One of the biggest concerns about electric motorcycles is that, as of right now, buyers pay a metric ton of money for something full of compromises, be it range or charging speed. An electric motorcycle startup has just broken an important record: The most miles ridden on a single charge. A Verge TS Pro, a new electric production motorcycle with a crazy hubless wheel and 137 HP, just rode 193 miles without recharging. It’s impressive, but also keep your expectations in check.
Motorcycle buyers in some regions haven’t quite latched on to electric motorcycles like they have to electric cars. Here in America, electric motorcycle brands have been dropping like flies as adoption remains slow. Elsewhere, some folks still have reservations about going electric for their motorcycle just yet.
I got to spend a year and a half with an electric motorcycle as my primary transportation, and I understood the problem. Many electric motorcycle firms will charge you upwards of $20,000 for a bike that goes fewer than 100 miles on a charge before it has to sit and charge for an hour or two. A lot of motorcycle riders in the West straddle two wheels for fun, and there’s not a ton of fun to be had spending more time charging than riding.
Sadly, battery technology just isn’t where it needs to be to completely fix this problem, but the folks of Verge Motorcycles think they have the coolest, most advanced electric motorcycles on the market yet. Not only does the company’s Verge TS Pro have a wicked hubless rear wheel design and 137 HP, but it just set the world record for the most miles ridden on a single charge by an electric motorcycle.
I will get to the record and the small caveat in a moment here. Some of you are probably wondering what the heck a Verge even is. I first covered this company back in January 2023 and then covered it again in November 2023 when the company brought real motorcycles to the Los Angeles Auto Show.
A Fast Donut
Here’s a lightning-quick backstory for you from my previous report:
Back in 2018, Teemu Saukkio had an idea. He felt that the motorcycle market was ripe for more attitude with a dose of innovation. Finnish motorcycle manufacturer RMK Vehicle Corporation sprouted up to make Saukkio’s idea a reality. The RMK E2 was designed in Saukkio’s garage and by working at a breakneck pace, the motorcycle made it to EICMA 2019. The company, now called Verge Motorcycles, presented the TS, an electric motorcycle ripped right out of the dreams of many bikers.
Finland-based Verge launched and began shipping motorcycles to customers in Europe in late 2022, but a lengthy homologation testing process for the United States market has pushed the company’s American launch to this year.
At first, the biggest selling point of a Verge has always been its rear wheel. Verge has leaned so heavily on its special wheel design that it has marketed itself as “Reinventing The Wheel.” Of course, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you why because you’ve already seen the photos in this piece.
The Verge team designed the TS architecture to be as lightweight as possible while also maximizing space. A typical electric motorcycle has a big battery residing where an ICE motorcycle’s engine would be. Then, behind that big battery would be the bike’s electric motor. That motor would then deliver power to the rear wheel through a chain or a belt. In Verge’s eye, this is bad for the motorcycle’s center of gravity and adds unnecessary maintenance, too.
Moving the motor to the rear wheel means that a company can fit an even larger battery into the motorcycle for better range. It also means no chain to oil and belt to check. Now, pretty much every other company that has followed this path has used a hub motor. Verge took a different path and engineered a hubless motor, from my previous story:
At the heart of a Verge TS is its hubless wheel, which contains the motorcycle’s motor. The inner part of this wheel system is attached to a swingarm, and the outer part is what turns. Verge says that this motor works using the electromagnets on the wheel that repel each other, rotating the assembly. The end result is a motorcycle with a big ol’ donut hole where the rear wheel is. Verge says that this doesn’t just look killer, but has one huge benefit: the power produced by the motor goes directly to the wheel.
Verge says that the entire drivetrain is housed in that rear wheel, leaving the body of the cycle free for the large battery. Sadly, the front wheel isn’t of a wild design, but the motorcycle still looks plenty awesome.
The Verge TS comes in three flavors. The base model is the TS, which was slated to cost $26,900. The cheapest Verge had motor rated at 107 HP and 516 lb-ft torque at the wheel. The base TS hit 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and raced on to a top speed of 112 mph. Range is said to be up to 155 miles. This motorcycle can feed from DC fast charging and tops up in as quickly as 55 minutes.
The reason why I used the past tense there is because Verge’s website now only shows the two higher models, the TS Pro and the TS Ultra.
For $29,900, the TS Pro motorcycle bumps the power up to 137 HP and 737 lb-ft torque. That’s good enough to shave a full second off of the 60 mph acceleration time, and top speed is upped to 124 mph. The battery pack is said to last 217 miles and charging is as quick as 35 minutes. For $30,900, you can also get your TS Pro in the California Edition, which gives you sweet orange paint.
