At least Super Soco hasn’t forgotten the budget-strapped racers…

I have a big problem with electric motorcycle technology: it’s too expensive. I know many of you can throw in spreadsheet after spreadsheet showing how I’m saving here a few cents a month on oil changes, a few dollars a week on gas, etc., and bam, this $15,000 electric motorcycle has paid for itself after 15 years! But for guys like me, who’ve bought every bike they’ve owned with cash, a $15,000 bike with significant downsides over a 10-year-old $2,500 Honda CBR250R is a hard pill to swallow. And for the most part, there seems to be more interest in filling the high-end, high-margin segment of the electric motorcycle market than in filling the low-end, low-margin segments.

With that in mind, I think it’s good to see Super Soco releasing some new electric motorcycles. The new TS Street Hunter and TC Wanderer have just been announced in the UK with a price tag of £3,799 after taxpayer-funded rebates, which equates to around $4,500 – and both deliver performance roughly equal or even better than a petrol scooter in this price range.

Both bikes come with a 2500 watt (about 3.4 horsepower) electric hub motor that will push them to 50 mph, and enough battery for…just 35 miles of range. Sigh. At least that battery is removable and rechargeable in 3.5 hours from a wall outlet, so you should find these machines work well for trips to school or the office at least. Or, if the batteries are cheap enough, you might have a spare in case of an emergency.

Breaking them down model by model, the TS Street Hunter is meant to be a sort of streetfighter, although both of these bikes are intended to be 125cc equivalent, so don’t expect anything too hairy. It rolls on 17-inch wheels front and rear and has styling that looks straight out of the prop department from Mars Attacks!

Then there’s the TC Wanderer. Look, cool retro scrambler looks! And, uh, those same 17-inch wheels. This jammer is made for posing. not shoving your way onto a trail.

Neither machine is listed on Super Soco’s US website at this point, although they are available in the EU as well as the UK, and the Street Hunter appears to be available in Canada as well, for an MSRP of $5,800. Hmm. I wonder how much of that is covered by current electric vehicle subsidies… Too bad the battery life isn’t enough to get me into town and back for a jug of milk. Still, it’s hard to fault the Super Soco for its modest specs, considering they seem to be doing what most manufacturers avoid: making electric motorcycles available at lower prices. More details on the Super Soco UK website.