Despite the fact that Americans buy more electric bicycles than electric cars, widespread adoption of electric motorcycles still lags well behind both. Part of the sluggish sales pace likely comes down to high prices, but as tech continues to evolve, e-moto sticker shock will eventually subside.
Lower prices will only enhance the obvious benefits of electrifying motorbikes: silent operation, quick and easy charging, fewer moving parts to service, and a smaller footprint while commuting. In the meantime, one of the most interesting concepts on the market today comes courtesy of a company called Verge, in Finland, with an utterly baffling hubless rear-wheel motor design.
As usual with bleeding-edge tech, Verge's first model, the TS, commands a serious premium: a base TS starts at $26,900, and the mid-level TS Pro adds $3,000 to that, while the TS Ultra ramps all the way up to $49,900. I recently test-rode an early TS Pro that Verge shipped to the United States, hoping to prove whether this hubless rear motor truly deserves a future in the industry or simply represents another over-priced gimmick.
Riding hard over the weather-beaten roads of Malibu served as an excellent way to explore the potential of the hubless rear wheel. But first, one of Verge's engineers helped me wrap my head around how, exactly, that eye-popping hubless system actually functions.
How it works
Essentially, the design uses a larger-diameter hub integrated into the swingarm, housing copper-coil electromagnets. Two large ball bearings then support a carbon-fiber rear wheel—developed in-house—with traditional magnets inside the rim. Sending power into the hub's electromagnets causes the wheel's magnets to spin and the wheel to rotate around the motor-hub unit.
Thanks to the rear motor, the heaviest component of the bike—the battery—can now ride lower in the chassis. My TS Pro's battery holds 20.2 KWH of charge and the TS Ultra slightly more, at 21.8 kWh, but both weigh around 220 lbs (110 kg). The entire bike is air-cooled, to save more weight, so three 3.5-inch (90 mm) fans help keep the batteries at optimum temps during stop-and-go traffic or while parked. The rear motor is also finned to do the same.