Zero has given its electric supermoto a bit of a pampering, dropping the removable battery modules for a larger integrated pack and spiffing up the bodywork with a new design approach. The new 2022 FXE also cuts the price from a dual-battery FXS.
Otherwise, the guts of the bike remain largely unchanged. You're looking at the same Z-Force75-5 IPM motor from the 2016-onwards FX and FXS, making 106 Nm (78 lb-ft) and 46 horsepower. The bike's top speed is the same 85 mph (137 km/h) until thermal management kicks in and cuts you back to 75 mph (121 km/h).
The FX and FXS seem to be remaining in the Zero stable for the moment. Their one or two removable battery modules are particularly appreciated by racers, who can keep a few extra on hand and swap them out between track sessions, and by fleet operators. The FXE plonks a single, double-size 7.2-kWh pack in behind some covers, and most regular daily commuters probably don't want to be lugging those 42-lb (19-kg) battery boxes around anyway.
Range around town is about 100 miles (160 km), but as with all electrics, if you put it on the highway and hold 70 mph (113 km/h), that drops sharply, down to just 40 miles (64 km). This thing is devoted to quick, fun city riding – all the better if you've got some curves between you and the office.
The other main change here is a fancy set of bodywork, designed in collaboration with San Francisco's HUGE Design and inspired by "consumer electronics industrial design." The idea of trying to make motorbikes look like iMacs strikes an offensive note somewhere deep down inside my biker heart, but I have to say the FXE is a nice-looking thing. Wherever these tight, modular-looking lines come from, they're a step forward from the more utilitarian-looking FX and FXS.
The goggle-style headlights on the FXS are gone, replaced by a single round-bucket LED street unit and sleek-looking plastic shroud. The dash is a full-color bonded TFT unit running Zero's Bluetooth-enabled Cypher II operating system.
The FXE debuts at US$11,795. That's higher, obviously, than the base model FXS at $9,495 – but then, that bike ships with just one 3.6-kWh battery module. If you want to get full power and 100 miles of range, you need to option it up with a second battery module, bringing the price to $12,390. So the FXE isn't just a style upgrade, it also represents about 5 percent knocked off the price tag.
Check out a video below.
Source: Zero Motorcycles
