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BMW’s new electric motorcycle concept is a fresh vision of the future

BMW’s new electric motorcycle concept is a fresh vision of the future

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The Motorrad Vision DC Roadster is the most coherent electric two-wheeler concept to come out of Munich

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Image: BMW

BMW has spent the last few years steadily working toward an electric motorcycle, and this week, it showed off a revamped vision of what that bike might ultimately look like. As part of a suite of announcements tied to the company’s new push to accelerate its electrification plans, BMW revealed the “Motorrad Vision DC Roadster,” an electric motorcycle concept that looks as close to road-ready as almost anything the company has shown before.

In true concept form, the company hasn’t released any specs, and it hasn’t said if or when it will turn into a real motorcycle that people can buy. But it’s one of the most grounded takes on an electric motorcycle from BMW yet.

For once, BMW showed off something that looks dealer-ready

The German automaker’s road to an electric motorcycle really started with the release of the fairly practical C Evolution electric motor scooter in 2014. Over the course of the next few years, the C Evolution (which is basically the size of a motorcycle) was eventually upgraded enough that it offered 100 miles of range per charge and a top speed of 80 miles per hour. With a retail price of nearly $14,000, though, the C Evolution became little more than a sort of limited-run test-bed for the electric future of BMW’s Motorrad division.

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But it’s been obvious that BMW wants to do bigger and better things with an electric motorcycle. In 2016, BMW went all out with the Vision Motorrad Next 100 concept bike, which looked like it came straight from the set of a superhero movie. And in 2017, BMW showed off the Motorrad Concept Link, which was like a more futuristic version of the C Evolution.

That brings us back to the new Motorrad Vision DC Roadster. It’s a highly stylized bike, for sure, but it also looks like something you could buy from a dealer right now (with a lot of money). If you squint, you can see that BMW has taken some ideas from its more outlandish electric motorcycle concepts and squeezed them into this new vision of the future, and they’ve been assigned a bit more purpose. For instance, the excessive gills or “ribs” found on the Motorrad Next 100 are back but in more moderate amounts. BMW says these will help cool the battery pack.

BMW is moving up its electrification plans

The motorcycle is also, of course, bathed in BMW’s signature colors. In total, it feels like BMW is saying with the Motorrad Vision DC Roadster: “Hey, we know we spent the last few years going pretty far out with our motorcycle concepts, so here’s a taste of what we really want to make.” It’s a concept bike that calls on past BMW designs, and it doesn’t stretch the idea of a BMW motorcycle so far that diehards won’t buy it. It’s not clear when the company will put a real electric motorcycle on the road, but considering BMW just announced that it’s moving its electrification plans up by two years, there’s a chance it will be sooner than later.