These are all the low-cost electric motorcycles available ...

I know, I know. Electric motorcycles are usually quite pricey. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) motorcycles, e-motorcycles usually carry a premium of a few thousand dollars. Their long list advantages usually makes it worth it, though that still might not ease the sting of sticker shock. But if you know where to look, then you&#;ll find a surprising number of affordable options on the market in North America. All of the electric motorcycles featured here are either already rolling on America&#;s roads or are expected to become available in the coming months.

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And while we&#;re at it, let&#;s put terms like &#;low-cost&#; and &#;affordable&#; into perspective. In the same way that $17,000 for a bicycle is expensive, while $17,000 for a house is pretty darn cheap, remember that all of these terms are relative.

So when we consider what makes a low-cost electric motorcycle affordable, we&#;re comparing to the current leaders of the industry, such as a $23,000 LiveWire One, a $24,000 Zero SR/F, or a $26,000 Energica Experia. Considering those prices, the rest of the electric motorcycles on this list are downright budget-friendly.

$2,795 CSC City Slicker electric motorcycle

We&#;ll start with a bike that was actually one of my first low-cost electric motorcycles, the CSC City Slicker.

I first threw my leg over one of these bad boys in late and put about six months of riding on it. The bike hasn&#;t changed much, but when I reviewed the version last year it had only gotten better.

Keep in mind though that the City Slicker is true to its name &#; this is a city-optimized electric motorcycle. Some might even call it a scooter in the shape of a motorcycle.

It tops out at 46 mph (75 km/h), which may seem slow, but it still works great in the city. This of course isn&#;t an interstate vehicle &#; I did one exit on the freeway and considered those couple of miles as my contribution to scientific-testing. But for local riding, it&#;s a great little urban vehicle.

The City Slicker can ride 2-up (as my wife can confirm), puts out around 4 kW of peak power, and gets around 30 miles (50 km) of range before you have to lug its removable battery inside for charging (or leave it on the bike if you&#;re lucky enough to have a garage to charge in).

The dealer fees push the final price closer to $3,200, but the company ships for free all over the US from their Azusa, California, headquarters.

Micah Toll taking a spin on a CSC City Slicker electric motorcycle

And while they aren&#;t full motorcycles, CSC also offers a couple different seated electric scooters known as the CSC Monterey and CSC Wiz. Both are worth checking out!

If you&#;re into a more utility-oriented electric scooter, you&#;ll want to take a look at the Wiz. It&#;s super affordable at just $2,245.

The Wiz gets up to around 43 mph and is another perfect city commuter vehicle, especially considering it comes with an included rear cargo box.

CSC Wiz scooter (left); CSC Monterey scooter (right)

If style is more your thing, the CSC Monterey is a beautiful scooter with styling that was stolen borrowed from the classic Honda Cub.

It&#;s a bit slower with a top speed of around 32 mph, but it turns heads everywhere it goes! It&#;s also an absolute steal at $1,945. There are plenty of electric bicycles that cost more than that!

Both the Wiz and the Monterey can seat two passengers, though you might end up a couple miles per hour short of the top speed when riding 2-up.

I reviewed the CSC Monterey (video below) and I also reviewed the CSC Wiz, so you&#;ll want to take a gander at those reviews to get my complete thoughts.

CSC RX1E

While we&#;re talking about CSC, I&#;ve got to mention the CSC RX1E. This adventure-looking bike is really more of an urban commuter, though it&#;s got the performance to hit the highways too.

I had the chance to test one near LA, and it was so much more impressive than I was expecting. I did a mix of highway and city riding, and the bike performed admirably in both cases.

There&#;s also more to the bike than meets the eye. I&#;m talking, ABS, included luggage racks, belt drive, roomy glove box in the &#;tank&#; area, and more. It&#;s the only one on this list with a liquid-cooled motor, which is part of what helps it hit a top speed of 80 mph (130 km/h) without stressing the motor too hard or overheating. It&#;s got a range of 112 miles (180 km) at slower speeds thanks to that 6.4 kWh battery, and it can pretty much handle any commute you can throw at it.

At its current price of $8,495 (or $7,995 with a current $500 off sale), it gets you similar performance to an entry-level Zero motorcycle but at a fraction of the price.

It&#;s also got that super comfortable adventure bike setup, even though it&#;s really more of an urban commuter. Basically, this is a pretty awesome e-moto with surprisingly good value.

Check out my video review below to see the bike in action.

Ryvid Anthem

The Ryvid Anthem might not be available yet, but it is expected to roll out this coming summer. Riders can already put down a deposit towards the $7,800 purchase price, or get to the front of the line for a Launch Edition of the bike by paying in full already.

The Ryvid Anthem is quite different from most of the bikes on this list. Not only does it have an eye-catching design, but the mechanics are just as innovative as the appearance.

