Do you remember the device made to look like a motorcycle? It is called Zero – a play on zero emissions, which assumes in the first place that carbon dioxide is an “emission” (in the sense understood to cause air pollution) and in the second that battery-powered devices do not “emit” these “emissions.”
That latter part is technically true.
It’s also a species of lie because without electricity, a device does not work and electricity is generally produced by combusting things and that results in the “emission” of the gas that does not cause pollution. Rush Limbaugh was thus correct when he described battery powered devices as elsewhere emissions vehicles. The point being that driving – or riding – a device is not eliminating (i.e., “zeroing”) these “emissions” but only relocating the source of them.
The whole business is silly in general but downright ludicrous when it comes to battery powered devices made to look like motorcycles – because even if you are someone who believes that carbon dioxide “emissions” are causing the “climate” to “change,” the idea that motorcycle “emissions” are causing this “change” is like believing that if you pee in the ocean – if everyone in America peed in the ocean – the coast would soon be under water. All of the CO2 that’s in the air is all of 0.04 percent. That is after 150 years of industrial revolution and billions of people driving cars.
Motorcycles account for about 3 percent of all the vehicles on the road and most motorcycles have much smaller engines than the smallest engines that power cars and most motorcycles are not used daily, for transportation – but occasionally, for fun. Thus, you would have to believe that 3 percent of the vehicles on the road that are mostly used half or less as often as the other 97 percent that also have engines that are typically 1 liter in size or smaller are causing the “climate” to “change” by adding a fraction of a fraction to the sum total of C02 in the air. Yet this is the basis for the argument that motorcycles must be replaced by devices that look like motorcycles.
Italicized to emphasize that it’s not people who ride bikes craving devices that look like motorcycles – like the Zero. It is that devices like the Zero have just appeared, absent any real market demand for them. They get produced by investors who bet on a “market” coming into existence via the interventions of government.
That is to say, by force.
These investors bank on the hope that people who ride will buy devices when motorcycles are no longer available – or allowed. And maybe so. But people are still allowed to buy motorcycles and to ride the ones they already have and so there is a lack of incentive for them to buy devices that look like motorcycles.
This likely explains why Zero dealers around the country are trying to sell brand-new two-year-old devices they still have on the floor for – as little as half the original $22,995 MSRP.
It’s probably still too much.
Would you pay $11k for a device that’s functionally inferior to a motorcycle you could buy for thousands less? Around $7k is enough to buy something like a brand new 2025 Kawasaki KLR 650 dual-sport, which is a motorcycle that can be ridden on and off-road. It is a very popular bike and has been so for decades because it is extremely versatile. It’s a bike that can be used for commuting or interstate riding. It carries about 6 gallons of gas and averages about 45 MPG, which gives it a riding range of more tan 250 miles. It takes about 60 seconds to refill, pretty much anywhere – which means it can be ridden almost anywhere. It’s range can be doubled by strapping a pair of jerry cans to its sides.
And it will keep on going for decades.
The Zero has a best-case riding range of 155 miles. Italicized to emphasize that with devices, the best-case range is often far less than the actual range, because unlike engines, batteries don’t take you as far when it’s cold or hot out. And – of course – if you ride fast, you don’t ride as far – in either case. But the device can’t be refilled in 60 seconds. It takes about an hour to slowly charge it. Apologists say it’s not a big deal since you can just plug the device in when you get to wherever you were going, such as work.
But it misses the point.
One of the reasons people who ride like motorcycles is the freedom of action they give you. You don’t have to plan around waits. You just ride. You don’t worry about how much gas is in the tank because it’s so easy – and so fast – to get more.
You can also carry gas with you. It is very difficult to carry jerry cans of kilowatts.
There is of course the more fundamental problem – which is that the Zero and other such devices like the Harley LiveWire are devices. They are essentially an attempt to make a scooter without an engine look like a motorcycle. Like scooters, these devices don’t have manual transmissions, so you don’t shift. You just sit. Which is fine, if you’re into scooters and there’s nothing wrong with that. What’s wrong is pretending it’s a motorcycle, which has a transmission and so a clutch and shifter that is a big part of the experience. And of course the engine, which is central to the experience of riding a motorcycle. Without an engine or a transmission all you’re left with is a thing that looks like what it ain’t.
Most men (and women) aren’t interested in that sort of thing. And neither are most people who are into bikes.
So it’s not surprising that new two-year-old Zeros aren’t selling. It is surprising that Zero is still in business.
Reportedly, the company is seeking “another round of funding,” to the tune of $120 million. Yet it has never managed to sell more than about 4,000 devices in a single year and many of these are still waiting to be sold, after more than two years.
W.C. Fields phone home.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you like items like the Baaaaaa! baseball cap pictured below, you can find that and more at the EPautos store!
I was wondering about Zero, with EV’s falling out of favor the past 1-2 years.
