Electric motorcycles seem to dominate the headlines in the industry even though they ' re few and far between in real life , and now Suzuki has become the final member of Japan ' s ' big four ' to lay out a timescale for an EV range introduction . The key date in Suzuki ' s plan is 2024 . That ' s when the company says it will bring its first EV motorcycle to the market . The terminology is important here - ' EV motorcycle ' - since Suzuki has already been dabbling in electric scooters , not least with the longrunning development of hydrogen fuel cells for a string of Burgman-based prototypes . Under Suzuki ' s plans , the company envisages a range of eight EV bikes by 2030 , with the focus on ' small and mid-sized ' machines . When it comes to bigger models , the company has its eye - like many others - on carbonneutral e-fuels of the sort that will soon be introduced in MotoGP competition and even F1 racing .

The exact nature of Suzuki ' s first EV motorcycle remains unknown . The company has been developing an electric version of the Burgman Street scooter for several years in India - its main market - and was originally intending to have launched the model by now . However , it ' s reported to have been delayed by problems in coping with extremes of temperatures that the Indian market experiences , ranging from areas with average lows as cold as -20 ° C to those with average highs in the upper 40 ° C range . The bike may also have been delayed as Suzuki , along with the rest of the Japanese brands and several European companies , hammers out a standard for standardised , swappable batteries . The Burgman Street Electric model also doesn ' t fit Suzuki ' s description of its new 2024 bike as a ' motorcycle ', as it ' s very much a lowperformance scooter . Like other brands , Suzuki ' s hand is being forced by legislation , and the

target of eight EVs by 2030 may not be ambitious enough . In the UK , there yet-to-be legislated plans to ban the sale of sub-125 cc , CO2-emitting motorcycles by 2030 , with all new CO2-emitting bikes due to be removed from sale by 2035 . The EU is also in the process of putting a similar timeline in place , as are parts of the USA , especially California .

In comparison , Honda ' s current plan is to launch ten electric motorcycles and scooters by 2025 , with the first four arriving by 2024 , while Kawasaki has already shown the Z EV model that will be its first allelectric street bike . Yamaha has also unveiled production electric scooters , including the E01 and Neos , and is a major player in the e-bicycle market .

China ' s motorcycle industry might be taking huge leaps in terms of quality and originality , but there are still brands that perpetuate the stereotype of copying and disregard for intellectual property that ' s hampered the country for so long . This is one of them . Moxiao has spent years making bikes that wrap uninspiring parts in Ducati-copying bodywork , and on the surface its latest creation appears to do the same . But unlike older models , which used bland 500 cc parallel twin engines , this machine - the BMT800-A - features a 777 cc four-cylinder , water-cooled DOHC motor . That means this is among the first of China ' s new breed of four-cylinder bikes , and if it wasn ' t

for the fake Ducati styling , it could be something of a landmark rather than an object of derision . The bike hasn ' t been officially launched yet , but appeared in the latest batch of new models to be typeapproved for sale by Chinese authorities . The paperwork shows that it puts out 86 kW ( 115 hp ) and uses a four-cylinder engine with a 69 mm bore and 52 mm stroke . The same engine has also recently appeared in the Jiajue JJ800 , a naked roadster that takes inspiration from the Honda CB650R , and is due to reach a Jiajue sports bike in the near future . The Moxiao weighs a claimed 216 kg wet , with a 1,475 mm wheelbase and superbike-sized 17-inch wheels

wearing 120 / 70ZR17 front and 190 / 50ZR17 rear tyres . The styling is very clearly inspired by the Ducati Panigale 1299 , including the vast single-sided swingarm and horizontal rear shock , although the four-cylinder engine means the Moxiao is much wider than the Ducati . Although wearing Moxiao-branded radial brake calipers , the Chinese characters on the bike ' s approval document and the side bodywork suggest that the parent company behind Moxiao - Taizhou Senlong - wants to use a different name on this machine . Those characters translate to ' Bimota ', even though there ' s clearly no connection between this machine and the Kawasaki-owned Italian

brand of the same name . The use of Chinese characters rather than the Roman alphabet could be an attempt to circumvent Bimota ' s own trademarks on its name .