This New Affordable Electric Scooter Is Sold In America, Goes 75 MPH, And Costs Less Than $6,000

One of the greatest challenges in electric motorcycles is hitting just the right balance of performance, range, and price. There are so many bikes out there that are great, but just cost way too much for what you get. One company thinks it has found a decent formula. This is the HMP Flash, an electric maxi-scooter that you can buy right now from a company in California that has over 70 miles of real-world range, a top speed of 75 mph, and a price that’s around $6,000 for the better version.

Motorcycle companies that sell electric wares in America have found our market tough to crack. The limitations with present-day lithium battery technology mean that electric motorcycles that have the kind of range that recreational riders are looking for tend to cost over $10,000. My favorite electric motorcycle, the Zero DSR/X, is currently going for $20,495. Even my second-favorite electric, the LiveWire One, is $16,499. That’s a discount, too, because in the past, its price was nearly twice that. It’s no surprise that some electric motorcycle brands in America struggle to move inventory.

HMP Bikes of San Francisco, California, normally trades in low-speed electric bicycles and purely urban electric scooters that focus on last-mile mobility. But this month, it’s expanding into a new field. The HMP Flash is a genuine maxi-scooter with a large body and a top speed of 75 mph. But instead of piling batteries into this scooter and trying to market it to recreational riders, this scooter wants to be the ultimate urban machine. At $4,799 for the cheapest version, it seems attractive on paper, too.

HMP Bikes

A Startup You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

If you’re not a resident of San Francisco, you’ve probably never heard of HMP Bikes before. Even I had to do some research on this company. HMP Bikes was founded in Davis, California, in 2022 by mechanical engineer Peter Chu. This is Chu’s second business after he founded Muncho, a provider of self-service restaurant kiosks.

According to the Davis Enterprise, Chu started HMP Bikes after seeing a need for an affordable moped that could help people reduce their dependence on a car for short trips around towns that don’t have good public transit. HMP’s debut bike was a Class 2 e-bike with a lead-acid battery, a 20 mph top speed, and was built in China by Luyuan. While legally an e-bike, the machine is more of a moped with larger tires and a more substantial body.

HMP Bikes

Today, HMP sells these moped-style e-bikes as the Liva 7 and the Inno-A. Both of which go up to 20 mph, have lithium batteries, and have quoted range figures of 50 miles and 60 miles, respectively. Both mopeds are similar, but the Inno-A is marketed to people who ride scooters for delivery work.

Until now, the hottest scooter in the HMP lineup was the Lightning, which had a top speed of 56 mph and a range of up to 62 miles. The Flash is a step forward and is HMP’s first product that could be treated like a motorcycle or maxi-scooter.

In A Flash

HMP Bikes

HMP says that, when designing the Flash, it benchmarked the Honda PCX scooter. The little Honda was HMP’s target because, per HMP, it’s one of the best-selling scooters in America. It’s also a proven platform by the biggest name in motorcycling. So, HMP says it wanted to make a scooter that beat the PCX.

HMP is light on details such as the Flash’s structure, brakes, and suspension, but does say that the scooter sports a rear brushless DC hub motor that punches out 20 peak horsepower when the scooter is equipped with two batteries, or half that when equipped with one battery. Nominal output is eight horsepower. That motor is able to get you to 60 mph in the model with a single battery and a GPS-verified 75 mph in the two-battery version.

HMP Bikes

If you’re wondering why HMP chose a hub motor, which adds unnecessary unsprung weight, it was supposedly done for maintenance reasons. The hub motor means no drive belt or chain to maintain.

One highlight feature of the Flash is that, under the plastic, sits one removable 3.33 kWh lithium battery or, optionally, two removable batteries. These batteries weigh 40 pounds each and are designed to be hauled into an apartment for charging. The scooter can run on one battery, or use both at the same time. Meaning, if both are installed, both drain at the same time. HMP says that the batteries should go more than 60,000 miles without issues.

HMP Bikes

These batteries get their power from your choice of charger. The standard charger is an 840 W portable unit that plugs into any 110V outlet. That one takes four-and-a-half hours to charge a pack. Two packs would take nine hours. If you upgrade to the 2kW onboard charger, you get a J1772 plug and the scooter can charge from 20 percent to 80 percent in one hour with one battery or two hours with two batteries.

In terms of range, HMP says that you can expect to get 56 miles out of a single pack at a constant 37 mph, or 106 miles at the same speed with two packs. This range figure also assumes a 145-pound rider. HMP has done some real-world range testing around San Francisco and found that, with a single pack, the scooter should get around 40 miles of range and anywhere between 70 miles and 85 miles with two packs. HMP’s range testing was done with a 200-pound rider who spent 80 percent of the ride in the city and 20 percent on the highway.

HMP Bikes

The scoot is also tech-laden, and features a built-in dashcam, keyless operation, ABS, traction control, a large infotainment screen, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, reverse gear, regenerative braking, optional heated grips, and a center stand. Apparently, this scooter was designed primarily for California delivery riders first, and as such, it has a rear platform ready for a storage box. If you’re not a delivery rider, HMP says you can put a child seat on there. I think I’ll pass on that last one.

All of this comes in at 299 pounds with a 31-inch seat height and a 377-pound weight carrying capacity. Storage on the scooter is minimal if you don’t use a rear box. You get 20 liters of space over the batteries, which isn’t enough to store a single full-face helmet.

HMP Bikes

HMP claims that it was successful in beating the Honda, given the Flash’s slightly higher top speed, ability to hit 60 in 3.69 seconds, claimed greater stability, and lack of need for engine maintenance. However, it should be noted that a Honda PCX can easily go twice as far on a tank of fuel and won’t need two hours to replenish that range. Honda also has a robust nationwide dealer network, while HMP is only in San Francisco. At least, HMP does say that if your scooter needs repairs and only HMP can fix it, they can send a tech to where you live.

HMP has published an unlisted video (embedded below, or click here) on YouTube where one of its representatives spends a lot of time comparing the Flash to the PCX. What’s interesting to me is that, to my eyes, the Flash looks Honda-ish, but it looks like the distant cousin of an ADV160.

Something that’s been curiously missing in HMP’s marketing blitz is who actually builds it. Previously, HMP has said that its mopeds and scooters came from the Luyuan Group, a Chinese company that’s been around since 1997. HMP has a whole blog post about how Luyuan spent nearly a decade developing the liquid-cooled hub motor that HMP uses in its other scooters. Notably, HMP says that Luyuan is “our manufacturer.”

Luyuan does not sell any scooter like this one, but does market itself as an “OEM Partner” that can manufacture vehicles for another company. I’m not really concerned about that. As I have written many times before, China has made strides in its motorcycle and scooter manufacturing sector. Luyuan’s scoots look even cooler than the HMP Flash does! But I do wish that HMP was a little more detailed about the production side of the Flash. The way the marketing materials are written, you’d think that the scooter was made in America. A writer at New Atlas already made that assumption in…