Roam Air Electric Motorcycle Unveiled

[advrider]

Just like their gas-powered counterparts, electric motorcycles come in all manner of shapes, sizes, and prices. At the upper end of the food chain, the Harley-Davidson Livewire, a $40,000 bike meant to bring H-D back to relevance and ensure future profitability. At the other end of the spectrum, and a world away, is the new Roam Air, an electric motorcycle designed and built in Africa, for the tidy sum of $1,500, and meant to get the masses rolling with efficiency and versatility. The only things the Livewire and Roam Air seem to have in common are two wheels and electric propulsion, but both have an eye on the future for motorcycling.

ADVrider wrote about the earlier exploits of Roam, back when they were called Opibus, and, yes, one of their projects was an electric bus. However, electric mobility, including motorcycles, has always been their focus, and the Roam Air is their latest product.

Roam Air in action. Photo: Roam

The design of the Roam Air was based on their African rider demographic (both urban and rural), with affordability, functionality, and performance as their focus. The basics of the design have not changed much since we last wrote about it, but it has certainly been refined since the rebranding. The steel frame, twin-shock layout remain, but with a smoother shape to the “tank” – it is actually a storage compartment – and a bikini fairing and side panels added that give it a bit of an 80’s Yamaha RD/RZ feel to it.

The dual battery setup that was optional on the original appears to be standard fare on the new Air (2x 3.24 kWh), which allows for increased range, and the batteries are easily swappable, so additional batteries can be charged while the rider is out burning electrons, decreasing downtime. A portable 240V AC charger included with the bike, and Roam claims “the charge time to 100% is 4 hours per battery with a 600W charger”. Range is listed as 180 km (112 miles).

The motor is mid-mounted, concentric with the swingarm pivot, and the bike does not have a gearbox. Torque is listed as 185 Nm (136 ft lbs.), top speed 90 km/h (56 mph), and the bike is said to weigh 135 kg (297 lbs.).

According to an article on Opibus by CNN, over 90% of Kenya’s electricity comes from renewable sources, and Roam touts the cost of running the Air at 68% less expensive to run than a gas motorcycle, 33% cheaper to maintain, and puts out 97% fewer CO2 emissions.

Roam started out as a university project in Sweden that identified the regions of the world where electric mobility would have the greatest impact. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, the company began with converting existing gas-powered vehicles to electric, including buses, and drew the attention of Uber, which in turn drew investment from around the world. With more motorcycles than cars in Kenya (1.2 million cars compared to 1.8 million motorcycles, according to CNN), Roam has selected a region primed for the expansion of electric mobility on two wheels.

If the Roam Air is a success, Harley-Davidson might want to look at a budget (really budget) version of the Livewire.

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