It is depressing as hell being stuck in a fossil fuel obsessed world when we have had other viable options for decades, but take heart when you see electric dirt bikes beginning to proliferate in war, if Electric Vehicles are winning on the cutting edge of the frontline for reasons that have nothing to do with environmentalism, the future is far closer than it seems...

Also god damn I really hate loud dirtbikes and ATVs in nature so looking forward to these undercutting fossil fuel powered dirtbikes everywhere....

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[–] vic_rattlehead@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

Hey! No problem, community is why we're here :-)

Soo for where I am in the US, the toughest thing is there's basically no bicycle infrastructure between my house and the lab I work in, plus I have to cross 2 e-lane highways, so having something that is road legal with license plates, turn signals, etc was a huge requirement.

I also wanted something I could load in my truck bed and take trail riding in the Appalachian mountains, so a more aggressive suspension set-up and support for knobby tires was important to me.

These 2 requirements narrowed the field significantly, and in 2021 I ended up finding a used 2015 Zero FZ that was the perfect balance for me, at the right price.

The good news for you is that 12-20 miles should be easily doable with any electric motorcycle! Your budget will probably be the biggest dictator of what you decide to get. An electric motorcycle will cost more than a moped, but of course the low maintenance and low energy costs vs a moped are things you can add into the equation.

I've had the Zero for 5 years now and aside from knobby tires (which would have been unnecessary if I was ONLY commuting), I think all my running costs, "fuel", taxes, registration, insurance, EVERYTHING, is under $300 since I bought it! It has been a great value.

The main thing I would caution you about is manufacturers like to add app-attached crap to everything now. Zero famously pissed off a TON of motorcycle folks (I'm not affected but still angry about it) when they tried to make a "pay to unlock" feature with batteries already installed in bikes. Just make sure you do a little research about the models you end up liking so you know caveats like that up front.