The obvious allure of the Enertia—and the other electronic motorcycles available, like the Zero S—is that it is completely electric. Ostensibly, not being dependent on gas would be a great way to save money. I’d be inclined to agree, but the initial investment an electric motorcycle requires is a rather large hump to overcome.

Even with the government tax incentives, the Enertia is in the neighborhood of $12,000, while comparable, gasoline-powered motorbikes—such as the $4,000 Kawasaki Ninja and $3,400 Honda Rebel in our Ratings of 250cc motorcycles [(available to subscribers)—are much cheaper.

What’s more, the Enertia only gets 45 miles out of a full battery—which takes longer than 4 hours to charge. But both the Ninja and Rebel will go farther and faster. (Both conventional motorcycles use a gallon or less to go 45 miles and easily beat Enertia’s top speed of 50 MPH.)

Sure, while the innards an all-electric motorcycle might make it seem more in common with a laptop computer, the $12,000 question is:

Would you want to buy a motor vehicle from an electronics retail chain—one that listed toward the bottom of the pack in our last Ratings of electronics retailers (available to subscribers)?

What’s more, do you think someone from Best Buy’s Geek Squad would be able to service a motorcycle’s brakes and tires—“about all there is to maintain [on the Enertia],” according to Brammo’s Bramscher—as competently as, say, a qualified mechanic?

And what are the chances of you walking into a best Buy and thinking, “Hmmm…I think I will buy a eco-friendly motorcycle today, along with that 50-inch plasma?” (If so, you'll need to seriously think of  a sidecar, too!) —William Dilella