Zero Motorcycles has been making the headlines for the motorcycle industry since it started off in a Northern California garage in 2006 and began making sales in 2009. The electric vehicle market was a hard one to penetrate and soar but the brand never backed down.
CEO SAM Paschel joined the firm in 2017 thinks the marketing strategy for electric motorcycles are all wrong.
“Zero has been telling a rational story,” he said. “But motorcycles are emotional. So we need to tell a more emotional story.”
The electrical vehicle industry, dominated by Tesla, is struggling to bring about its beauty to consumers. As motorcycles seem more genuine in its raw, classic, fuel-powered form, Zero Motorcycles desires to change the perspective of some enthusiasts.
“I threw leg and decided that this was where I wanted to be,” he added.
“The acceleration” – electric bikes, like electric cars, are very snappy off the line – “was a profound experience. Our bikes engage all five senses.”
Albeit not much far behind in terms of visuals, the electric bike experience and the conventional bike experience are at different ends of the spectrum.
“There’s no noise, no smells, no fumes,” he said. “All the vibration was gone, and all I was feeling was the road.”
Certainly difficult for some riders to adapt but Zero definitely sees a future for electric bikes.
“We do everything we can to be on the motorcycle market dynamic,” he said. “In the US, nobody needs a motorcycle. It’s an object of desire.”