Give electric bikes a chance, says Boorman

Actor and television personality Charley Boorman has given electric motorcycles the tick of approval, urging those with doubts to ‘just go out and give it a go.’ But he did admit that there are some limitations with electric technology.

Boorman

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Electric challenges

In the revealing interview, Boorman spoke of the challenges the pair faced as they came to grips with riding electric motorcycles over a long distance in a remote part of the world. The pair previously rode BMW adventure motorcycles in Long Way Round and Long Way Down.

“In the beginning, we wondered how we would charge them, how far they would go,” said Boorman. “We’d only ridden the bikes for a couple of hours, and here we were, expected to ride them for 100 days and 13,000 miles.”

To complicate matters, the pair arrived in South America in the middle of a cold winter. The cold weather affected the batteries, resulting in even less range than expected. “Those first few days were very interesting,” he said.

Charging the bikes

Charging the bikes proved to be a challenge, with the pair relying on the goodwill of strangers to replenish the batteries. “We’d turn up to people and say, we’re just doing this trip, do you mind if we plug in?” he explained. “We would offer money to use the electricity because in some places, they were really struggling financially. Some of the places we plugged in were a bit dodgy, with plugs hanging off the wall. And then you plug in and blow all the fuses.”

The challenge of charging the bikes offered a whole different perspective for the pair. “It gave us a completely different journey. We were plugging in our bikes, but we were plugging into people as well – people we wouldn’t necessarily have spoken to on our last trips.”

Like a roller coaster

After riding the LiveWire for 13,000 miles, and also owning one at home in London, Boorman is a fan of the new electric H-D. “I’ve got one here in London, and in an urban environment, it will comfortably do 120-130 miles,” he explained. “People argue that you can’t charge it and that it doesn’t go very far, but until you give it a go, you just don’t know.

“You just plug it in overnight, and it only cost a couple of dollars to fill up. And it’s just so much fun to ride. It goes from like nought to 60 in less than three seconds. It’s just bonkers. Some people liken it to a roller coaster – after about half an hour, you feel slightly motion sick, because you’re just not used to it.”

The actor also quashed fears that a lack of noise is an issue. “After a while of riding it, you don’t really miss the noise,” he said. “Some big old thumping bike pulls up beside you, and you go, ‘what’s all that noise?’ It’s amazing how quickly you get used to it.”

Unique experience 

While Boorman admits he isn’t yet ready to ‘write off petrol bikes completely’, he says electric bikes have their place, and offer a different and unique experience. “And before we know it, fossil fuels will be banned in some cities, especially here in Europe,” he added.

Boorman compared the rise of electric motorcycles to the first petrol vehicles. “I suppose it’s a bit like when people first had petrol cars. You had some petrol in the car, and you wanted to travel 50kms. You had enough to get there, but you don’t know if you have enough to get back. Now petrol stations are everywhere.

“I think it’s the same for electric vehicles. The infrastructure is more or less there, but not quite yet. And that will change fast. So it’s coming, you know. We just decided to do this trip when there were no fast chargers in South America.”

With the Harley-Davidson LiveWire launched in Australia earlier this month, Boorman encouraged to give electric motorcycles a go. “If you’re doubtful, just go out and give it a go,” he stated.

Long Way Up premieres on AppleTV+ on Friday, September 18. Read our full interview with Charley Boorman HERE.