In a sign of international industry resistance to an exclusive battery-electric future for powered two-wheelers, European motorcycle manufacturers association ACEM has joined the eFuel Alliance.Â
Representing more than 170 companies, associations and consumer groupings that are a part of what appears to be a bio-fuel production value chain, the eFuel Alliance’s main objective is to enable the industrial production and widespread use of carbon-neutral fuels made from renewable energy sources — presumably such as those based on sugar cane.
Although ACEM accepts that electric bikes will play a central role in its decarbonisation strategy, the organisation notes that some two-wheeler segments, particularly leisure-oriented machines, currently remain very hard to electrify — because large and heavy batteries affect handling and dynamics, and requiring significant trade-offs at the expense of range and convenience.
It therefore concludes that carbon-neutral fuels would be a perfect solution for those segments for which electrification remains challenging from a technical standpoint. And such fuels would also be instrumental in reducing CO2 emissions from Europe’s legacy fleet of ICE two-wheelers, which currently amounts to about 40 million bikes.
This latest stance seems to be separate from commitments from various ACEM member manufacturers to carbon-free hydrogen burned by ICE bikes.Â