WHEN is the electric CR coming??

Honda hasn't announced a date, but they have said they will begin the operation of dedicated electric motorcycle production plants, globally, beginning around 2027, so it might be a 2028 model.

My guess is they will have it ready when the kids that started on e50's and will know nothing but electric bikes are ready for big bikes. 5-7 years.

Buy the Stark, Its a great bike. I was so amazed at how comfortable I was after a very short amount of time on the one I rode. 

 Also , if that speeds up the Honda and other big brands bringing their bikes out, You will be doing a great service to the Moto world. Kidding, incase my normal style of writing makes it hard to realize.  But really, if they are not going to be out for another couple years, Get a Varg and sell it as it gets closer or after You hear about some impressions of the CR. 

I am surprised the CR is not closer to coming out. I was hoping that with the MXGP E class that they would bring it out around the same time. But they have raced bikes in MXGP  for a year before they were available before. So maybe the 27 or 28 timeline might be accurate. Hopefully by then they have some battery tech that charges faster or increases runtime . I'm sure minor increases will happen. But hopefully they have their solid-state  battery.

Sure Honda could go big if they wanted to, but they have shown little commitment so far. And I doubt a high performance dirt bike (with tiny potential sales numbers compared to commuters or other types of small road bikes) is at the top of their electrification programme. Maybe as a halo bike?

This prototype was first presented 7 years ago, hopefully it would have evolved quite significantly in this time but no one knows because they still haven't revealed a single spec.

The latest prototype, in development since at least 2017, is more or less on par with the production Varg (as seen in the FIM explorer cup with a very official effort by Honda with an army of engineers on hand). If Honda gets serious about this they need to move faster because by the time it will get released (before or after 10 years of development?), Stark would have moved on as well. Honda has been a very late starter on EV and for all its might, it is still playing catch up 10 years later, will they do better with bikes, which is a much smaller market for them? I very much hope they do.

With MXEP slated for 2026, they should definitely be ready to race it by then. That's probably how the date was chosen anyway. Will the bike be available to the public by this time? We'll see.

When 80% of the market wouldn’t buy it I don’t blame them for being slow with the development. At least they are working on it. 

I was thinking that they might just bring out that prototype every so often to get an idea of the demand.  Maybe when the demand hits a certain level they will bring it to production.  Since they have not given any specs on the bike, I imagine they will change between now and when it comes out.   

While there may be a limited number of current CRF250/450 riders that would buy it instead. There are people that are learning to ride on Surron's and similar bikes that might just jump onto a Honda.  People that have to finance the bikes might be more comfortable buying an electric Honda ,  than a new brand like the Varg.  I see people posting on here fearing that Stark would go under. I don't think that will be the case. But I see that there are people that do. 

 If Honda could come out with a Varg that had Honda on it. I bet they would sell 2 times as many bikes.  They could sell an electric CR to the customer that comes in for a CRF250F or one of the many other sized beginner trail bikes. And sell it with some beginner friendly tunes on it.  

I think the Varg is a great bike. After seeing a few and riding one. I think they are a high quality machine. And I hope they are able to be around and grow into a multiple model brand.  Honda should be able to build a better bike, IF they want to. But silly things like profit margins and sales numbers can get in the way of building the best bike.   

It already exists, I built it, it rips. 28 kw, 220 lbs, have it setup for single track/enduro. Just under $4k all in including the roller that had ~28 hours on it. 

The FIM E Xplorer cup is not a good event to compare electric motocross bikes, it's slow speeds don't stress the battery or motor the way a motocross track would.

When Honda developed the electric CR, their only comparison was the Alta, a bike with power similar to a 250f, issues with a battery that was prone to thermal overload, and limited range. Stark's Varg has more power than a 450f, issues with thermal overload seem to be solved, and it has a range closer to an ICE than the Alta.

The specs for Honda's electric CR are unknown, but it may need some development to be comparable to the Stark.

Much more excited for the combustion 450s of Ducati and Triumph than these toasters. 

Great build! What battery? Voltage? Ah? 

I'm looking to race mine but can't here in NJ since it's all AMA so electric bikes are basically the Jersey Devil. Might head up your way to New England so I can do some NESC as they apparently allow EMotos in Open classes (as all racing orgs should).

I would settle for one Ducati and one Varg. Now where did I put that lottery ticket?

Hasn't KTM had an electric bike available for purchase for quite a while now?

That's the KTM Freeride E. Look it up. Not a full size bike, more of a mid-size in the realm of the Sur Ron Ultra Bee. But yes, it's been around for well over a decade. They're revamping it for 2025 from what I understand.

Yeah not sure what happened there, a decade without any major change, similar price to the Varg (13 000€) for 24 hp, 111 kg and 3.9 kWh battery.