Finally, for a whopper of a price, $44,900, you can get the TS Ultra. Like a smartphone with such a name, you get some ridiculous numbers.
Power tops out at 201 HP and you get 885 lb-ft torque. That cuts acceleration to 60 mph down to 2.5 seconds. The top speed is the same but range ups to a maximum of 233 miles. Charging is as quick as 25 minutes. The Verge TS and TS Pro come with a 20.2 kWh battery of Verge’s own design while the Ultra uses a 21.8 kWh pack. Today, Verge says the TS Pro is “the world’s most advanced electric motorcycle.”
Proving That Long Range
On March 22, Verge decided to prove its range claims by breaking a world record. In a promotional video published by the company, it said that it needed to hit at least 180 miles to beat the previous record for “The longest journey by an electric motorbike on a single charge.”
To achieve this record, Verge got two influencers, Sam Clarke and Sara Sloman, to ride a single unmodified Verge TS Pro around the urban and suburban areas inside the London M25 ring road. As per the video and release note, the ride happened on public roads, and the riders kept going with traffic, making it a real-world test.
Sam and Sara were aided by a convoy of cars as support vehicles, and the plan was to switch riders every 60 minutes to 90 minutes. This switching schedule was also chosen so that everyone could get a break from driving or riding if they needed to. To illustrate how slow this ride was in London’s busy traffic, the first rider changeover happened at only 15 miles in.
The team originally stopped the run at 187 miles while the bike still had enough charge left for the computers to report data. Sadly, the GPS data, which is used to verify the record, had a 10-mile gap in it due to signal loss, requiring the team to get back out there and ride the motorcycle some more. When this speedbump occurred, the bike read 23 percent charge left with an estimated 39 miles remaining, so out they went.
Finally, at the end of the run after 16 hours of riding, the GPS had recorded 193 miles ridden. The bike itself still had 7 percent left in its battery, but the team shut it down there with the record secured. Verge Motorcycles did something that hadn’t been done before and in the process, proved that its bikes really do have a humongous range.
All of this is awesome for sure, and I congratulate Sam and Sara for their achievement!
But as I said, you, as a buyer, should also keep your expectations in check. Electric motorcycles are like electric cars, where they get their best range at slow speeds rather than highway speeds. The route did have some motorway riding, but they weren’t exactly simulating an American commute. The riders even note that a key to beating the record was limiting stop-and-go scenarios and limiting time spent at higher speeds.
Verge says that if you ride at a steady state of 56 mph, a TS Pro should last you 124 miles. In my experience, riding something like a Zero DSR/X at a constant 56 mph will get you not too far away from that number. Going 56 mph would be dangerous on an American highway, too, so you’ll be doing that speed on backroads just like I did, or sacrificing a ton of range for 70 mph or better.
So, the Verge TS still suffers from pretty much the same problems other electric motorcycles do, but it can last just a little bit longer. As Verge’s new world record proves, electric motorcycles still work best in urban and suburban environments. Will Americans pay between $29,900 and $44,900 for something like this? There have been much cheaper electric bikes that have struggled to find buyers, so we’ll have to see if that donut wheel gets riders interested in paying more. But I also plan on taking a ride for myself to tell you if the hubless tech lives up to the hype.
This an impressive engineering achievement. $30k for a bike is still a lot of scratch.
Physics are not in favor of electric motorcycle touring, and you should not be surprised. Aerodynamics are a drag.
35kWh+ are required for a 200 km stint at highway speeds.
That is quite a lot of weight and quite a lot of charging in between stints.
i rode a1980 honda cx 500 for pver 30000 miles during the time i owned it 1983-early 1990s. urban riding and some 5&10 mile 1 way highway commuting, longer regional trips, etc. most i could get on the top 2.2 gallons of 2.9 gallon tank was maybe 115miles. 194 sounds like a massive range improvement over my not-lightweight midsize ICE bike. the cost of this thing seems to be more of a limiting factor. my 3 year used Bike was affordable purchase for a just starting out on own kid. dirt cheap to own, insure and maintain. mainly on acquisition cost, dont think this e-cycle will bring that many 20 year olds into US showrooms.
193 miles at average speed of 15mph isn’t impressive. More specifically a pure duty cycle of light acceleration to low speed followed by a regen.
“Hubless” – so it has a hub but in not the “traditional sense…
Baby steps, but good.
885 lb-ft of torque. I’m kind of disappointed it doesn’t come with a tow hitch.
How much? Blinks eyes
My KLR650 would get a consistent 250 miles before I started sweating so HA!
To be serious this is pretty cool, I would love to give an electric bike a go one day.