The frame uses a unique folded metal design, there&#;s a removable battery feature that lets you bring the pack inside for charging, and the bike&#;s seat can even be adjusted up and down by as much as 4 inches &#; even while riding!

The performance specs put it in classic commuter territory with a top speed in the 70&#;s of mph, though there&#;s a higher torque gearing option that drops the top speed slightly in favor of quicker acceleration.

I rode around LA for a couple days on an Anthem prototype with the company&#;s founder Dong Tran, which you can read about here or check out my test ride video below.

Volcon Grunt

Volcon is a brand-new electric powersports company founded late last year in Austin.

They have a couple of side-by-side electric UTVs planned for later this year and next year, but they&#;ll be launching their first electric motorcycle in the next few months.

The Volcon Grunt debuted at $5,999, though the price increased to $7,999 earlier this year. But there&#;s good news &#; the price is back at $5,999 for a limited time as part of a year end sale.

The Grunt is an off-road electric motorcycle sporting a top speed of 60 mph (96 km/h). Its 35 kW (50 hp) motor is quite powerful for all sorts of dirt riding, and the bike&#;s fat tires will feel right at home in loose terrain.

Volcon also announced a dealer expansion into Latin America, so the bike will be available south of the US border soon, too.

And if you&#;re looking for a Grunt for your kids, the company also created a 35 mph (56 km/h) version known as the Runt.

Huck Cycles electric mopeds

Huck Cycles builds bikes that are somewhere between mopeds and electric motorcycles. They have classic moped styling and inspiration, yet can reach speeds approaching 55 mph (99 km/h), so I&#;m tempted to just lump Huck&#;s bikes in together with other small electric motorcycles.

Huck Cycles is a North Carolina-based and veteran-owned moped company that was founded in early . They build their electric mopeds locally, starting from the ground up with their own frame design.

Last year they moved into a larger 5,000-square-foot production facility and have been rapidly expanding production including new models like the Huck Overland and Huck Stinger.

The company highlights its customization process, which ensures that nearly no two bikes produced are the same. Depending on how you outfit the various models, prices range from around $6,000 to $8,500 or more.

ONYX RCR

The ONYX RCR is another electric moped that qualifies as an electric motorcycle thanks to its 60 mph (96 km/h) top speed.

The bike takes on a distinctly retro vibe and incorporates genuine wood panels into its design.

I had the chance to visit ONYX&#;s southern California factory where they assemble the bikes. There I witnessed the build process in action and had the opportunity to do some fun canyon road riding, which you can see in the video below.

Recent updates to the design added even more range and a whole host of fancy new features and components. For around $5,700 (or a current sale at $5,400), it&#;s worth a look!

Zero FXE

The Zero FXE replaced my previous favorite of Zero&#;s budget lineup, the FXS. The FXE comes with a new body design but incorporates much of what we knew and loved in the FXS. It may be one of the most expensive bikes on this list at $13,000, but it&#;s worth a look.

The Zero FXE is fully highway-capable with a top speed of around 85 mph (137 km/h).

In my experience it likes to sit closer to the mid 70s when cruising, but it can do that top speed if you really punch it. The bike is something of a supermoto mashed together with a commuter bike, and that makes it great for more than just cruising around town. You can do some light trail riding on it (which I did on its FXS ancestor), though you&#;ll want the more off-road optimized FX if you want to get really down and dirty.

The bike has a modest 7.2 kWh battery giving it a city range of 100 miles (160 km) and a mixed range of 75 miles (121 km). Cruise a constant 70 mph though and you&#;ll be lucky to get 40 miles (64 km) of range, so don&#;t expect this to be a great touring bike. But as a commuter motorcycle that can ride in the left lane for short jaunts, that range isn&#;t so bad. Again, that&#;s viewing it under the lens of riding to work &#; not canyon carving.

You can check out my test ride on an FXE here, or watch the video below.

Kollter ES1

Kollter is a fairly entrant to the US but offers a few interesting models, chief among them being the ES1.

I had the chance to test this one out too and you can read about the full test ride experience here.

The bike actually has some slightly Zero FXE-ish knock-off vibes, though at an obviously lower price. The ES1 Pro carries an MSRP of $6,995. There&#;s also an off-road model that offers more FX-ish vibes.

With 70+ mph speeds, the Kollter ES1 can hang out on the highway, though it may be limited to the right lane depending on the scenario.

It doesn&#;t have quite as nice styling as the bikes it imitates, but it has great value for an around the town e-moto that is fast enough for short hops on the highway.

Just don&#;t spend too long on the highway or your range will suffer. The bike comes with a city range rating of 65 miles (105 km), so you can imagine how short the highway range must be.

Check out my video review of the Kollter ES1 Pro below.

SONDORS Metacycle

If you&#;re a fan of electric motorcycles then you&#;ve surely heard of the SONDORS Metacycle by now.

