Image Credit: BBM Motorcycles.
I'm not gonna lie - I am a huge fan of this whole "electric revolution." I mean, the torque! If you've ever tried riding an electric motorcycle, then you know the drill. Every time you twist the throttle, it feels like you are being shot out of a very quiet, but very polite cannon. That's the good bit. The not-so-good part is waiting for a charge. And waiting is my least favorite sport. I've seen glaciers move faster than some of these battery bars. Gosh, my plants grow faster!
So, when a company from Spain - Bilbao, to be exact - starts talking about adding 62 miles of range in nine minutes, I sit up straight. Sure, it takes less to fill up a tank with gasoline, but that's not the point here. Nine minutes to recharge an electric motorcycle?! I've spent longer looking for my keys. That's at last the headline claim from BBM Motorcycles and their new "Hiro" platform.
Image Credit: BBM Motorcycles.
That's right. Nine. Minutes. For 62 miles. They say you can pull over for a coffee and be ready to roll before you've even finished complaining about how expensive the coffee is. This, my friends, is thanks to a DC ultra-fast charger. If you have a little more time - say, 15 whole minutes - that same charger will get you from flat to an 80% charge.
After reading the first few lines from their press release, my suspicion was that the battery was going to be the size of a stapler. Nope. It's a respectable 12.96-kWh pack. BBM claims that, when it's all topped up, it's good for up to 137 miles. That's definitely not a cross-country range, but it's good enough to have a fantastic day getting lost in the twisties and still making it home.
Image Credit: BBM Motorcycles.
Even if you can't find one of those magical DC fast-charge boxes, it's not tragic. Plug it into a regular Type 2 AC charger (the kind you might have at home) and you'll get that same 80% charge in 78 minutes. That's just enough time to watch one episode of a home renovation show. They even claim a standard 220-volt wall socket will do the 80% trick in about two hours and 40 minutes. Still faster than baking a Thanksgiving turkey.
OK, so it charges fast, but can it go? The motor is rated at 94 horsepower and a very juicy 110.6 lb-ft of torque. That's plenty for any situation. That's "oops, the front wheel is airborne" plenty. Top speed is a claimed 118 mph, which is more than enough to dry your hair on the way to work.
Image Credit: BBM Motorcycles.
But here's the part that really got my attention. It weighs 441 pounds. For a battery-powered bike with a 137-mile range, that's practically a featherweight! The team achieved this, in part, by using bio-composites instead of regular plastics. It's light and it's green. My goodness, it's a kale smoothie you can ride!
The company behind this two-wheeled kale salad was founded by the Barras brothers, the same guys behind the Angry Lane custom shop. And they pulled in the EV specialists at Sarolea, who know a thing or two about making electric bikes go stupid-fast at the Isle of Man TT. So, this thing has a serious pedigree.
Image Credit: BBM Motorcycles.
And here's a surprise: the Hiro isn't just one bike. It's a modular platform. A "Build-A-Bear" for motorcycle enthusiasts. You can set it up as a streetfighter, a retro roadster, a café racer, or a scrambler. This is just plain smart. It's like having four different bikes without having to convince your significant other why you need four different bikes.
Of course, we have to talk about the Zero SR/S. It's the established competition. In a straight-up spec-sheet brawl, the Zero is the heavyweight champ. It lands punches with 111 hp, 140 lb-ft of torque, and a bigger 17.3-kWh battery (which means more range).
Image Credit: BBM Motorcycles.
But here's the counter-punch from the new kid. The Hiro is 77 pounds lighter than the Zero. That is a massive difference in how a bike feels and handles. The Hiro is focusing on what many of us actually care about: quick charging, low weight, and a bit of custom-shop flexibility.
So, what's the damage for all this Spanish cleverness? The target price is around $20,000. Yes, I know. That's a lot of dollars. That's "I could buy a pretty decent car" money. But it's right in the ballpark with the Zero SR/S and other premium electrics. You're paying for the tech, the lightness, and the charging speed.
Image Credit: BBM Motorcycles.
BBM says the final prototypes will be ready in the second half of next year. I am genuinely excited. Hiro is not trying to be an ICE-killer by having the biggest numbers. It's just trying to be a really good, really practical, and really fast-charging motorcycle. And for the first time in a while, it might just be the thing that makes "range anxiety" a quaint-sounding problem from the past.
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