Today I rode my new electric motorcycle for the first time. Ever since I bought my current car, I’ve been somewhat bothered by the fact that it was gas only and also didn’t get the greatest gas mileage. As some of you know, my last car was an electric car, the BMW i3, and while I loved it, I just couldn’t support it with my lifestyle. It had very poor range and I had nowhere to charge it so I was constantly filling up the small auxiliary gas tank. which is annoying and defeats the purpose.

I’ve been looking for a while at the hybrid version of my car, the Subaru Crosstrek, but given the current used car market, I would need to spend almost 20 thousand dollars just to upgrade, which is absurd and not worth it. So I wanted to get a second vehicle for getting around town that was electric. As some of you also know, I am a big scooter fan and used to drive one for years, but the thing is that the electric scooter market is kind of lame and the scooters are really goofy looking.

Which is what led me to the wild and wooly world of the under-$5000 electric motorcycle market. There’s a surprising number of Chinese knockoff comanies making weird sort-or-probably-legal motorcycles in this price range that go about 30-35 mph and get about 50 miles on a charge and, well, I bought one. For $2500 including assembly I now am the proud owner of a Venom e-Vader, described as an electric Grom.

It was delivered a while back, but because of my gimpy arm I couldn’t drive it. And really I still shouldn’t be, but this morning I took a chance and drove to breakfast, and it was great! It’s obvious they cut some corners, and I doubt a real motorcycle enthusiast would be too happy, but it’s a peppy little thing that reminds me of my old scooters but looks like a cool motorcycle. For the price I paid, I’m happy.