The bike made waves upon its announcement in early and its bombshell low price of just $5,000. The price has since been increased to $6,500, but that still keeps it in the low-cost end of the electric motorcycle pricing spectrum.

The low price doesn&#;t mean low performance. SONDORS says the bike will offer an 80 mph (130 km/h) top speed and 80 mile (130 km) range, though in my testing I found that the top speed is reachable only when engaging a turbo boost button, and max cruising speed is closer to 60-70 mph (96-112 km/h).

Even so, it&#;s a great ride for around the city or short hops on the highway. I had it up to max speed on California highways during my test ride and it felt just as good at the top end as it did at the bottom end. But with a smaller 4 kWh battery, it&#;s a good idea not to ride too fast for too long or you&#;ll be looking for a charging outlet quickly.

A range test performed by the company put the real-world range when measured at higher speeds at closer to 60 miles, though many early owners have reported much lower ranges at high speed.

Any way you slice it, the 4,000 Wh battery pack isn&#;t terribly large, but is also bigger than most small-format electric motorcycles like the CSC City Slicker. And an expected 3 kWh auxiliary battery will be provided as an option to fill that negative space in the frame, offering more range. A storage compartment and a Level 2 charger will also be made available as accessory plugs for the frame window. There&#;s no estimated delivery date for those accessories though, so don&#;t think you&#;ll be able to add them in the next few weeks.

For more information, please visit electric motors motorcycles.

You can check out my test ride article on the Metacycle, or watch my video below.

NIU NGT electric scooter

I&#;m not sure if this one technically belongs in this list since it&#;s a scooter, but this is my article, so screw it!

I just reviewed the NIU NGT and this is one awesome smart scooter. The 3,500 kW peak-rated Bosch hub motor gives the bike 125cc-ish performance and tops out at just shy of 80 km/h (50 mph).

The electric scooter also comes with one of the best apps I&#;ve seen, giving you tons of information about your scooter remotely, plus offering GPS tracking and anti-theft features.

The pair of 2.1 kWh batteries provide a stated range of 140 km (87 mi), though in highest power mode, I end up getting more like 100 km (62 mi) of range.

All in all this is a great option if you&#;re looking for something more utilitarian in the scooter format. Priced at around $4,500 in the US, it costs more than some e-scooters but also offers a nicer package with more features and definitely more range. Though if you don&#;t need 60-80 miles of range for city commutes, there are lower range versions that cost significantly less.

More to come!

There you have it, the current best options in the US for low-cost electric motorcycles.

We had expected to see entries of other low-cost Asian electric motorcycles into the market in , but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the coming wave of motorcycles from China, such as the Sur Ron Storm Bee and VOGE ER10.

Even so, could be a big year for entries from even more local startups as well as new Asian imports arriving on American shores.

Are there any other electric motorcycles you have your eye on? Let us know in the comments section below!

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One thing has always bothered me about the bulk of electric motorcycles on the market today: they&#;re often oh so expensive. For example, I wrote about a crazy startup that really thinks you&#;ll spend $20,000 on your first motorcycle. That&#;s a lot for any motorcycle, but it&#;s especially nuts for a beginner bike.

And so, it&#;s refreshing to find an electric motorcycle that isn&#;t a big middle finger to your wallet, like the new Ryvid Outset. It hangs a tag for just $5,995 off its handlebar, and for that price you do get surprisingly useful range, and even better, it&#;s from a company that&#;s actually building bikes rather than just talking about doing it.

If Ryvid sounds familiar to you, it&#;s because I wrote about the company back in summer before it began production of its launch motorcycle, the Anthem. So many startup companies fail to launch and end up as another chapter in the book of vaporware. However, to Ryvid&#;s credit, it has been shipping motorcycles since September . Apparently, Ryvid is doing well enough that it needed to move to a new production facility in San Bernardino. It also began the development of a new model. That new model was finally unveiled at the tail end of April as the Outset, an even more affordable electric motorcycle from a company with good ideas.

Before I continue, I&#;ll show you where the company sits now.

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The Ryvid Anthem (below) is one of those electric motorcycles that stand so far out that some thought there was no way it would have entered production. The team at Ryvid engineered the Anthem to have a folded stainless steel chassis that weighs just 12 pounds.

The chassis looks like metal origami and it gives the Anthem its killer looks and light 313 weight. But that bike is more than just a frame as Ryvid saddles the motorcycle with an easily removable wheeled battery plus a unique system that allows a rider to electronically adjust their seat between 30 and 34 inches on the fly.

I may be underselling how cool that seat adjustment function is. Riders with shorter legs sometimes can&#;t put both feet down at a red light. Instead, they do what I do and put one foot down and have the other on the rear brake. The Ryvid Anthem&#;s electric seat adjustment allows you to have a tall motorcycle when you&#;re riding but a shorter one when you&#;re stopped. Harley-Davidson also has a trick seat like this with its Pan America and I hope other motorcycle manufacturers catch on.

