Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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2014 BMW C EVOLUTION FIRST RIDE P50 "We believe the C evolution will appeal to customers even in mar- kets which have yet to embrace our combustion-engined C650 scooters," he said. "It provides truly efficient zero emission trans- portation, with a practical 100km [62 miles] range and quick re- charge, and can be ridden with a normal A1 car license in the EU. And although the up-front pur- chase price is more expensive, there are no more servicing or running costs, except for replac- ing brake pads and perhaps the rear tire." The chance to ride the produc- tion C evolution came in another Olympic city, Barcelona, an ap- propriate venue for the global press launch as the European capital of two-wheeled transpor- tation, with 300,000 powered two-wheelers registered in a city of 1.2 million inhabitants. Barce- lona has totally embraced the EV concept, with 200 free-to-use charging stations throughout the city - 120 of them in parking garages that are also free to EV riders/drivers, with another 50 planned to be ready for 2015. "Barcelona is the paradigm for future recognition of the role of zero emission vehicles," says Danzer. "Fifty percent of the world's population is already living in cities, and we expect that figure to rise to as high as 70% within the next 25 years. Electric vehicles will play an increasingly impor- tant role in allowing them to move about in a quiet, sustainable, envi- ronmentally clean manner." In the two years since we first rode it, BMW has focused on re- fining what was already a pretty capable prototype, with the key addition of four separate riding modes that allow riders to choose a preferred blend of performance and efficiency, as well as a more complete and easier to read TFT dash, heated handgrips, reverse gear, traction control, and grip- pier Pirelli Diablo tires. Each of these has its uses, though you'll end up using Road the most, combining maximum acceleration, around 50 per- cent energy regeneration while coasting off the throttle, and full regeneration when braking. By contrast, in Eco Pro mode ac- celeration and thus energy con- sumption are restricted, while the maximum possible energy is recuperated either with the throttle backed off, or under ac- celeration, resulting in the kind of engine braking you get from a high-compression engine lit by a spark. This makes it hard to go with the flow, resulting in a more stop/ start rhythm that's best for use in traffic, where with such intrusive regen, you often don't need to use the brakes at all just coming to a rest. However, performance BMW has made all the changes necessary since we rode the pre- production version two years ago.