On the latest BMW Media Launch for each the all-new F 900 GS and CE 02 in Las Vegas, I had the chance to place the CE 02, BMW Motorrad’s newest electrical scooter, by way of its paces for a day of grooving and shimmying round numerous landmarks, avoiding unceasing roadwork and visitors jams and cell adverts for zombie burlesque exhibits (don’t ask), all whereas exploring the boundaries of BMW’s newest 2-wheeled runabout.  I wouldn’t be needing my customary ear plugs for this take a look at.

Testing BMW’s Newest Electrical Marvel in Las Vegas

I dwell within the dense city core of a big Midwestern metropolis, and of late, my commonest road sighting has been that of visitors cones and development gear.  Thus, for these of us with, you understand, vehicles, entry has been pinched and restricted and restricted (the “street weight loss plan” of which city planners are so fond), even making fast errands require superior planning and blood stress medication.  What’s a driver (or motorcyclist) to do?

Enter BMW’s resolution to this more and more widespread city problem, each within the US and overseas:  The CE 02.

The Rise of the CE 02

BMW describes the CE 02 as an “eParkourer” City Mobility Car, and whereas I’m maybe not hip sufficient to totally grasp that idea, what I can say is, the CE 02 is a veritable grin manufacturing unit.  As a substitute for a Vespa Elettrica or Honda Grom, the CE 02 is an cute and vigorous little jackrabbit.  BMW’s market temporary positions the CE 02 as a competitor to all method of smaller scooters and bikes, each standard and electrical, and even smaller-displacement bikes just like the KTM Duke 125.  However its actual achievement is simply banishing city commuting malaise.

The Design Language of the CE 02

Design sensible, the CE 02 is cute as a field of kittens.  these unattainable Scorching Wheels ideas first-year design college students dream up yearly on the ArtCenter Faculty of Design?  The CE 02 is like that, solely doodled on an iPad by a bored high-school child serving detention.  The look is accentuated by single-sided swingarm and 14” wheels, which lend decidedly playful components.

Previous to the CE 02, BMW beforehand launched the CE 04, an altogether extra sober and complex electrical machine.  Extra substantial in each dimension, the CE 04 can hit 75-mph and carries 509-lbs of bulk, extra intently resembling the hypergliding scooter Jeff Bridges sluiced round in “Tron” than a easy runabout.  Its design is altogether extra geometric and imperious.  To combine fantasy film metaphors, consider the CE 04 because the bike ridden by Storm Troopers chasing these pesky rebels on their CE 02 bikes.

Energy and Efficiency: The Coronary heart of the CE 02

The CE 02’s 48-volt electrical motor, with output akin to a 200-cc dino juice burner, is borrowed from BMW’s vehicle facet of the home, a nifty little bit of repurposing.  It’s greater than as much as the duty.  As Oleg Satanovsky, with BMW’s Motorbike & Motorsport Communications Group, remarked, “If that motor is powerful sufficient to maneuver a 5000-pound SUV off the road, it’s definitely as much as the duty of powering a 291-pound bike round.”  And the way.

Peak motor output is 11kW/15 hp with an optimum battery vary of ~55-miles.  Prime velocity is 59mph, and I can validate that determine.  The motor delivers 15-hp at 5000-rpm and, considerably, 40.5-lb-ft of torque from 0-1000-rpm.  It’s linked to the rear wheel by way of a double belt drive with a 1:7.8 fastened ratio.

Charging is designed for normal family retailers, although the shortage of help for Kind 1 or 2 charging stations, and thus entry to the rising city charging infrastructure, may show to be a limiting selection for some.  The CE 02 has 2 air-cooled batteries for drive, in addition to one other 12-volt battery utilized by the bike’s electrical system, and an LED on the traction batteries themselves all the time exhibits the cost stage. An exterior 900-watt charger is normal, with a 1200-watt charger optionally available.

Expertise and Simplicity: Consumer-Pleasant Options of the CE 02

The CE 02 has three drives modes: Circulation, Surf, and Flash.  Circulation and Flash each allow regenerative charging, with the friction resistance in Flash being considerably higher along with enhanced throttle response.  Consider Surf as “coast” mode.  As with most EVs, regeneration additionally happens below braking, and the modes and exercise of the battery and motor are displayed within the bike’s micro-TFT show.  For many of my trip, I left the bike in Circulation mode to preserve power, and whereas I didn’t discover the snappier throttle response in Flash to be as pronounced as I’d hoped, the elevated regeneration helps you to basically trip with simply the throttle; it was my favourite mode of the three.

As is typical of electrical autos, the CE 02 strikes off the road with torquey verve.  0-30mph arrives in 3 seconds, which for an city machine is greater than fast sufficient to hit holes in visitors and even settle juvenile scores.  On our option to the Nationwide Atomic Testing Museum, an area on a Suzuki GSX-R pulled as much as admire our little herd.  “Is that factor quick?” he shouted over the din at a visitors gentle.  When the sunshine turned, we pinned our throttles and left him within the mud.  Sure sir, that can do. (He handed once more quickly after, howling with laughter, which was a aid since he was brandishing a visual handgun on his hip.  Ah, Vegas.)

