This is not an electric motorcycle. It's a 1975 Honda XL. But with the help of this book and some people who know a lot more than I do, it could be. My plan is to either convert this one or get another bike to convert over the coming months.

So why an electric bike? We all know that the cost of energy is only going up over the long haul. Electric bikes are fun to ride and get the equivalent of 300 miles to the gallon if you compare them in terms of cost of fuel. As far as pollution, they contribute about 1/10th the amount of CO2 when the recharging is done off the standard electric grid. And, of course, there would be no CO2 if it was recharged off a home solar power system.

Regular motorcycles have an interesting downside. Because they don't have room for the same smog reducing systems, they actually create more smog than cars. So where they may be much better in terms of CO2, they're worse for smog. All motorcycles are not created equal in this respect. 4 stroke motorcycles produce less. 2 stroke motorcycles produce a lot more. 2 stoke engines are common in scooters, chainsaws, lawn mowers, and other small motorized things because they produce a lot of power for their size and weight.

A quick note on batteries...newer ones are non-toxic, the most popular being the lithium-iron-phosphate battery.

If you want an electric bike and don't want to deal with converting one, a number of them are available like the Brammo, Electric Motorsport, and Zero. Next year, both Honda and Yamaha are set to release electric bikes.

Look for more commentary on this project as I get it off the ground. And thanks to Jason over at Alexander's across the street for the super-cool Honda XL!