This could be huge for vehicle design as a whole.
I think it’s irresponsible of the Verge to tout an electric motorcycle’s range as “up to 600km”. It’s absolute fantasy.
I have an electric dirtbike and a gas bike. My gas bike has an 11.1 L tank and can go about 360km per tank.
The highest actual range I’ve seen on an electric motorcycle is about 100km of mixed use (highway and city).
Solid state batteries have the potential capability of having almost double the power density as lithium ion. So approx 200-300km (maybe).
Pretty solid but doubling THAT is just dishonest and in no way going to happen. You’re claiming to have more power density than internal combustion. That’s just straight up dishonest.
It’s not The Verge. It’s Verge Motorcycles. I know, it confused me too.
I think it’s irresponsible of the Verge to tout an electric motorcycle’s range as “up to 600km”. It’s absolute fantasy.
Reached 310.69km with 7% charge on the 20.2kWh battery remaining during a challenge in London.
https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2025/april/verge-electric-bike-distance-record/
It took 16 hours though, so that works out to around 19km/h or 12mph. 🐌
Yes so even gaming this by driving very slowly, the range isn’t even close
that was an older model though.
It’s 600 km (in ideal conditions) <- this is the part they don’t say.
It doesn’t matter. It’s a lie. Ideal conditions and driving the bike at 19km/h achieves that. How many people are going to be driving a top speed of 19km/h on a bike? Their stats are physically impossible given the hardware they’re stating and are relying on people with little knowledge of real world range on electric motorcycles or charge density of solid state vs lion
Maybe you’re not dreaming big enough on what makes ideal conditions. The fraudulent Nikola company managed to film a semi “driving” a few km without a powertrain, by just letting it roll downhill. I bet there’s a place that has a high enough altitude and smooth enough roads for a long downhill descent where 600km on a 300km battery is possible.
Ideal, as in “100 mph tail wind all the way”.
Every manufacturer says your mileage may vary.
“up to” is dishonest to start. They claim on some of their models 600+ km range. It is city mileage though. Solid state batteries claim 400wh/kg, and may be replacing 180wh/kg batteries. That can mean more than 2.5x range city due to reduced weight. The highway mileage is much lower though.
It’s a 33 kwhr battery, cars with that amount of storage get 250km.
What is the point in a $37,000 bike with SS battery and 600km of range. ICE bikes get about 200km a tank. No one rides 600km a day on a naked sport bike. If the point of SS batteries is fast charging , then why carry around 33 KWhr of overpriced battery?
This is a bike designed by non motorcyclists and marketed on numbers. 1000nm instant torque? That’s unrideable. 3.5 sec 0-60 is not fast for a motorcycle, so their math doesn’t even make sense. It’s just a bunch of numbers. 200kw charging? Who cares, and good luck finding a charger that will do that.
Every premium price EV bike company has gone broke.
I think the bike exists to sell the battery. I’m getting a strong feeling there is no intention for the bike to be profitable, but rather as a proof that what they’re selling works by showcasing a real-world model that people can buy and drive.
With their plans to out-scale Tesla in battery manufacturing, it seems to me that they’re hoping to capture deals with EV manufacturers.
Don’t worry, there’s no way it’ll do 600km outside of a perfect lab test. 200 km is more likely, maybe 300.
Your points are valid but those chargers are very common, probbaly the most common where I am. There are 400kw chargers cropping up too.
Also I would hope that the range is so high to allow for the inevitable failure to achieve the stated range.
But yeah everything else is laugh worthy
Turn something this into a moderately off road capable adventure bike and I’m sold. The BMW and KTM guys will absolutely pay $20,000 for it, albeit maybe not $37,000.
My KLR has about 200 miles of range per fill, if you’re even the slightest bit careful with it, which is necessary for excursions out into the bush where there are neither gas stations nor charging points.
The rear wheel of the bike in the picture tells me all of this is completely fantasy.
They have been trying to make the hubless wheel a futuristic thing for so long it’s technically retro now.
The hubless wheel is on their current models. It’s basically their signature differentiator.
There’s reason to be skeptical of the company and its claims as a whole, but at least that particular feature has shipped and has been test driven by reviewers:
https://thepack.news/11000-km-in-2-months-marc-travels-rides-the-verge-ts-across-europe/
Well thanks for correcting me, that is wild. I can’t imagine it’s actually pragmatic.