They seem to have sold only a handful, it was never really marketed by KTM who didn't seem to care anyway ? Not that for that power/weight/price combo it would have sold like hot cakes but I never understood what their strategy was with it?

First presented as a concept bike in 2007, production model released in 2014.

I might have seen that roller for sale,  there was one just like it in Ma. for a while. . I was thinking of grabbing it and doing that. So cool. I have an RMZ450 I am thinking of doing a conversion on. It runs fine. But I would like an electric version. 

Per Stefan Pierer there was supposed to be a next-generation Freeride released in '24

Here in Europe It has happened several times that the freeride was sold with a 50% discount.
Maybe soon again if a updated model is coming.
It is a very fun bike, but not for +12000€.
Don't know what KTM was thinking with that kind of pricing.
 

They should move the production of the Freeride to China and sell them for $6k . Maybe it already is made there.   That seems more inline with the segment the bike is made for.   Insane to think that people would buy the Freeride over a Varg for the relatively small price difference. I would convert a bike before buying a freeride at retail. For what I would want out of an electric MX bike.  

I think the Freeride has great potential as a play bike if they could get the cost down to $5 or 6K .   Even at $12 , I am kinda surprised more of the people that modify Surron's don't get a freeride.  It could be the total lack of aftermarket stuff for the Freeride VS the insane amount of stuff available for Surrons.

 Funny how a lot of people claim that electrics will kill the aftermarket. Take a look at Warp9's website for example. They have Ti parts and bolts for just about everything on the Sur-rons and  some of the similar bikes.  And there are new after market companies that are doing tons of stuff for those bikes. I really think that electrics will help the aftermarket thrive. Most people like to put cool stuff on their bikes, and if You have to spend less money and less time  on maintanance ,You have more funds free for cool stuff.   

I think the battery and BMS are assembled in Poland (using Samsung cells).

BTW, to answer one of your frequent interrogations, I've found multiple websites offering car and motorcycle battery reconditioning. For instance on this site (in french, use Google translate), they offer to recondition your Freeride battery for 2300 € (with brand new cells, and price includes shipping both ways). I think KTM sells a spare battery at 3600 €, of course as they mention you don't have to pay for the battery case and other components, just new cells and hours of labor. They also offer to increase battery capacity for some models where it's possible (switching to newer commercial battery cells).

https://www.smoltandco.com/produit/reconditionnement-batterie-ktm-freeride-e-xc.php

https://www.smoltandco.com/page/le-reconditionnement-de-batteries-au-li…

Might want to check out https://www.torracing.org

Similar to JDay

That price is not a lot different from what somebody might spend on a gas engine to  freshen it considering You are paying somebody to do the work too. So paying a shop to refresh a 4 stroke. Top end , valves, etc. whatever other parts and labor.   As there is more demand for it, there will be more places doing it closer to people and that could possible bring the cost down a little bit by not having to ship as far.       

I think that the more people learn about what can be done with an electric powertrain , they will understand the excitement.  It really opens up so many things as far as chassis design and other things as everything evolves. I saw  an article about a place working on  carbon fiber that when flexed it generates electricity. And they are working on other materials.  

 Its just the beginning and the Varg is the second try at making a legit  production EMX bike.   Look back at the second 4 stroke race bike. You could either say the CRF 450 , or the YZF250  depending on how You want to look at it. But either way, the bikes have come a long way since then.  Electric has a much higher ceiling in my opinion, for MX/SX bikes.

Awesome! At least it doesn’t have duel exhaust lol. 😎

I’m really not wanting to derail this thread about the Honda but just an E moto question/observation here….

What’s going on with Varg sales here in California? I went to my local multiple brand dealer the other day and they had six of them lined up each with a $2000 discount. Perhaps I read something about there being some issues selling them in California or is it just the economy slow down that’s just made it poor timing in the US? The deep discount definitely has me thinking about snagging one as long as there’s no California issues other than the usual red/green sticker nonsense. 

I’m considering a used freeride and going the dirt legal route,  rumor is KTM applied to DOT sanctioning on the 2025 freeride.

For someone like me that commute's locally by motorcycle or electric scooter, and has an XT350 for that and trail riding, getting a street legal freeride to ride locally is a no brainer to get a freeride that’s street legal at around $6,000. 

I don’t want to trailer to the trails, I want to ride the 2-3 miles at 35mph to trailheads, do a 1-2 hour ride and ride the 6 minutes home. 

Seems the key to California bike pricing is the actual out-the-door price.  You guys seem to be besieged with car dealership tactics at your bike shops.  They mark it down 2 grand and then tack on 3 grand in mandatory dealership fees to complete the sale.

If it truly is 2 grand cheaper OTD then that is newsworthy.

My boy wants me to get a stark . He loves his electric surron.

When's the last time Honda had the best-in-class bike, anyway?

Just because they build one doesn't necessarily mean it will be better than the Stark.