Electric Motorbikes and Motorcycles UK

This is the question that decides which bikes are actually open to you, and it catches most people out because electric motorbikes are rated by continuous power rather than engine size.

A CBT is the entry point. Complete a one-day Compulsory Basic Training course at 17 and you can ride anything up to 11kW on L-plates, which covers most electric commuters and every one of our mopeds. No theory test, no practical test, and the certificate lasts two years.

An A1 licence lifts you to the same 11kW ceiling without L-plates and without renewing every two years. A2 takes you to 35kW, which is where the serious road bikes start — a Zero S or DS restricted to A2 sits here. A full A licence, available from 24, removes the ceiling entirely and opens up the SR/F and SR/S.

Off-road is different again. A Sur-Ron, a Talaria or a Stark VARG ridden on private land needs no licence at all. The moment it touches a public road it needs registration, insurance and the right entitlement, and most of them are not road legal from the factory.

Quoted range is measured in ideal conditions. Real range on a motorbike is more sensitive to speed than it is on a car, because you are pushing a rider through the air rather than a smooth shell.

As a working rule, a bike quoted at 100 miles will do close to that in town at 30-40mph, around 70 on a mixed commute, and closer to 50 if you sit at 70mph on a motorway. Cold weather takes another 10 to 20 per cent off. None of that is a fault; it is the same physics that governs every electric vehicle.

Charging splits into two camps. Every bike we sell charges from a standard 13A domestic socket, typically in four to eight hours, which is the way most owners actually do it — plugged in overnight in a garage or a shed. Bikes with rapid charging can reach 95 per cent in around an hour on a public charger, which matters if you tour.

The battery itself is the expensive part, and the one people worry about. Modern lithium packs in road bikes are warranted for five years and typically retain 80 per cent of capacity past 100,000 miles. We have bikes on the road from 2017 still running their original packs.

A full charge on a mid-size electric motorbike takes roughly 6kWh. On a typical domestic tariff that is under £1.60, and on an overnight EV rate it is nearer 45p. The equivalent journey on a 500cc petrol bike costs several pounds in fuel alone.

Servicing is where the gap widens. There is no oil, no filters, no spark plugs, no valve clearances, no chain on a belt-drive bike. A service is brake fluid, tyres, brake pads and a software check. Most owners spend a fraction of what they spent on a comparable petrol machine.

On top of that, electric motorbikes are exempt from road tax, exempt from the London Congestion Charge and ULEZ, and free to park in a growing number of boroughs. If you are commuting into a city, those three exemptions on their own often cover the price difference within a couple of years. Finance is available on every new and used road bike we sell.

Zero Motorcycles is the benchmark for road riding. American-built, belt drive, proper motorcycle chassis and brakes, ranges from 90 to 180 miles. If you want one bike that commutes during the week and tours at the weekend, this is the range to look at.

Stark Future builds the VARG, the fastest production electric motocross bike made, and the road legal VARG EX. If you ride enduro or motocross and you are done with two-strokes, nothing else comes close.

Sur-Ron and Talaria are the light off-road end. Bicycle-sized, genuinely quick, and the reason a lot of riders get into electric in the first place. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, endlessly modifiable.

Energica is the Italian superbike end of the market — the bikes that supplied the MotoE world championship grid. Heavy, fast, rapid-charging and built for distance.

VMoto Super Soco covers scooters and mopeds, where a CBT and a low price get you a genuinely practical city vehicle.