Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Not Make Electric Motorcycles

Pioneering electric car maker Tesla will not be making any electric motorcycles, Tesla's founder Elon Musk has said. When asked about a question about whether Tesla has any plans of making electric motorcycles, Musk categorically said that it's not going to happen. The question was put forward at Tesla's 2018 shareholder meeting when a member of the audience asked Musk if Tesla ever thought about getting into the motorcycle business. Musk responded by saying that when he was younger, he and his brother used to ride motorcycles all the time for about eight years, but a near-death incident that happened to him will keep the electric car company from venturing into electric motorcycle production.

"I actually used to ride motorcycles when I was a kid, dirt-biking for like eight years or something. Then I had a road bike until I was 17 and was almost killed by a truck," Musk said. "So we're not going to do motorcycles."

The idea of a battery-powered motorcycle from Tesla has been floated before, and it would have made sense, more so, since the future of the two-wheeler industry seems to be veering towards the electric space, much like cars and other automobiles. And an electric motorcycle from a company with Tesla's brand image would certainly have meant a lot of consumer interest, and possibly even sales for the electric car company.

The process of making an electric motorcycle and developing it while reacting to the rapidly changing battery technology would have been much easier than making a car, for instance, which will need to be repeatedly made to go through stringent crash tests with any change in structural design. And with growing interest in the electric motorcycle space, with even big brands like Harley-Davidson entering the segment, it's not just Tesla's loss, but more so for the consumer to not have an electric motorcycle with a brand like Tesla.