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For the motorcycling community, Erik Buell’s name conjures the idea of a sporty Harley-Davidson, a winning racing career, and the subsequent hell he paid for attaching himself to the failing Milwaukee motorcycling brand. But after a few false starts, Buell is back to greet the 21st century with the all-electric motorcycle and bicycle company called Fuell.
The new cheekily named company was founded by Buell, as well as Francois-Xavier Terny and Sauber Alfa Romeo Formula 1-boss Fred Vasseur. The trio embarked to create a new, more stylish path toward urban mobility. Though that’s an idea that is thrown around quite often in the tech and transportation worlds—and the idea’s weight has grown less effective each time it’s used—Fuell’s mission, and the motorcycle and bicycle they plan on building appears to address real transportation concerns. Not just hype to find investors and sell quickly.
Looking at the increasingly regulated urban city centers, and the outright bans on cars in some cases, Terny and Vasseur partnered with Buell to provide quick, urban transportation with both an electric bicycle and electric motorcycle.
The company’s first product called the Fluid is an electric bicycle using a 980kW battery pack. And though the Fluid’s appearance is what we’ve come to expect from high-end, electric bicycles, its range and power are definitely more in tune with Erik Buell’s former gig. With a staggering 125 mile range, the Fluid is by and large one of the most far-reaching electric bicycles and aims to not only deliver that “Last Mile of Service” for public transit users, but could also be used as an efficient, private way to forgo transit altogether. Though the Fluid’s horsepower hasn’t been released, the electric bicycle’s torque is rated for a monumental 77 pound-feet delivered to the rear wheel. More than enough for someone’s average commute. As for the price, with this sort of range and torque comes a non-entry-level list price of $3,395.
As for the larger, more Harley-Davidson LiveWire-like Flow motorcycle, much of the technology from the Fluid is carried over. It still has a 125-mile range, but either use a 10kW or 35kW battery pack allowing it to connect to a fast charger that will return full range in just 30 minutes. Moreover, though the Fuell Flow has a similar range compared to Harley-Davidson’s LiveWire electric motorcycle, the Flow only costs $10,995, which is just slightly more expensive than your average motorcycle. However, when put up against the Harley-Davidson, it becomes nearly $20,000 less expensive. That, in our books, is a bargain and a clear shot at Erik Buell’s former business partners in Wisconsin.
At the brand’s introduction, Buell stated, “It is the most radically innovative design I’ve ever done, with new concepts never seen before.” In a world where people want the privacy of personal transportation, Fuell aligns itself to ensure its future with stylish flair. Fuell is aiming at a delivery date for the Fluid by year’s end, while the Flow—which will take more time in terms of manufacturing setup—is said to be delivered by early 2021.
