your bike via our online dealership then the warranty covers parts only - but we cover parts shipment costs (but only when you make a claim via our online ticket system and receive a warranty claim authorization number).

No more than 4 hours, and that's if they're completely empty. There's no problem leaving the charger plugged in for longer than it takes to fully charge them (just like with a cell phone).

Note that the batteries we use have no "memory." This means that you can charge the batteries at any time - there is no need to wait until the batteries are fully drained before charging. In fact, your batteries will last even longer if you charge them after each and every use (although it is not a requirement to charge after every use).

No problem (except that you'll get wet too, and the road will be more slippery!) The bike is designed for use on the road. No adverse affects will occur in the rain or from road spray (other than the usual reduced visibility and reduced traction - everyone should ride with care in the rain!). The electric components are carefully installed and isolated from the frame - this protects the rider from the risk of electric shock.

The bike can safely be ridden through water up to 5 inches deep (which is the ground clearance for the bike). If you ride in deeper water the battery pack may develop an internal short circuit. This isn't dangerous but will cause the bike to shut down to prevent damage. If this happens simply remove the bike from the deep water and let it dry.

Yes. The bike is designed for use on the road and performs best on paved roads, however, you can ride it on dirt roads intended for normal road traffic. John, the co-founder of EVMFG lives on a dirt road and regularly rides his bike on dirt roads.

Count on 50 miles but in exceptional situations, you can go 90 if you ride slowly or 30 if you ride all the way at top speed. We use such a wide range so we don't promise you the moon when you're riding on plain old earth

The short version is that if you ride at a constant 30mph on a flat road with no wind the range will be approximately 90 miles. Or if you ride at 55mph constantly then the range will be closer to 30 miles. Yes, we realize that no one rides in these conditions. That's why we quote a "city" range of 50 miles which means on a range of roads with different grades and different speeds with a reasonable riding style (i.e. keeping up with traffic but not racing traffic) you can expect to be able to travel 50 miles.

Please be aware that there are bikes out there that make VERY optimisitc range claims. Check out the fine print that states the speed used. If there is no fine print then ask the vendor. If the vendor doesn't know then ask yourself do you want to buy from them? If you want to find out the size of the battery pack for a LiFePO4 powered bike then you can use this formula: (number of cells) * 3.2 volts per cell * Ah size of batteries (usually 40Ah, 50Ah or 60Ah) = pack size in kWh. If their pack is smaller than ours then in all likelihood their bike will have less range. Just like Scotty in Star Trek says "Captain, I canna break the laws of physics".

We can't say "never" - however, like most all-electric vehicles, has very, very low service requirements. All the owner has to do is to check the tires and brakes. Tires normally have an expected life of XXXX miles. Brakes on a motorcycle have a normal life of YYYY miles. On our bike the life of the brakes can likely be doubled because of regenerative braking (no reliable data exists to be able to give an accurate brakepad lifetime at present).

There is no oil to change, no spark plug or carburettor. There is no seperate starter battery which can lose power or fail to charge properly.

All the driveline components on the bike use solid-state electronics and are designed for use in a harsh environment - you can expect all these components (if used within their intended operating ranges) to last the lifetime of the bike.

We will be starting to set up a national dealership network towards the end of 2009 (in time for the 2010 season). If you're interested in becoming a dealer then please contact us. Note that we are only looking for dealers with a bricks and mortar presence who are willing to sell and service our bikes in person. We do not offer a drop ship program.

We are also exploring "non-traditional" sales channels using "vehicle brokers", so if you have a passion for all electric bikes and you have a novel idea for how to sell them please contact us. We'll at least listen - even if we can't promise that we'll be able to work with you.

Note that our approach is based on the following:

1. To sell a new vehicle a dealer must be state licensed and that requires a physical presence and a repair facility
2. To sell over the internet a dealer must be set up to handle remote support. This is a specialized situation which is uncommon for most dealers and so we prefer to handle internet sales ourselves.
3. We want to set up a dealer network of enlightened dealers committed to giving a potentially new type of customer the highest level of customer service and support. We'd much rather have all our sales handled via such dealers - an internet sale is a poor substitute for a well handled local sale. However, without internet sales we would find it very hard to "get started".

An electric vehicle is a zero-emission vehicle at the point of use. In general there are two types of emissions that are of concern. The first is CO2 - this is a "greenhouse gas" which much of the world's scientific community attributes to global warming with possibly disastrous affects on our environment. The second type of emissions are those that contribute to smog which in turn is a recognized cause of several breathing related illnesses (asthma etc.).

An EV is clean.

Another key issue is that an EV doesn't directly use fossil fuels. Not using fossil fuels has two positive environmental impacts: First and most obvious is that extraction and refining of fossil fuel has a large negative impact on the environment. Second, and less obvious, is the distribution chain for gasoline for cars is extensive and also has a negative environmental impact.

An EV uses a clean fuel that can be delivered direct to your house via your pre-existing electrical supply.

Yes and no.

Yes, much of our electricity is currently produced by burning fossil fuels - mostly coal but also oil and natural gas. This use of a fossil fuel has many of the same concerns as burning fossil fuel directly in a car or motorcycle. However, a key advantage of shifting more of the fossil fuel use to a power station is that the usage becomes centralized and is thus easier to control in terms of using pollution reducing technologies. Would you rather make sure 240 million tailpipes were running as cleanly as possible or 2 thousand power stations?

The "no" part is recognizing the fact that not all electricity is generated by burning fossil fuel. There are many alternative energy sources and the percentage of "clean energy" usage is increasing year over year. If you use an EV today it's environmental impact will decrease over time. If you use a gasoline powered vehicle today it's environmental impact will increase over time. Which would you rather?

Here is the carbon footprint for various vehicles expressed as the grams of CO2 equivalent per kilometer...

As you can see the total carbon footprint (grams of CO2 output) is made up of two components. The first column is the amount of carbon generated when using the energy. When you burn gas it emits CO2, when you use electricity no CO2 is emitted. However, that's not the whole story - the second column shows the amount of CO2 produced in the energy production process. For gasoline this includes the refining, processing and delivery. For electricity it includes CO2 emitted during generation. As you can see gas is better in the production phase "costing" about 10% of the total CO2 produced. However, when you look at the total the overall carbon footprint for our electric scooter is still far smaller.

Our bike is twice as good as its closest competitor and almost thirteen times better than a large SUV!

Yes! The best way of running your bike using electricity generated from solar or wind power would be to attach the output from your alternative energy source to the electricity distribution grid and take advantage of "net-metering". Net-metering is a scheme whereby you sell power back to the power company. Think of the grid like a large "electricity storage bank" - your solar panels (or windmill) at home makes "deposits" into the "bank" and while you're out on the road you can "draw electricity out of your bank account" by connecting to any standard electric socket.

Unfortunately carrying a solar panel array mounted on the bike would be far less effective due to the angle of the panels to the sun and the size of the panels required to harvest enough sunlight to make an effective difference to your range. Carrying a small solar panel to set up when you park your bike won't generate enough energy to be worthwhile - and when you can achieve a better end result (more clean energy generated) by using panels installed at home - why bother?

Some folks also ask if they could put a wind turbine on the bike and use the airflow from riding the bike to spin the turbine and generate "free" electricity. This won't work - because putting a wind turbine on the bike will slow it down and it will take more energy to push the bike along the road. This amount of increased energy is greater than the amount you can generate - so it's a net loss. Carrying a wind turbine will greatly reduce your range.

You can easily save over $1000 per year - if you have a longer commute and you drive a pickup truck you can easily save twice that.