I started reading this rooting for the Verge, but the future is still the future.
Yeah, I bought a 2020 Mini Cooper SE with a 110+ mile range for about $16k. Not a two wheeler, but much more practical for the money. At a public charger I can charge to full in about 35 minutes.
The price of this bike is crazy. But I find the motor/wheel design to be really interesting.
I’m wondering if that motor design could be adapted for automotive use.
Of course doing that would mean people wouldn’t be able do to aftermarket wheels anymore… AND WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!!!
This has about the same HP and cost as a Kia EV6, only the EV6 has a longer range with more seats a reasonable trunk (boot) and A/C.
The bike has about 3 times (only 2 if you get the AWD Kia) the torque which must be great for on saving front tire wear. Is it ever on the ground lol…
WHERE ARE THE FREAKING FAIRINGS! The human body and motorcycles are wildly not aerodynamic. Put some fairings on the bike to increase range and improve rider comfort. I hate the naked bike trend.
Even a tiny windshield on my Zero was good for 10% range.
Have you seen Guy Martin’s 300mph challenge bike? its all fairing, an EV bike should be the same or close to it.
All bikes would be a bit Tron like though.
https://www.rideapart.com/news/486674/guy-martin-one-mile-speed-record-attempt/
You say that like it’s a bad thing. I would ride the fuck out of an electric lightcycle.
It is disappointing that they invest so little in aero.
Although at 12mph drag is small enough that I can beat it just by pedalling.
I can’t understand the point of bragging about such a wildly pointless record.
Because people are competitive. Records are made to be broken.
It’s the bragging I don’t understand.
It’s so obviously a pointless way to use a motorcycle. To ride fewer than 200 miles so slowly you need multiple riders. So slowly that a bicycle could have been faster. It’s highlighting the flaws of the device. I bet they could have gone further in less time using rental scooters.
someone needs to pick up Craig Vetters mantle and do hypermilling challenges with these electric motorcycles. I think with some aluminum and cardboard we can get 250 miles with an electric bike
The specs on the Ultra are truly eye-watering. Good enough for some serious stump-pulling, although I doubt the frame could handle that. I can only imagine that a bunch of rich cycle enthusiasts might have incidents hoping that Lakitu will drag them back on to the road, but instead get a one way ticket to the pearly gates.
That is an average speed of 12mph. Which makes the record 100% pointless. I’m over 50 and could ride a decent e-bike that distance in less time. And it would cost 10-15% as much. Motorcycles are the worst use-case for BEVs. Until batteries advance to the point they are 2-4x as energy dense there really isn’t much point.
Fun fact:
This is almost exactly a metric ton of quarters.
It’s a far-off goal, but I really don’t think these electric bikes are going to really take off until they can offer significant performance upgrades or cost savings, preferably both. If this were price competitive with a Royal Enfield, that sort of range might not be a huge downfall. If this had longer range and/or really quick charging, they could get more money. But these prices with that range and charging speed…I just don’t see it.
It also looks like it could be pretty unwieldy. This motor setup and the big battery seem like they’d mess with your weight distribution (I’d be happy to be wrong–I really don’t know how much the engines and tanks weigh on current bikes or how they design for balance, just that this looks like it puts a lot of weight in a couple locations). I know there’s only so much you can do for aero on a bike (diminishing returns and all that), but cramming more heavy battery into a bike doesn’t feel like the solution that makes for a good ride. I feel like we need lighter battery tech and/or better energy density to make a really fun bike.
I mean, lowering the center of gravity and reducing unsprung weight are always good, so yay for wheel motor I guess? But I can’t tell if the battery is actually taking up those whole “tank” and “engine” areas… I’d be curious to ride one. You’re guessing unwieldy, I was thinking it probably handles like a dream.
The wheel motor is likely a huge increase in unsprung weight. As Mercedes mentioned lower in the comments Motorcycle.com said it handles poorly.
I’d also love to try it and confirm or contradict my suspicions. Good to know someone has an impression opposite mine. I may be way off base. If it does handle really well, it’s still out of my budget, but it might be cool if I could get a used one down the road.
I have ridden zero dual sport and loved it, but if I’m gonna get an electric two wheel anything it’s gonna be one of those scooter seated electric bicycles that can go 30 or 40 miles on a charge and up to near 25 miles/hr and it’ll be significantly cheaper than an electric motorcycle for similar commuting chores.
Like Mercedes said, the battery technology just isn’t there yet for electric motorcycles. We’re currently where electric cars were in the 1990’s: yes technically you can do it, but not in a way or at a price that anyone is willing to buy.
