Whilst ministers and manufacturers continue to heavily promote electric cars the focus on, and take up of, plug-in motorcycles remains muted.
At the end of September 2025 there were 1.48 million licensed motorcycles in the UK but less than one percent (13,700) were plug-in electric.
At the same point in time there were 34.5 million cars in the UK of which 1.63 million (4.7%) were pure battery electric and a further 835,000 (0.5%) or so plug-in hybrids.
In Wired for the Road, Living with an Electric Motorcycle by Sara Sloman for the RAC Foundation, ‘motorcycle’ is taken to mean powered two-wheel vehicles subject to the rules requiring registration and licence holding for riders (i.e., excluding electric bicycles).
Sara Sloman is chief strategy officer at the EV payments company Paythru, and an ambassador electric motoring. In 2025, with her partner, Sam Clarke, she set a Guinness world for the longest electric motorcycle journey on a single charge of 193 miles on a Verge TS Pro. She is about to buy her third electric motorbike.
Motorcycles account for 3% of licensed motor vehicles, but just 1% of vehicle miles driven.
People looking to buy a new electric motorbike can potentially benefit from a government plug-in grant of up to £500, depending on the model they choose and its retail price.
Electric motorcycles tend to use the same public charge points as cars.
