Street-legal Zero S electric motorcycle priced at $9,950

There's a street legal version of the 2009 Zero X on the way in the very near future and it's just had a price put on it. It's not currently clear what the $2,200 premium buys you except from road wheels, sports tires and lights, but with 50lb/ft of torque and 23bhp, the Zero S supermoto will be the fastest road legal electric motorcycle in production; expect a top speed of around 70mph and a 0-30mph time of around 2 seconds.

At $7,750 the Zero X makes a lot of sense over the larger, more adult-sized competition from Quantya, but at $9,950 that differentiation sort of disappears. Yes, the street-legal Quantya Strada only makes about half the torque at 24lb/ft, but it also brings full size and conventional high-spec components to the Zero's bicycle-like size and running gear.

The Zero S will, however, have a range of up to 60 miles, which sounds a bit better than the Quantya's quoted 2.5 hours. The thing we're looking forward to most isn't the zero emissions or kissing gas stations goodbye, rather it's the completely silent wheelies. It's not illegal if you can't hear it. Right?

Zero