Honda has launched a fully electric motorcycle this year, which they say is a urban commuter vehicle given its claimed range of 140 kilometers.
Naturally, as a someone who really loves electric vehicles and has no range anxiety, I took the bike for a tour consisting of two days, multiple mountain passes in Switzerland and wanted to know: does it work? As far as I could tell, apparently no one else had done it yet and posted it on the internet. The WN7 deserves to shine now.
It did work and brilliantly so. First off, I was surprised how long the battery lasts. The first day, which had a shorter distance than the second, out of eight hours driving (Zürich to Klausenpass to Einsiedln and back to Zürich) only one hour in total was charging time.
On the second day, we rode from Zürich, to Flüelapass to Samnaun and back. By distance and time it was much longer. Still, on the ride to Samnaun only three stops were necessary (about 35 minutes in total).
I was using standard mode for the road and sport for the mountain passes. Also I was not trying to save energy in any way, but rode it rather hard.
CCS2 charging worked everytime like a charm and until 50% battery with a power of 22 kW, until 70% with about 17 kW but after that it ranges from 6 to 4 kW.
The bike is as well made as you'd expect a Honda to be. The punch of it depends on the mode, which in impression only affects the throttle response. So in Econ, the power or top speed are not limited, only the throttle response is slower. In Sport mode there is not a boost of any kind as far as I could tell, only the response was crazy quick. I do not know if the modes change more about the bikes power, I could only tell throttle response.
Would I buy one? Yes.
Is the range an issue? No, most of the time I needed a bio break before a charging stop.
The only awful thing about it is the extremely hard seat, which is why I used my touring seat cushion.
It is also very funny to ride up to a charger, because of the surprised looks by everyone else.
Edit: I looked up my distance between charging stops and how much I charged.
I started at home from my wallbox at 100%
Ride: 100% -> 21%: 82 kilometers
Charge: 21% -> 78%: 3,891 kWh
Ride: 78%-> 38%: 61 km
Charge: 38%-> 80%: 4,2480 kWh
Ride: 80% -> 21%: 62 km
Charge: 21% -> 61%: 3,891 kWh
Ride: 61% -> ?%: 44 km (I missed to record the state of charge)
Charge: ? -> 100%: 7,515 kWh at home
It was a mix of highway, country roads and mountain passes and 220 kilometers in total the first day.
The second day I did not record anymore, as I focused on enjoying the ride and having felt confident that the range would work comfortably