The expertise within the CE 02 is purposely opaque (“discreet” in BMW parlance), and the straightforward controls invite riders to check out the bike instantly.  On the media launch, this level was punctuated by presenting the assembled journalists with a line of shiny new scooters and the instruction of, “There they’re of us, and the proximity keys are on the seats.  Have at ‘em.”  The controls are easy within the excessive, and all of us figured them out inside a number of moments. The little bike additionally has the smartphone connectivity anticipated in a shopper product like this and works with BMW Motorrad’s Related app to show information comparable to cost stage, charging period, and final journey information.

All electrical autos of any kind carry a weight penalty as a result of bulk and density of their batteries, and the CE 02 is not any exception.  Tipping the scales at 291-pounds, the CE 02 outweighs a totally fueled Honda Grom by 68-pounds, however in follow, that added weight is a nonissue.  Between the CE 02’s low middle of gravity and cartoonish tires, you by no means really feel like the load is doing something however preserving you planted to the street.  BMW features a useful Reverse operate to mitigate any issues about pushing the little bike round, however the added weight really offers the little scooter vastly extra substance and presence.

A Day on the CE 02

The CE 02 has a nominal vary of ~55 miles, and our day’s route ought to have wolfed up all that juice.  However after eight hours of hooning across the city jungle, I returned my bike with 30% of the cost remaining, all all the way down to the magical properties of regenerative charging. (Lesson: I ought to have used Flash mode extra liberally.) So, your mileage might range, actually.  My takeaway with just about all quoted EV ranges isn’t a lot completely different from ICE autos.

Vary is nearly solely depending on how you utilize the factor, and thus I are likely to intuitively know after a short while what number of miles I can go with out refueling in a given state of affairs (driving round city in an SUV nets approach fewer miles than driving the identical automobile on a protracted freeway journey; duh).  The CE 02 and its ilk are not any completely different.  In follow, that ~55 miles of vary is probably going greater than ample for the supposed utilization of the little factor; nobody is doing freeway commuting on a CE 02 or Vespa (and if you’re, thanks, hero).

Not like it’s large brother CE 04, the 02 has zero cupboard space or cubbies (although an optionally available cellphone mount is included with the “Highline” trim).  There are a number of voids that seemingly might have been morphed into some helpful storage spots, however that will have inevitably compromised the minimalist design, so it was clearly an intentional omission.  BMW Motorrad gives a bevy of enjoyable equipment for the CE 02, together with a high case, rear case, and a number of other facet case choices, so anybody wanting so as to add a tad extra utility can accomplish that.  However out of the field, the CE 02 may be very a lot a “toss on a backpack or messenger bag and scoot” type of proposition.

Customization and Equipment: Personalizing the CE 02

The machine is primed for individualization.  Our take a look at bikes got here in “Cosmic Black 2” end  and included the “Highline Bundle” that brings numerous enjoyable and useful goodies (together with enabling the Flash drive mode), so the bikes have been removed from strippers. The “Worth as Examined” was $9,069 when all the varied packages have been added up.

Our take a look at bikes had each entrance and rear foot pegs, the rear ostensibly for passengers, however our group usually favored these rear foot pegs for a “Pace Racer” mode of driving, legs bent backwards with weight over the handlebars.  The damaging about this place was that the seat edge tended to chop into your inside thighs a bit, so I hope some enterprising after-market agency will create a “Pace Seat” for the CE 02 that resolves this.  (The constructive about this place was that it was flippin’ enjoyable.) The truth is, your complete bike appears primed for an R nineT bike kind of after-market accent ecosystem, and I wouldn’t be stunned to see such a seat and plenty of different gadgets showing quickly.

Market Positioning and Potential: Is the CE 02 a Way of life Revolution?

This factors to an actual advertising query for the CE 02: Is BMW ready to section the machine into the “way of life model” house, as Ducati did with their Scrambler line?  This little bike cries out for simply that type of particular therapy and would assist it to keep away from the relatively “meh” response obtained by the CE 04 within the US.  (On a latest go to to Paris, I noticed extra CE 04s in at some point that I’ve within the entirety of the States since their launch.)

The parents who hunt down a BMW Motorrad store for a stately Okay 1600 GTL or uber-serious GS or go-fast S100RR usually are not the parents who will decorate a CE 02 with their newest sneaks.  The CE 02 must be seen and performed with to be actually appreciated, and I hope BMW’s advertising and branding of us are busy exploring numerous tie-ins with non-traditional retailers.  If Yeti could make ice coolers into an upscale hipster totem, BMW definitely has the making for such a branding hit with the CE 02.

Designed in Germany, inbuilt India, with a motor from France, to not point out a design that appears just like the lovechild of a Brooklyn espresso store and the Venice Seaside boardwalk, the CE 02 has real international bona fides.  That in itself is cool and performs into the “International Citizen” vibe of the hipster set.

Is BMW as much as the duty of positioning this distinctive machine?  And perhaps extra importantly, is the US city market able to undertake such a premium electrical scooter?  Time will inform, however for all followers of pure pleasure, I positive hope so.  How a lot did I like the brand new BMW CE 02?  I haven’t had that a lot enjoyable since I ended placing taking part in playing cards in my bicycle spokes.