This Rugged and Simple Little Bike Costs Less Than £1,000!
Michael Spencer left Tesla with a dream of making a truly rugged and affordable electric bike - this is the result
A brand-new electric motorcycle for less than €1,300? It may sound like a fantasy in this day and age, but it’s not. It comes from Zeno and is called the Emara. And, no. It's not a children’s toy either, and yes, a former Tesla exec is behind the machine
The man is Michael Spencer, who had a hand in bringing both the Model 3 and Model Y to the masses, and even tinkered with Tesla’s vaunted Supercharger network. So it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about electrification and making it scalable. He’s also spent more than a decade working in the energy industry. Helping to make charging infrastructure more reliable and widespread.
Now he’s turned his attention from four wheels to two, and he’s doing it from Bangalore, India. Hardly surprising as it's a country that’s already leading the electric two-wheeler charge, and pumping out more scooters than you can shake a charging cable at.
So, what’s the deal with the Zeno Emara?
Well, it’s a full-sized electric motorcycle with 8kW (10.7bhp) of peak power, putting it roughly in the 125cc class. It packs a 4kWh battery, has a claimed real-world range of 60km, and tops out at 55mph - plenty for commuting and the rough roads of Bangalore. Is it going to ever be considered the best electric motorcycle you can buy? No, probably not...
But the really juicy bit? The price.
If you buy it outright with the battery, it’ll set you back ₹119,000 – that’s a shade over £1,000 at today’s rates. Feeling thrifty? You can snag the bike for just ₹79,000 (about €679) without the battery, and opt into a prepaid battery plan. There are three to choose from, depending on your daily mileage – 48km, 120km, or a pay-as-you-go option.
It’s a bit like what Tesla didn’t do: instead of packing in performance and luxe tech, the Emara is being kept rugged, functional and affordable. It’s aimed at practicality, and for those looking for a little more rugged off-road ability, Zeno also knobbly-tyred ADV version.
Could this be the real key to making electric motorcycles truly accessible? Strip it back, keep it cheap, and let the customer decide how they want to pay for power. It sounds about on the money for most, but there’s still a catch. People in the UK (and quite possibly Europe) won’t buy it in the volumes required to make ot profitable.
Right now, the Emara is India-only, and given how quickly the region has taken to electric power, we don’t blame them. Back in the UK, we are seeing electric brands faltering left, right, and centre. It doesn’t make Blighty seem like a pond worth dipping your EV’s tyres into, does it?
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