At least it being a fully integrated hub(less) electric motor makes it a much more sensible of a solution than many other tries with all kinds of belt drives and gears and cogs and stuff.
Adding a bunch of unsprung weight is a poor decision when it comes to handling though, and that’s something pretty important in a motorbike that’s trying to do more than just low speed commuting. Such a design will also be putting a lot of vibration through the motor components which is not good for longevity. It’s more a case of going for the (admittedly distinctive) aesthetic rather than being sensible.
Makes me wonder about the wheel’s rotational inertia, too. In theory, a hubless wheel could be lower mass overall without the need for a center axle/hub and spokes connecting the outside to the center. But that’s all weight saved in the center of the wheel with lower effect on overall rotational inertia. Visually, the picture that makes the thumbnail in this post shows that the brake disc has to be further from the center of the wheel, which I imagine adds a lot more weight (more material necessary for the overall brake disc being a larger circle) and a lot more rotational inertia (further from the center).
Maybe the whole design itself can save weight in certain places that make up for the weight added in other places. But I just have a ton of questions, and am overall pretty skeptical of the long term potential of this design.
Looks cool, though, I guess.
The motor design has huge performance benefits. Power is like a solid disk motor of the same size. Their previous model claimed much faster 0-60 time, and so I don’t get why it dropped, but if true, the discharge rate of battery simply isn’t as high as NMC. That would also explain why they have to have both huge range and fast charge.
more complex, more expensive, more prone to fail fromdirt entering gears, more strain on rims, and alignment in cornering suffers.
There are good reason why real motorcycle companies avoid these designs that are best left as movie props.
I watched that exact video. I still don’t think it’s ever more efficient to have a hubless wheel vs a good central bearing.
Because it isn’t? I’m comparing it to other hubless designs, stuff like this.
It’s just more bullshit for a company marketing bullshit to techbros who will use these bikes as living room ornaments.
There is no advantage to a hubless wheel.
Sure there is. There’s a value to some people to look different. That translates to dollars.
There’s not a Performance advantage to a hubless wheel.
Motorcycle buyers, especially sportbikes, don’t take kindly to bullshit. Hubless wheels are heavy, have more wear components and are pointlessly complex. But pointless complexity is a requirement in EVs to justify the overprice.
And truck buyers value functionality. Yet the cyber truck made money. 🤷♂️
Looks cool, ngl
tells thieves not to steal it
Anyone have a non-video summary/article?
Doesn’t need both fast charging and huge range. Knock $10k off the price for half the range is a much more appealing product. Battery tech in a much lighter sub 2000w ebike/powerstation is a much bigger win, as this is still 600lbs afaiu.
Sick
are solid state batteries even ready for mass production yet ?
Yes
GAC and Dongfeng are already making them. Shaeffler is making them in North America.
Bikes are not a good investment in western countries with long winter seasons, it’s dangerous and uncomfortable to ride in cold conditions, so stuff like this is purely for rich people to use as recreational toys in the summer
TIL I’m rich because I own a $2000 motorcycle, and that it’s only a toy for use in the summer. I can’t believe that someone just mansplained riding motorcycles in poor weather. Rain gear and insulated clothing has existed for a long time.
Plus heated gear and equipment exist. You can absolutely ride a motorcycle in Winter, it just kinda sucks.
Sucks in a fun way if you’re a certain type of person. I’ve ridden through a lightning storm where my motorcycle couldn’t go past 55mph due to a headwind. It was exciting, and super fun.
So, you don’t live where frosted pavement and black ice are a thing? And temperatures seldom dip below freezing.
I do, temperatures are often below freezing in the winter.
And how many other bikers do you see around you when you ride, 1 or 2 maybe, it’s a niche hobby not a means of daily transportation for most, go visit any Asian country to see what using bikes as a daily transportation looks like, the streets are chock full of bikers and it’s a mix of men and women, young and old
I wasn’t saying it was a common thing to see others riding (which it is, as long as there isn’t snow on the road), I was just saying people who ride aren’t rich just because they own a motorcycle, and that it’s possible to ride in the winter.
I’m not sure what your point is about Asian countries, I am aware that two wheeled vehicles are a means of transportation.
Sounds good. Does it actually work in real world? Why can’t they make wheels the same?
