For most people looking to get into the electric motorcycle scene, one thing is obvious. There is barely a middle ground between the urban mobility e-scooters and the high-end e-motos with hair raising torque delivery. Niu decided to fill this space with its new electric motorcycle called RQi.
China-based Niu focuses mostly on plug-in electric scooters which are perfect for the Asian market and especially the Chinese one. They got out of their comfort zone with the RQi, creating an electric motorcycle that is focused on urban performance. With a 30 kW belt-driven motor, Niu claims the RQi will top out at 100 mph which makes it a perfectly capable highway machine. Two Panasonic lithium batteries are the source of power at a combined 6.5 kWh energy storage. It certainly is not a lot but it can do 128 km in combined city/highway riding or 200 km at a constant speed of ~50 km/h.
Renders from the bike also show a screen for a dashboard paired with other features such as 5G connectivity, adaptive headlights, traction control as well as ABS. Hopefully, all these features don't raise the price too much as it will make it difficult for the RQi to compete with rivals such as Zero.