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Back when I wrote about the Anthem in , Ryvid advertised a price of $7,800. It launched with a higher $8,995 price. Now, they&#;re $6,495. The Anthem started more expensive than promised like so many vehicles, but is now the rare exception of beating expectations. Reviews suggest the Anthem is a good ride, too, so it&#;s not just all show.

Now, Ryvid is coming out with its second model. It&#;s not as tricked out at the Anthem, but it trades techno-wizardry for an even lower price. I&#;m all for even cheaper ways to get on two wheels, so let&#;s take a look.

Right From The Outset

The Outset made its debut on April 19 at the 1 Motorcycle Show. However, Ryvid didn&#;t make a press release or publish any images of the motorcycle. So, if you weren&#;t at the 1 Motorcycle Show or didn&#;t follow Ryvid&#;s YouTube channel you had no idea the company had a new motorcycle. Ryvid has finally published press materials for this motorcycle so people like me can tell you about it!

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A lot of what you&#;re going to see with the Outset came straight from the Anthem. That includes the folded 316 stainless steel chassis that weighs around 12 pounds and the removable 4.3 kWh lithium battery on wheels. There&#;s nothing wrong with that, of course. Sharing parts helps keep costs down! That chassis is riveted and fastened together without any welding. This not only looks sweet but reduces complexity. It should also make the bikes a bit more repairable.

That 65-pound battery has an integrated 3.3Kw charger, which is capable of getting the battery from dead to 80 percent in 2.3 hours. A charge to 100 percent will take you 3.25 hours. That&#;s on 110V. If you have access to 220V or a Level 2 public charger, times drop to 1.3 hours and 1.85 hours, respectively.

Out of the other end, you get an electric motorcycle offering up to 70 miles of range. That figure assumes you&#;ll be riding in a city. If you hit country backroads, the kinds with 55 mph speed limits plus, you can expect a range of around 57 miles if you include some stopping in there. If you&#;re riding that 55 mph constantly, you&#;ll drain the pack in 46 miles.

I would stay away from the interstate, but if you must, you should know you&#;ll be guzzling that small battery down. Range drops down to 35 miles of constant riding. If you have some stop-and-go traffic to battle, Ryvid says you should get around 48 miles on the interstate. These calculations also assume the rider weighs 150 pounds, is wearing 10 pounds of gear, and the coefficient of drag of the bike and rider equal 0.7. So, your mileage will vary.

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All of this power routes into a swingarm-mounted 72V air-cooled brushless motor. It produces 10 HP with a peak punch of 20 HP. Torque output is 53 lb-ft and top speed is advertised to be 75 mph or better depending on rider and conditions.

At first, the Outset sounds like an Anthem with a new name, but here&#;s where the two machines divert. The Anthem was designed to be a pure city machine while the Outset is like many recent electric motorcycles in that it blends city performance with some off-road traits.

For starters, Ryvid got rid of the trick seat adjustment system, leaving you with a static 33-inch seat. That might be too high for many riders, but Ryvid believes the motorcycle&#;s narrow body will make up for it. In addition to the seat change, the Outset has a different headlight, mirrors, and wider handlebar. A highlight difference is the fully adjustable suspension, which is now two inches taller than the Anthem&#;s. A result of all of this is a more upright riding position than the Anthem, which also meant moving the footpegs forward and giving the Outset a longer sidestand to compensate for the taller ride. Ryvid says these changes, as well as having fewer body panels, is why the Outset has an even more affordable price than the Anthem does.

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Affordable Fun

Ryvid hasn&#;t published ground clearance just yet, but the Anthem sits 7.5 inches off of the ground. From the sounds of the changes here, the Outset likely gives you over 9 inches of ground clearance to play with. Sadly, you don&#;t get any real protection for that battery, so the Outset is best for the dirt and not anything too hardcore. There are no off-road modes either, but you do get an Eco mode, a Sport mode, regenerative braking, and a handy reverse mode.

Oh, and did I say the batteries are swappable between Ryvid products? If you bought an Anthem and now want an Outset, you can just buy the &#;sled&#; and have both bikes powered by the same battery. Ryvid says the Outset begins shipping this summer, so you bet I&#;m going to try to ride both it and its Anthem sibling.

Really, it sounds like the Outset is most of what you get with the Anthem, but shod in Dunlop Mutant tires and able to play in the dirt after you escape the office on a Friday afternoon. The best part is still the price. $5,995 makes the Outset not just one of the more affordable electric motorcycles out there, but places it among a list of bikes you can buy without going broke. I&#;m always a champion of cheaper ways to go motorcycling, so I&#;m all for that.

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