Honda previews first electric performance motorcycle

Honda on Tuesday unveiled a performance electric motorcycle concept as part of what the company says will be an ongoing emphasis on two-wheeled electrification.

Previewing a production model scheduled to go on sale in 2025, the Honda EV Fun concept aims to "provide a new emotional experience that is very different to ICE motorcycles," according to a press release.

Honda EV Fun concept

A battery pack of indeterminate size provides up to 62 miles of range (likely as measured on Japan's testing cycle) and can be recharged with a Combined Charging Standard (CCS) port. With partner companies representing half of the global motorcycle market, Honda has agreed to set a standard for swappable batteries—so users might be able to skip home charging or the wait at fast-chargers completely.

Up until now Honda has suggested that it will electrify mopeds, scooters, and the worker bees of the motorcycle market first. But the EV Fun concept especially emphasizes that it might not waste any time getting to the top of the sport bike market.

Honda EV Fun concept

Earlier efforts to cast electric motorcycles as sport bikes didn't land so soundly on the market; Brammo and Lightning, for instance, didn't succeed. But the general success of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire as a top-of-the-line electric bike indicates there's room for them in the market.

Honda said in the release that it's now beginning its entry into the global electric motorcycle market, a process that will continue through 2026, with greater expansion after that. This lines up with a 2022 statement from the company that it would launch 10 new electric bikes by 2025—including one for kids. Considering that Honda started out making gasoline engines for bicycles, then complete motorcycles, before becoming an automaker, it's only fitting that motorcycles will play a big role in its electrification plans. Now, how will its future electric motorcycles sound?

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