They were hyped to the moon.
Thanks for the news and a great article.
Heard Harley is looking for a new CEO. Can’t happen fast enough.
I love my Pan American 1250, and would have bought the planned Pan American 975 too, but the current CEO killed it. Idiot.
Thanks, Chris!
I think they named this device just right. All my friends ride. None of them are interested in an electric “motorcycle.” The concept is absurd.
“…all you’re left with is a thing that looks like what it ain’t.” Seems like there’s a lot of that going around these days
Hi EJ,
Yup. It’s been normalized, so we get more of it. The main reason it’s been happening is the manipulation of language, which has become so ubiquitous most people aren’t even aware it is happening. They use the words they’re conditioned to use. For example, vaccine no longer means a substance that confers immunity – formerly the thing that defined what a vaccine was. Now any drug that “reduces symptoms” can be called a “vaccine.”
Just as a man can “transition” into a “trans woman.” And then we are expected to refer to him as “her.”
It wasn’t that long ago that Harley had waiting lists to buy their real motorcycles. Most of the time you paid over list too, because of the demand. There would have never been a two year old “new” bike at the dealer still waiting for a buyer.
Named zero because there is zero interest in it……
Even more so than Walmart, Amazon is dominated by Chinese sellers. They are bailing out fast, says an article in ZeroHedge today. Which will erode Amazon’s earnings as well.
Just ordered some routine supplies from China & India to beat the sunset of the $800 de minimis exception on May 2. Time to back up the truck for those low, low prices! 🙂
‘Don’t tax you, don’t tax me; tax that fella behind the tree.‘ — Senator Russell B Long
‘You’re out of your element, Donnie!‘ — Walter Sobchak, The Big Lebowski
My major beef with wheeled devices—whether they have 2, 4, or 18 wheels—is that they don’t solve the supposed problems with IC vehicles, but rather merely SHIFT them.
In the case of emissions, they don’t reduce or eliminate emissions, they just shift them from the exhaust pipe on the vehicle to the smokestack at the power plant. In the case of fuel cost, they don’t lower your cost of fuel, they just shift your cost from the gas pump to your electric bill. In the case of dependence on hostile countries, they just shift dependence from the Middle East to China.
On top of that, wheeled devices cost more to buy, insure, and maintain—in fact, they also shift your maintenance costs from oil changes to battery replacement—they cost you in time and hassle, and their rapid depreciation and rapid obsolescence means always having a car payment.
‘Most men (and women) aren’t interested in that sort of thing.’ — eric
What are we to make to make of the ‘Amber Dasilva’ entity who wrote the Jalopnik article describing the Zero as the ‘perfect commuter vehicle’?
Unless my rheumy old eyes are going bad, this creature looks like a tranny to me, complete with Adam’s apple.
https://www.jalopnik.com/author/adasilva/
He/she/it probably owns battery-powered personal stimulation devices that are a lot cheaper than the Zero — for now. Bzzzztttt!!
Meanwhile, Apple is flying jumbo jets full of iPhone devices from Mumbai to beat the tahhhrrrfs, and Delta is using the excuse of new 20% duties on Airbus aircraft to refuse delivery.
That’s just a ploy, you realize — Donnie Fubar’s madcap depredations have destroyed domestic demand, and Delta don’t need them planes no more. Welcome to the wrecking ball eclownomy.
Mama’s in the factory
She ain’t got no shoes
Daddy’s in the alley lookin’ for the fuse
I’m in the kitchen with the tax-hike bluuuuues
— Bob Dylan, Tombstone Blues
Looks like a young Geddy Lee wearing a disguise.
Yes, I believe he is formerly known as Steve.
As Austin Powers said:
“That ain’t no woman! It’s a man, man!”
Hi Doc. The moment I looked at the picture that’s the first thought that went through my head also.
I recently got a 12 year old GEM car for the wife to run back and forth around my small town. So far I’m the one using it, and I have to say I like it better than my 40 year old Kaw Mule. It’s limited to 35mph, but so is the Kaw. It’s quiet, the Kaw was noisy before I had to rebuild the muffler the first time. It’s quick enough to easily spin the tires, the Kaw could never do that. And around town, I guesstimate it’s costing about $ 0.10/day to run. I don’t have to worry about gas going sour in the carbs over a winter, nor about neglecting the oil changes.
In a word, for my limited use case it’s a superior option. For a highway car in a cold climate, fuggeddaboutit.
Point being, if you want a quiet trail bike to go ride 10 miles in nature, or to commute around town 25 miles a day, there is definitely a market. Except for the whole high price tag, I have no defense for that.
The other point that is missed is this stupid device costs TWICE as much as a motorcycle that, with some maintenance and care, will last for decades.
Just like with the $60K Dodge “Chargers,” there aren’t enough idiots with deep pockets who’d buy such a useless brick that will be hit with ruinous depreciation the moment it drives off the lot and its battery pack starts to lose charge.
