She's electric: Why the new Maeving EV motorbike is the perfect vehicle to take on board

Fast, powerful and retro cool, the new Maeving EV motorbike is the perfect way to explore on shore, says Simon de Burton.

Superyacht owners tend to harbour a sense of adventure and, while there is endless enjoyment in exploring new coastlines and the waters that surround them, the urge often exists to see what a fresh piece of terra firma actually looks like. Who are its people? What’s out there to be discovered from its sights, landmarks and terrain? And, most importantly, where are its top bars and restaurants?

On larger boats it isn’t unusual to carry a car, SUV, ATV, quad bike or amphibian to facilitate poking about on land – but with each come the problems of storage, fuelling, maintenance and the aggravation of getting from ship to shore.

Add in the growing popularity of electric-vehicles (combustion engines are already banned to a greater or lesser extent in several port cities, including Barcelona, Oslo and Amsterdam) and there’s a good argument for taking an electric two-wheeler on board.

A battery-powered bicycle is the obvious choice, but what about those times when you want to go farther, need to take the highway or tackle some seriously hilly ground? No solution is perfect, but we reckon the problem could be addressed by expanding your ship’s inventory with one of the retro-cool electric motorcycles pictured here.

Maeving was founded in 2018 by marketing man Seb Inglis-Jones and his friend William Stirrup, a financier. The pair met at university and decided that they would found a business together one day. The global demand for sustainable vehicles led them to electric motorcycles and they came up with the idea of creating one that went against the grain by looking vintage, rather than futuristic.

At a distance, the British-built Maeving could easily be a well-preserved motorcycle from the 1930s – but look closely and, in place of an engine, you’ll see a stylishly disguised battery pack. What’s really smart, however, is that the battery can be unclipped and recharged from a domestic socket, with just six hours needed to fully replenish the 128-kilometre maximum range.

The original RM1 model hit the streets in 2022 and, while it’s great for cruising around flat cities at low-ish speeds, I found its top-end of 72km/h and feeble hill-climbing performance tedious. But those problems no longer exist with the newer, faster, more powerful – and reassuringly more expensive – RM1S. As a lifelong rider of petrol-powered bikes, it feels a bit wrong to say this – but I didn’t just enjoy riding it around traffic-clogged London for a day… I loved it.

It leaves most cars far behind at traffic lights, handles beautifully and, despite being twice as powerful and more than 50 per cent faster than its entry-level stablemate, it used less than half its battery capacity during a full day of thrashing. Add in that the “fuel tank” provides 10 litres of storage, that the retro looks create a top-quality feel and that its twist-and-go throttle makes it easy to ride, and a Maeving really is excellent.

It takes up little space, is light enough to be craned on and off with a basic davit and will sit in the smallest tender without threatening to sink it. So, an easy on-shore transport solution? You might need a Maeving or two – preferably finished in your boat’s livery… 

First published in the October 2024 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.