Page 56 - Australian Motorcycle News (January 2020)

Top Electrics I keep hopin’ we’ll SWEDISH FIRM

CAKEÖSA Ösa; motorcycle or CAKE HAS A
eat Cake by the

workbench?

WHILE MANY of 2020’s electric promises are intent DIFFERENT TAKE
on trying to push the boundaries of performance or
technology, Swedish firm Cake has a rather different ON ELECTRIC
take – focussing on markets that conventional bikes
simply can’t reach. MOBILITY
The Ösa is Cake’s second bike,
coming after its original Kalk – a
mountain bike inspired off-roader.
Designed to hit an entry price
point of EUR 4500 (AUD$7260)
in Europe, the Ösa is a low-
performance machine – its peak
power is 10kW and maximum
sustained performance is only
4kW for a moped-style top speed of
50km/h. A pricier Ösa+ version, at
EUR 6500 (AUD$10,485), manages
a continuous peak of 7kW, enough for a 100km/h top
speed and its range depends on the battery you pick.
The cheapest option is the ‘Lite’, which can take the
Ösa 75km and the Ösa+ 60km. For a little more, the
‘Long’ battery ups that range to 120km in the Ösa and
100km in the Ösa+. The battery choice also impacts
the bikes’ weights – with the Lite pack, they come in
at 77kg, rising to 82kg with the Long.
Cake wants owners to be able to use them as mobile
workbenches; 5v and 12v DC outputs are included for
tools and there’s an optional converter that gives 110V
or 220V AC outputs.

ELECTRIC you only need to count the A BATTERY-ASSISTED registration information mean
At the other end of the market
it’s hard to get precise numbers,
BIKES ARRIVE number of kids on so-called PUSHBIKE IS TAKING in the UK around 60,000
electrically-assisted bicycles
hoverboards or the commuters
were sold last year, a number
on electrically-assisted
WITH A pushbikes to see that society THE PLACE OF A SUB- that’s expected to rise to near
has already accepted the key
100,000 in 2020. In 2018 more
tenet that battery power is a
than 400,000 were sold in
WHISPER, viable means to get around. 50CC MOPED the Netherlands – overtaking

With no official registration
the number of purely pedal-

powered bikes sold there – and
figures, licences or taxes on
NOT A ROAR these low-speed electric modes as they’re replaced by these nearly one million found buyers
in Germany. Those numbers
of transport it’s hard to quantify
cheaper, easier-to-own
become, but we can get a clue
swathes of the population
ALTHOUGH IT’S TEMPTING to look just how pervasive they’ve alternatives. Back in 2010, EU suggest that there are huge
moped sales stood at 588,811,
out for a single game-changing by looking at the vehicles that but double-digit year-on-year getting a taste of motorised two-
electric bike that sweeps all they’re replacing. For many, a drops since then mean that in wheeled transport.
before it and turns the market battery-assisted pushbike 2018 just 273,645 were sold in With the inevitable increases
on its head, the reality is that is clearly taking the place the same region. in taxes on cars expected during
electric motorcycles are edging of a sub-50cc moped, and Although the lack of this decade, and the growing
into our consciousness in a figures from Europe show number of cities restricting or

much quieter fashion. that the sales of mopeds have banning their use in an effort to
The idea of rechargeable collapsed spectacularly cut congestion, e-bike sales are
modes of transport is already an likely to multiply fast.
accepted one. Teslas are dream Some estimates suggest
cars for many, and cheaper that as many as 150 million
electric four-wheelers from more electrified bicycles will be sold
mainstream brands are being in the EU markets over the next
adopted on mass – not by decade. Even if just a small
radical early adopters, either, percentage of those buyers
but often by those who’ve only decide they’d like to upgrade
ever seen cars as a necessity to an electric motorcycle,
and don’t care one jot about there’s going to be an enormous
what makes them go. demand to be filled.