I work at an ATV dealership that has a couple of the Can-Am electric dirt bikes. $15,000. They aren’t selling.
I think the objective is to find a buyer with money to burn who will spend it on his electric-saving-the-planet fetish. They can probably make more profit finding ONE guy like that than selling a half-dozen ICE bikes to regular customers.
Hi X,
That’s probably their hope; but I don’t think there are many people interested in these things regardless. Bikes are not like cars in that for most people or at least a lot of people, a car is just an appliance. But almost no one who rides motorcycles rides thinks that way. They are passionate about riding and those kinds of people ate just not interested in devices. The sales figs reflect this.
If global warming really is a threat, an EV scooter would make more sense as personal transportation than the devices made to look like traditional cars and capable of “Ludicrous Speed”.
Not as miuch child slave labor in the Congo would be involved in digging the Lithium for the battery to power the scooter.
Is Trump gonna buy a Zero too?
If you want a motorcycle go to South America or Southeast Asia, all they ride.
You need a boat or a bridge to cross the Amazon.
One week, it is five grand for each American household, which dotgov definitely owes to everybody, the next week it is one trillion for defense, helps Bibi sit down, hands you an order of fries, buys a Tesla, everything is a shtick.
Trump is completely full of shit.
Freaking phony. get lost and don’t find your way back.
‘the next week it is one trillion for defense’ — drumphish
Budget resolution vote is today in the House, if Mikey Johnson isn’t confabulating again.
Just messaged my Freedom Caucus rep to vote ‘Hell no.’ Where is DOGE when it comes to rooting out a trillion dollars of ‘defense’ [sic] grift?
* sound of crickets chirping *
Hi Jim,
Funny how the single biggest source of fraud, waste, and corruption gets a free pass from the DOGE boys, not to mention even more taxpayer dollars to piss away bombing people halfway around the world. Trumpenstein gets a ‘pants on fire’ rating for truth telling and somehow thinks he’s king of the world; can’t wait to see what he does when China tells him to pound sand with his tariffs. Also not holding my breath for the Epstein files, most of which have probably been shredded by now.
Donald Trump is just another child that’s grown old.
A remote controlled device, that’s Donald the Robot.
You don’t see the eight-foot high chain link fence encircling the White House, the TV image makes the place look impeccable, meticulous, a green garden, Eider down, white choral bells.
I was in Washington, District of Clowns, one week after Trump’s first inauguration, the view from the hotel window was of 14th and K, an intersection with lots of room to drive, in the middle of the intersection some protesters painted in white ‘F*ck Trump’. Saw it with my own lying eyes.
Homeless vagrants all over the place. It was not normal.
535 members of the US Congress need to do some soul-searching these days.
Bibi could care less what the streets of Washington contain. First we take Gaza, then we take Iran! Sing it, Leonard Cohen.
Time for a change.
535 selected bums can be given the bum’s rush and hit the streets, no quarter there.
The Dead Cat Bounce is here again today.
1917 to 2025 is 108 years of perpetual war, war is good bidness.
Homo the Sap is trapped in Perma-Wars!
I wonder who pays for it all, not Bibi, he doesn’t do squat in this world other than usher in more death. Must pay or something.
It is getting purdy darned old, intensely ugly.
After coffee time, it is beer time.
More nebulous undaunted indefatigable dumbf*ckery that you’ll ever see in a lifetime from the dumbest dumbass alive.
His name starts with T, rhymes with C, stands for Con, pure Chaos to boot.
I hoofed it over to the bank and traded two one dollar bills for four rolls of pennies.
There were 25 wheat pennies in those rolls for 1929 to 1956. Several 1959 pennies were there too.
There were three wheat pennies 1929 mint marked which are worth $2.40 numismatic value. 200 pennies easily became worth more than 15 USD.
Several 1969 no mint mark pennies were in the mix, worth four dollars each as is.
I’d rather have 200 pennies in a can than two one dollar bills that are gone in no time.
Rejected pennies go back to the bank to buy more rolls of pennies.
Works better than you think.
People must dump their old cans of pennies for some cash and the banks just roll them all up again. Seems to be that way to me.
My old man’s a midge-a-frater salesman
Now what you think about that
And someday if I can
I’m gonna be a midge-a-frater
Just like my old man
Curiosity forces me to ask; how much would an electric touring bike weigh to have the same range as a gasoline powered bike? If a 2025 Honda Gold Wing weighs around 840 pounds and comes with a 5.5 gallon tank and has a fuel economy of around 37 miles to the gallon (best figure I could come up with), your Gold Wing might only go 203 miles before needing a fill up that could be done in under 2 minutes.
An electric touring bike I’m guessing would weigh several hundred pounds more and go less distance than the Gold Wing and take over an hour to recharge.