KTM Freeride E Arrives Summer 2012

KTM’s Freeride E – the first electric motorcycle launch by an established manufacturer – is a step closer to going on sale. Five hundred pre-production bikes will be built in July or August 2012, with full production following towards the end of the year.

KTM is renowned for its off-road bikes, and the Freeride is certainly one of those, a motocross machine that will compete head on with existing e-bikes from Zero and Quantya. KTM says the Freeride delivers the same performance as a 125cc two-stroke, using a German PERM motor producing 30bhp at 6000rpm and 31lb ft from 500rpm upwards. The battery is a Panasonic Lithium-ion – there’s no information on capacity, but KTM claims a riding time of 45 minutes (or 20 minutes for a professional rider under race conditions). Claimed charge time is 1.5 hours.

Variants on the Freeride will follow, including a road legal Enduro with lights and indicators, and a road only supermoto. The launch bike will cost less than 10,000 euro (about £8260) which should make it slightly cheaper than the equivalent Zero or Quantya.

KTM sees the Freeride as opening up a new market, allowing off-road riding where the noise of a petrol engine is unacceptable.

Posted by David Henshaw. on February 10, 2012. Filed under Electric Motorbikes & Scooters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.