Does anyone really know what the market for electric motorcycles actually IS? Me neither, but I don’t really think it’s touring. I think it’s commuting. Given today’s battery technology, more range *always* equals more weight, and the math just doesn’t math for me. 80-100 miles of range is more than plenty for most commutes that you’d want to do on 2 wheels. Commuters also don’t need 3 second 0-60 times.
I wish e-motorcycle manufacturers would concentrate on commuter bikes with reasonable price tags.
The problem is the bike you are describing would still cost around $15,000. Even the Kawasaki Z e1 is over $7,400, and that has a top speed of ~50 mph and a range of 40 miles. My $4,000 Honda Monkey is faster than that an gets 110 mpg; you have to be extremely motivated to go EV to want to spend that kind of premium over a 125 cc gas bike.
The problem is that batteries are extremely expensive. A bike with a range of 100 miles is going to cost around $15,000 (like the Livewire Del Mar) irrespective of 0-60 time. While there may not be much of a market for current EV motorcycles, I don’t see there being any market for a stripped down, slow, commuter-oriented motorcycle with a five digit price tag.
Realistically, the technology is simply not where it needs to be for EV motorcycles to be practical.
I agree… and there is a continuously blurring line between the fastest and most capable e-bicycles and e-motorcycles/scooters. I’m just going to let others figure it out and see where we wind up.
New Delhi’s air pollution has gotten so bad they’re launching massive restrictions on non-electric vehicles. I’m guessing they’re not the only megacity doing this or contemplating it.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/travel-news/delhi-pollution-crisis-vehicle-restrictions-fines-and-essential-tips-for-travellers/articleshow/115480462.cms
I’m sure a lot of the new demand will go to smaller scooters or commuter motorcycles, but bigger electric motorcycles would be a part of that market.
I have no idea how that would affect the US though.
At 540.133 lbs it better be able to pick it’s own ass up after being laid on its side and balance itself at low speeds.
I love BEVs but even with as good as they are they won’t get me to like overweight bikes.
I think the super heavy rear wheel will have such a gyroscope effect it’ll never fall over!
Let alone want to lean into a turn.
Sorry, how does it handle with what has to be a massive amount of unsprung weight on the rear wheel?
Overall opinion, I like idea of electric motorcycles but they are always going to struggle because motorcycles just have terrible aerodynamics.
I was just about to write a comment about the unsprung weight, but you beat me to it. It would be interesting to know how much that rear wheel weighs. I presume it adds several pounds, which isn’t good considering this is a performance-oriented motorcycle (particularly the TS Ultra with its 2.5 second 0-60 time).
Motorcycle.com wasn’t a fan of the handling:
16 hours to go under 200 miles is insane, but I guess that’s London traffic for you.
Also, there was recently a hubless bicycle from Kickstarter that got a lot of attention for how bad it was (in large part thanks to this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB7pBrudFbg).
One of the things mentioned was the friction from all the rollers required compared to having two small bearings in a hub. Has Verge mentioned how they got around the downsides? I still don’t buy that they figured out something that every other attempt at them has missed, and that no reputable brand uses them for a reason.
I have a brother-in-law who lives in London. I strongly suspect that their average of 12mph involved quite a lot of holding up traffic.
I figured half the time was sitting still. Which shouldn’t really be using any of those precious electrons, save for keeping the screen on. Not like you have AC or any large power draw when idle.
This is a cool bike, but the specs and price of the two cheaper models are similar to that of the Harley-Davidson Livewire which was a bit of a sales flop. I don’t get the impression the Livewire One sold any better after the price drop and name change (I have still never seen one in the wild), and that bike is considerably cheaper than the base model Verge.
I believe their range estimates, although I would add a massive caveat that range at a steady-ish 56 mph is very different from 70+ mph highway cruising. I could do ~110 miles with my Livewire at 55 mph (that had a slightly smaller battery than the TS Pro). With the cruise control set at 70 mph, range was about 70 miles. At 80, range was closer to 50 miles.
I’m not sure what range I could have achieved with the Livewire if I drove in terrible traffic, mostly because running through a full charge in 20 mph rush hour traffic sounds too miserable to attempt.
Again, I think this bike is exceptionally cool and I really want to ride one, particularly the TS Ultra. I don’t think it is a major improvement on what we already have, though, and those bikes have mostly failed.
Yeah, I’m not entirely sure who is going to buy these things. The Pro costs as much as the original LiveWire did and the Ultra is so much more!
This bike is almost certainly not going to be successful at that price point. I can’t understand why companies like this keep trying. It seems like insanity to build yet another electric motorcycle with bonkers performance and an equally bonkers price.
Please keep writing about them, though. The articles are enjoyable, even if the bikes are doomed to fail.
Money laundering?