We are stoked at the growing popularity of electric vehicles, however, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about electric motorcycles, specifically electric motorcycle charging. This article will answer some of your biggest questions and tell you everything you need to know about powering your electric motorcycle.
Even though electric vehicles are still relatively new in Australia, by 2040, electric vehicles (EVs) are projected to account for 70% to 100% of new vehicle sales and at least 30% of the vehicle fleet in Australia.
Infrastructure Australia is well underway developing a massive network of fast-charging stations all over the country to power this growing sustainable technology.
The questions we answer in this article are:
Not exactly, currently there are three different types of EV chargers available. The below explanation was sourced from the Electrical Vehicle Council.
Level 1:
Existing power point (10-15 Amp, single phase), used in combination with a specialised cable which is supplied with the vehicle.
Used in standalone domestic homes.
This method will add between 10 and 20km of range per hour plugged in.
It will top up daily use, but will not fully recharge a typical pure electric vehicle overnight.
Level 2:
A dedicated AC EV charger at up to 7kW (32 Amp, single phase).
Typically installed in homes, apartment complexes, workplaces, shopping centres, hotels, etc – anywhere the vehicle will be parked for a while.
This method will add up to 40km of range per hour plugged in.
It will top up average daily vehicle use in an hour, or deliver a full recharge overnight.
Level 3:
A dedicated DC EV charger at power levels from 25kW to 350kW (40 – 500 Amp, three phase).
Typically used in commercial premises and road-side locations to provide for faster recharging than Level 1 and 2 can achieve.
At the lower end, this method will add up to 150km of range per hour plugged in. At the upper end, this method can fully recharge some electric vehicles in 10 to 15 minutes.
You can charge your e-motorcycle at home by accessing power from the grid you same way you would charge anything electric. Electric motorcycles come their own charging cable as standard that you are able to plug in to any three-pin socket – a level 1 charger.
You can also talk to specialist electricians about installing a level 2 charger in your home for faster charging.
Similar to charging at home, unless your workplace has a level 2 charging station installed, all you will need is any three pin socket to charge your motorcycle. However, if you have charged your bike overnight while at home, the battery will keep it’s charge meaning that hopefully you shouldn’t need to worry about charging your motorcycle at work.
As of November 2021, there are around 3,000 public chargers installed across the country, mainly clustered around major cities, with more being built in the year to come. You can find public charging stations at many major service stations, and also at major shopping centres. Many e-motorcycle brands have smartphone apps that communicate allow your bike to communicate with your device, these apps have a feature that shows you the closest charging stations within your immediate area.
If you would like to see how many charging stations are in your local area, check out this map by the Electric Vehicle Council.
As we mentioned above, when you purchase an electric motorcycle you will receive a charging cable as standard. There is a push across the electric vehicle industry to standardise charging ports making charging stations available to every vehicle, every where.
You will need to find out whether your specific electric motorcycle is suitable for the charging station available.
Again this is dependant on the electric motorcycle you have.
Energica motorcycles have a range of approximately 160 – 250km per charge depending on the model you have.
Zero motorcycles have a range of approcimately 110 – 160km per charge depending on the model.
As battery technology improves the distance you will be able to travel will improve also.
To sound like a broken record, each electric motorcycle brand is different depending on the technology it’s developed. Energica motorcycles can take an hour to charge, whereas Zero motorcycles can take up to two hours.
Hopefully this article has answered the questions you have about charging your electric motorcycle and where you can access electric motorcycle charging. If you still have any unanswered questions, please comment below, or email to ask us. We will be updating this article as time goes on to give you as much information you need to make the switch to EV motorcycles.
If you have a garage with easy access to a regular AC socket, you can plug in overnight and wake up to a fully-charged battery every morning. If your workplace is likewise set up with outlets in the parking area, then you should be fine using your electric motorcycle as a daily commuter. This article gives you background to the options associated with these ways of charging.
If you have to make a longer trip, it's important to know where there are charge stations and how they work. These are mainly clustered around large cities, which is why electric motorcycles are usually marketed more as a form of urban transportation. Read on for more details.
According to the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, there are currently 200,000 public 'Level 2' charging stations and 25,000 DC fast-charge stations in Europe. There are many apps that help you find and use these charging stations. For example if you get the PlugShare app, you can set filters for the type of charging outlets that are compatible with your vehicle, and for most commercial stations, you can even find out whether the chargers are already in use, or whether they're working or broken. I've linked to the download at the bottom of this article.
But before we continue further, let's get familiar with the technical terms associated with EV charging. Not all electric motorcycles are compatible with all types of charging stations and it's important to know what kind of charging location is compatible with your electric motorcycle.
Currently, there are three levels of charging available.
Level 1 is a 120 volt outlet, your typical standard household outlet in the USA. It's quite slow, but luckily we don't have to use this in Europe :)
Level 2 chargers use 240 volts, which is the voltage of the standard European household socket. Level 2 charging is how you typically plug in your bike overnight. If we talk about Level 2 charging stations, then in theory they are available anywhere there is an AC socket, which numbers in the millions. They are also typically available at standard charging stations.
For home or office use, a Level 2 scalable "Home Charger" system can increase the charging speeds (dramatically reducing charging times). The limiting factor is usually the grid connection - a standard domestic single phase (230V) supply won't be able to achieve a charging rate of more than 7.4kW. Even with a 3-phase connection, the power rating for AC charging is limited to 22kW. In practice, this is only a problem for electric cars, which require much more power than is required for electric motorbikes.
For our 7.2kWh pack, it's possible to charge from 0% to 100% at home in just an hour with a suitable 32 amp home charger.
Both Level 1 and Level 2 charging work on AC power. A step up to Level 3 is commonly known as 'DC Fast Charging'. This boasts the fastest charging speeds of 50kW - 120kW. Unfortunately, DC Fast Charging stations are expensive, and therefore still uncommon. They also negatively affect the lifetime of your battery because of the heat generated during charging. But perhaps the biggest drawback is that you might have to queue for a few hours to get a quick recharge. For these reasons, I don't recommend using DC fast-charging at this time.
Finally, let's take a look at how your bike can be connected to these different charging options.
Electric motorcycles are connected to a chargepoint via a cable which must be fitted with connectors, one of which fits into the motorbikes inlet socket, and the second of which fits into the charger outlet socket. This may be a simple cable, or permanently tethered to a charging station.
Regarding the plugs, unfortunately there are a few different common connector protocols. But the most relevant for motorcycles are the AC options. Either use a simple standard household AC plug up to 3kW (13A) in any socket, or the European Type 2 plug, which goes up to 43kW.
In the end, the actual limit of charging is your charger's capacity. If overnight charging isn't a problem for you then for example even a modest on board charger like 0.7kW power is sufficient in 10 hours to charge its 7.2kWh battery. The added benefit of this slow-charging is that it is the best way to prolong the life of your batteries.
European Alternative Fuels Observatory map: https://www.eafo.eu/fuel-map
Plugshare App: https://www.plugshare.com