- Second electric scooter offering from BMW.
- Funky looks designed to appeal to the younger, urban market.
- 96km claimed range from the 2 x 1.96kW batteries.
After being mightily impressed with BMW’s first electric offering, the CE-04, we were keen to see how the smaller, more affordable CE-02 handled daily life.
Words: Paul Pics: Two Creative Photography
“Urban mobility”. That’s a phrase which gets banded around on a regular basis. Although I think we can all agree that a thundering great big Tesla Cybertruck isn’t exactly the sort of electric vehicle that will likely save the planet. But BMW’s newest electric scooter? Yeah, well, this is much more like it.
For starters, the CE-02 is, well, kinda cool. If you don’t think so, chances are you’re not the target market anyway, so don’t worry about it. It’s exactly the sort of vehicle that people can hop on, do a local run to get to work, a mate’s house, the shops, etc. and not need to worry about taking the gas-guzzling car. And with its unique design making the CE-02 almost cuddly in its appearance, I reckon it’s bikes like this that are going to make an impact and make at least the tiniest impact of getting all those single-occupant vehicles off the road.
But don’t let the playful looks and whacky design fool you – this is a BMW from the ground up, so the execution is perfect. From the slim, minimalist screen, which offers speed, range and a power/regen bar, to the oversized tyres and the fact your feet look to be almost floating in mid-air, the CE-02 is as pleasing to the eye as it is to ride. And I can tell you this is one fun motorcycle. The model we had on test was optioned with the Highline package, which means it gets a handy phone holder under the dash, which then turns your phone into an extra screen for info on the bike when you connect the BMW app. There’s also an additional third riding mode, with those crazy Germans calling the modes Flow, Surf and Flash. The Highline also has heated grips – although they could possibly dent the range if used too much – a 1500w external quick charger along with the standard LED lighting, USB port and keyless ignition.
Power comes from two identical 1.96kW/h batteries under the seat which are removable, although the charger plugs into the side of the CE-02 after you remove the twist cap, and charging can go from 20% to 80% in 100 minutes plugged into a home socket. Range is claimed to be 95km, although when I grabbed the bike it was showing closer to 69km, something due to motorcycle testers liking to get onto these things and riding them like they stole them… So, the real-world range should be somewhere between the two.
Funky but Serious
The mere fact that the CE-02 looked so different to every other bike in the BRM shed meant that it was in and out of the door more than pretty much anything else. With short trips around town for meetings or a coffee, the CE-02 was just so easy to get on, press a button and go. Apart from the futuristic whizz, there is no noise and no heat, petrol, or anything else to worry about. And while it looks fun, it’s also a serious piece of kit when you select Flash mode and twist the grip to the stop, with arm-stretching levels of acceleration from standstill to the max of 95km/h. To give you an idea, 0 – 50km/h is dispatched in 3 seconds, so there’s no worries about anything beating you away from the traffic lights, unless you happen to be on a 100km/h road that is. But even then, you’re so far in the distance before the petrol and diesel cars even see which way you’ve gone that they aren’t a concern anyway.
Diving in and out of traffic is the CE-02’s other fave trick, with scooter-style brakes (both on your hand controls) and the big tyres making it a breeze to zip around town. Those big tyres suck up much of the trouble on the road before it even bothers the chunky forks or the almost horizontal shock, but I never once had an impact through the slim saddle that made me wince. The saddle is kind of weird with how it raises at the front. However, I still got a pillion on the back when we were headed to a Harley-Davidson dealer to pick up the antithesis of the CE-02, a massive petrol-powered V-twin Breakout. And despite the additional passenger, it didn’t seem to slow the BMW down at all, with that electric power still needing to be tamed slightly so I didn’t risk launching my pillion off the back.
Perfect Execution
When it comes to electric motorcycles and current battery technology, I think this is the perfect example of what we should be looking at. I don’t want an electric bike that looks the same as all the ICE ones on the road. I want it to standout. I also don’t want one that’s pretending to be an adventure bike when we all know the furthest it will be able to adventure is the city boundary before needing to be topped up again.
The CE-02 simply works. And it really turns the heads of non-motorcyclists, which is also what these sorts of bikes need to do to get people out of their cars. You can ride the CE-02 on a car licence, and it’s so easy to ride that anyone should be able to get their head around it, especially in this day of Lime scooters and the like. However, the only holdback that is likely to stop the sort of uptake this bike should create is the price. Yep, it’s a heady $16,990 + ORC for the CE-02, which is going to be a hurdle for many. But, when you take into account that the FTN Streetdog I rode recently is $18k for their model with this sort of performance (and the running gear is nowhere near as impressive as the BMW), which puts a bit of perspective on where the pricing is at. For now, electric is expensive. Whether it always will be is difficult to predict, but I would say that if I had a spare $16k sitting in my pocket, I wouldn’t object to having a CE-02 permanently in the shed.
