You know things are getting serious when mainstream motorcycle makers put electric two-wheelers in the catalogue, such as the BMW Motorrad CE 04, priced at RM59,500 in Malaysia. Yes, you’re thinking electric is something that is not in the essence of a motorcycle, or in this case, an electric scooter (e-scooter).
Needs be as needs must, and BMW has a reputation of being at the forefront of motorcycle technology. Some of it works and works well, like ABS first seen on a production motorcycle in the 1988 BMW Motorrad K100 and now the de facto requirement for any road going motorcycle.
Others, not so much, like the horizontal inline-four engine seen in the same K100. So, technology being a part of the BMW Motorrad DNA, it was no surprise the market gets the CE 04, the Munich firm’s first mass market e-scooter.
With the proliferation of e-scooters in the Malaysia market currently, including offerings like Blueshark and RydeEV, it must be emphasised the CE 04’s engineering and price puts it well outside the league the public considers to be the provenance of such vehicles.
paultan.org is not new to electric two-wheelers, of course, starting with our experience with the Harley-Davidson LiveWire in Spain back in the days before Covid changed the world. We’ve also ridden smaller e-scooters, such as the Blueshark and RydeEv but we were to find the CE 04 is of a rather different ilk.
On the first approach, the CE 04 is different, styling wise, from the current crop of scooters on the road. Never mind the electric bit, the CE 04 looks like it stepped out of a Gundam manga or anime, with colouring reminiscent of a Mobile Suit.
Long and low-slung, it did put us in mind of a skateboard, with the flat seat and wheels at either end. The design of the CE 04, while not quite polarising, did give it a certain amount of road presence and while parked.
It drew lots of attention especially when people noticed the BMW roundel and started asking questions. The main question was always, “how much does it cost?”
And the shock when the price was revealed was palpable. Cue the “better I buy a … ” statement here.
Here’s the thing, BMW Motorrad does not do things by halves and the amount of engineering and tech in the CE 04 is palpable. The TFT-LCD measuring 10.25-inches across in the diagonal displays all the necessary information.
With connectivity powered by the BMW Motorrad Connected App, the CE-04 gets Integrated Map Navigation and includes turn-by-turn directions on screen, vehicle status and statistics. When we received the CE-04 we found the underseat storage – accessed by a side panel – just about large enough to hold a single full-face helmet.
In our case, the space was occupied by the charging cable, a heavy, chunky Type 2 connector plugging into domestic current. Starting up the CE 04 uses a key fob and done with the press of a button, no surprises there.
Navigating the screen was fairly easy with the usual display options. Selection of the ride modes is done with a switch on the handlebar pod, and you get a choice between slow, normal and “oh, my god!”
OK, fine, we’re just joking. What you do get is an Eco mode that limits your speed to about 70 km/h, a normal mode that allows you to go up to 90 km/h or so and Sport that gives you some 134 km/h (indicated). The caveat is battery range is going to suffer, and suffer badly, in Sport mode.
In practice we managed about 90 kilometres or so in range while in Sport mode, with Normal giving about 110 kilometres, with BMW Motorrad saying Eco would give you 130 km of travel distance. Truth be told we never bothered with Eco mode because it was simply too slow to be able to survive traffic on the LDP.
Riding the skateboard around, as the young riders in the house referred to it, showed it has a lot of weight to it, some 231 kg worth. This is well up into sports-touring motorcycle territory and the hefty shows when wheeling it around while having reverse assist helps.
On the move, though, the CE 04 is surprisingly nimble, and disguises its weight well. The small scooter size tyres – 120/70 and 160/60 – mounted on 15-inch wheels allow the CE 04 to move in a sprightly manner while the weight and width of the tyres gives it a feeling of momentum.
The CE 04 is long, very long, long enough to give you seconds thoughts about zig zagging through traffic. While we had no complaints about the CE 04’s handling while riding the roads and highways, heavy traffic made us aware the CE 04 needs to be handled with caution.
You would treat the CE 04 like any other maxi scooter, say the Yamaha TMax 560 or Sym MaxSym TL500. Plan ahead, look ahead, leave yourself plenty of braking room and let the smaller kapchais through.
Speaking of room, the flat seat installed on the CE 04, which gave rise to the nickname “Electric Skateboard” in the shop, is not exactly designed for long distance comfort. Admittedly, we would not be going long distance on the CE 04 unless we plan for recharging stops every so often.
BMW Motorrad does offer a comfort seat option along with other accessories from the official catalogue such as a side bag to ease daily living with the CE 04. We found the seat adequate in the end for short journeys in and around town, while the fully flat seating position allows riders of any height or inseam length to find a comfortable position.
As for charging times using domestic current with the supplied cable and charging adaptor the CE 04 took about four hours to get to a full charge. BMW Motorrad does sell a wall charger for home install while the optional Type 3 cable lets you charge at suitable public charging stations. However, be aware rolling the CE 04 into an EV charging bay will earn you the ire of electric car owners.
Coming to the issue of range anxiety, we must confess to getting worried a couple of times. No doubt staying on surface streets and taking things easy extends the range but here’s the thing about the CE 04. It moves, and moves quickly, from a standing start.
We have a feeling BMW Motorrad might have tuned things down a little but twisting the throttle wide open just lets you experience this rush of torque. No, not boxer-twin levels of torque, the CE 04 only gets the equivalent of 42 hp and 61 Nm of torque from its frame-mounted electric motor.
But enough for the rider to giggle inside the helmet because as is typical of all electric vehicles, the CE 04 produces all its torque from zero rpm. No, no danger of wheelies, that long wheelbase and weight sees to that.
So, who needs a BMW Motorrad CE 04 electric scooter, with its Malaysia market price of RM59,500 sans insurance? Well, as a technology demonstrator it shows what BMW Motorrad is capable of and is perhaps an indication of what to expect from the Munich firm in the future as internal combustion engine motorcycles are phased out.
The CE 04 is not without its shortcomings. The fixed lithium-ion battery pack means no swappable battery charging and despite BMW Motorrad’s three-year warranty and a five-year or 40,000 km warranty for the battery pack, we can safely assume replacing the pack will not be cheap because… BMW.
This is made up for by the CE 04’s handling manners, as we said earlier, surprisingly good for a scooter as big and heavy as this one. If you’re a rider with empathy for the environment and want to show the latest in EV tech, get the CE 04. For the author, the M1000R beckons.
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